De quelques préconditions à la liberté académique

Jean-Luc De Meulemeester

No 20-013, Working Papers CEB from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: In this paper we assess both the benefits of academic freedom and the conditions required for its existence. We propose a long run historical sketch to put forward the institutional and financial characteristics of the Humboldtian model that stressed the very idea of academic freedom. We show how this model influenced the later developments of higher education, both in Europe and the USA. We stress how the post-WW2 massive expansion of higher education led to more utilitarian considerations by the State funding the institutions. The crisis of the 70s and the rise of neoliberalism since the early 80s led to the emergence of a new vision of higher education as a tool for economic performance. In this new and anti-Humboldtian perspective, higher education institutions are monitored from above (regulated competition, selective funding, output-based rather than input-based) and transformed internally into firm-like organizations. We question the potential dangers for academic freedom.

Keywords: Higher Education; Academic Freedom; Conditions; History (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-12-16
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hme and nep-hpe
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