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World 24 Sep 2026
Universities urged to help reverse decline in academic freedom
By Sophie Hogan
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Image: Yan Krukau , via Pexels
Scholars at Risk reports “deteriorating global conditions” but also “reason for hope”
Academic institutions and politicians should do more to help reverse a decline in academic freedom around the world, according to the non-profit organisation Scholars at Risk.
SAR documented 382 attacks against higher education communities between July 2025 and June 2026, it says in the latest edition of its annual Free to Think report, published on 15 September. This was slightly down on the 395 attacks reported in the previous year, but with more countries and territories affected: 59, up from 49.
The latest figure includes 165 violent attacks, among them the fatal shooting of Pakistani linguistics professor Muhammad Khan, the attempted assassination on campus of Damascus University arts and humanities dean Ali Al-Lahham, and an on-campus knife attack that injured at least two students at the University of West Attica in Greece.
Other incidents highlighted include arrests of academics in countries including China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela; job losses in countries including Canada, Serbia and the United States; and disciplinary action being taken against student expression in places including Hong Kong and Nigeria.
Political interference
The report also covers pressures being placed on higher education by politicians, in particular by US president Donald Trump.
“Scholars work at the intersection of power and ideas. But those in power often do not like to have the ideas that sustain their power questioned,” said SAR executive director Robert Quinn. “As democracy comes under strain globally, we see governments interfere in higher education.”
“In countries like Afghanistan, China, Iran, Russia and Zimbabwe, state decrees directly violated autonomy by banning books and disfavoured research topics or blacklisting entire education institutions from operating within their borders,” the report says. “Similarly, governments in Georgia, India, Serbia and the US have banned research topics, cut funding on ideological grounds and placed partisan actors on university governance bodies.”
Reasons for optimism
SAR said the incidents covered “reflect deteriorating global conditions for academic freedom”, but also that “in the face of growing threats, there is reason for hope”.
Conditions have “rebounded moderately in Brazil, Bangladesh, Hungary and Venezuela…driven by the efforts of higher education communities to resist state control and significant changes in political leadership”, it said.
“These countries demonstrate that it is indeed possible to reverse the decline of respect for institutional autonomy, but that it will not happen without the commitment and involvement of the higher education community,” said Clare Robinson, SAR’s director of advocacy.
“Universities must reject government attempts to control the sector.”
Call for action
SAR said that securing academic freedom will “require concrete action” from higher education institutions, policymakers and others.
It said academic institutions “must act as the frontline defenders” of academic freedom, such as by defending institutional autonomy from outside actors and promoting core values to the public.
But state authorities “have the primary responsibility to protect scholars and students who face immediate risks and to refrain from political interference”, it emphasised, calling for expressions of concern, mechanisms of support, investigation of incidents and the amendment of relevant laws as necessary.
SAR also called on civil society and the general public to stand “in solidarity” with academia.
View this article on Research Professional
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