‘Unusually steep’ decline in US university autonomy, index shows Drop in institutional autonomy of 50 per cent since 2015 means country is now only rated as ‘moderate’ by experts

Data from the latest 2026 #AcademicFreedomIndex saw institutional autonomy in the #US decline by 50% since 2015—an "unusually steep” decline that warrants both concern and pushback from the higher education community. @timeshighered.bsky.social reports:
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/unusual...?

The #AcademicFreedomIndex Update 2026 is out now! A project by SAR’s partners, @fau.de and @vdeminstitute.bsky.social, the index measures #academicfreedom levels around the globe and warns of the steep decline in institutional autonomy in the #US. Read now:
academic-freedom-index.net

Da Heute viel über #Wissenschaftsfreiheit diskutiuert wird weil die neuen Daten des bei @vdeminstitute.bsky.social & @fau.de beheimateten #AcademicFreedomindex heraus gekommen sind, poste ich hier nochmal meine Kurzanalyse für @w-und-f.bsky.social zum Thema Erosion der Wissenschaftsfreiheit.

Academic Freedom Index The Academic Freedom Index (AFI) assesses de facto levels of academic freedom across the world. It is a collaborative effort between researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (F...

The Academic Freedom Index Update 2026 is out. This year, we focus on institutional autonomy and compare the decline in institutional autonomy in the United States with that in other major autocratizing countries.
academic-freedom-index.net #academicfreedomindex @fau.de @vdeminstitute.bsky.social

Er wies zudem auf die Polarisierung nach dem 7.10.23 hin. Beide Entwicklungen zusammen hätten zu einer Herabstufung Deutschlands im #AcademicFreedomIndex geführt.”

Known for years as a global leader in #highered and research, the #US saw #academicfreedom levels and university autonomy decline significantly in #Free2Think2025 —posing dire risks to the shrinking space for academic freedom worldwide. #AcademicFreedomIndex
www.scholarsatrisk.org/resources/fr...

In #Free2Think2025, female students in #Iran saw escalating surveillance, physical violence, and arrests for failing to comply with mandatory hijab laws, once again resulting in a “completely restricted” rating from the #AcademicFreedomIndex.
www.scholarsatrisk.org/resources/fr...

Despite the deadly repression of student protesters from July-August 2024, #Bangladesh saw a slight improvement in the #AcademicFreedomIndex, esp regarding campus integrity—the extent to which campuses are free from surveillance and security infringements.
www.scholarsatrisk.org/resources/fr...

Data from the #AcademicFreedomIndex reveals declining levels of #academicfreedom across authoritarian and democratic contexts. Over the past decade, in fact, global academic freedom levels have shrunk at an accelerating pace. Read why in #Free2Think2025:
www.scholarsatrisk.org/resources/fr...

Is research performance related to academic freedom? A preprint co-authored with @lutzb.bsky.social conducts a large-scale empirical analysis on the national level to this question. osf.io/2mh8f #academicfreedom #AcademicFreedomIndex Short 🧵

I offer more of an assessment of #AcademicFreedomIndex derived from @vdeminstitute.bsky.social data on #Mongolia.
mongoliafocus.com/2025/05/asse...

Over time graph showing five components of index: campus integrity, freedom of academic and cultural expression, freedom of academic exchange and dissemination, freedom of research and teaching, institutional autonomy. All five graphs declining since 2019, though not uniformly. Steady decline: academic exchange and dissemination, research and teaching, academic and cultural dissemination, autonomy. Campus integrity fluctuating.

Looking at #AcademicFreedomIndex components @vdeminstitute.bsky.social since 2015 in more detail.

Academic Freedom Index | Mongolia Focus

I've taken a look at #Mongolia #AcademicFreedomIndex, derived from @vdeminstitute.bsky.social data.
Score has broadly declined since 2019. What does this score mean?
mongoliafocus.com/2025/04/acad...
#MGLpoli

This trend will continue, and the US index will gradually approach that of Russia, Turkey and Hungary, etc.

Full report is accessible from academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

#AcademicFreedomIndex #Science

Image shows six charts of data for Mongolia from 1900 to 2024. Graphs flat until democratic revolution in 1990, the huge jump up with some decline in recent years. Total score shown as 0.70. Seemingly steepest decline in "Academic and Cultural Expression" since 2017.

#Mongolia score declined slightly in #AcademicFreedomIndex drawing on @vdeminstitute.bsky.social data.

Quality Assessment of the Academic Freedom Index: Strengths, Weaknesses, and How Best to Use It | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core Quality Assessment of the Academic Freedom Index: Strengths, Weaknesses, and How Best to Use It

🚨Publication Alert 🚨 New article published in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social together with my coauthor Janika Spannagel: doi.org/10.1017/S1537592724001968
We assessed the quality of the #academicfreedomindex from the @vdeminstitute.bsky.social dataset. \1

Der #AcademicFreedomIndex ist weltweit seit 2006 gesunken und etwa auf dem Stand von vor 50 Jahren.

Dies hat mehrere Gründe: Bevölkerungswachstum, Politische und Gesellschaftliche Polarisierung

Deutschland liegt auf Platz 11

#Wissenschaftsfreiheit
academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...