State Interference Has Caused A Decline In Academic Freedom

The V-Dem Institute, based in Sweden and well-known for its periodic reports on the state of democracy and academic freedom in the world, has recently released the Academic Freedom Index update 2026. The report presents an alarming state of academic freedom across the globe, especially in countries once renowned for the academic freedom of their institutions.

The report defines academic freedom as a multi-dimensional concept that incorporates both individual and institutional dimensions. In turn, the Academic Freedom Index reflects this by assessing de facto protection of freedoms at both levels using the statistical model developed by the V-Dem project. For this purpose, it relies on the expertise of more than 2,000 scholars worldwide and a wide range of available data.

For this report, indicators of AFI, at an individual level, include the freedom to research and teach, the freedom of academic exchange and dissemination, and the freedom of academic and cultural expression. At an institutional level, indicators include institutional autonomy and campus integrity, meant to safeguard academic institutions from undue interference from non-academic actors.

Global Decline In Academic Freedom

According to the report, over the past decade, academic freedom has declined in 50 countries and improved only in 9. Further, while all dimensions of academic freedom are declining more than improving, declines in specific dimensions and campus integrity are the most widespread.

Data indicate that in 2025 academic freedom remained more protected in Latin America, Europe, North America, and large parts of Southern and Western Africa than in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

In the period 2015-2025, several countries experienced substantial and significant declines in all five dimensions of academic freedom: the freedom to research and teach, campus integrity, the freedom of academic exchange, the freedom of academic and cultural expression and institutional autonomy.

The data show that academic freedom began to decline globally around 2012, largely driven by setbacks in the Latin America, Asia, and MENA regions. If the population affected are taken into account—reflecting the idea that academic freedom concerns people’s right and opportunity to freely pursue (their academic interests)—the decline looks even more severe.

Focus On Institutional Autonomy

This year’s report focuses on institutional autonomy because it is fundamental to protecting individual-level dimensions of academic freedom. The data further suggest that countries with greater institutional autonomy provide greater protection to an individual scholar’s freedom.

For this purpose, institutional autonomy means the degree to which higher education institutions are able to govern themselves without undue interference from the state or other external, non-academic actors. Importantly, it does not mean complete independence from the state; instead, it denotes a protected sphere of decision-making within a broad legal and regulatory framework.

Autonomous institutions are better equipped to resist political pressures, safeguard merit-based appointments, and provide academic shelter to scholars whose work might challenge prevailing political and ideological interests.

On the other hand, with weak institutional autonomy, governments are able to exert indirect control through leadership appointments, conditional funding or restrictions on day-to-day decision-making in admissions, hiring of faculty, and research content, thereby undermining academic freedom without overt repression.

Thus, with weak institutional autonomy, higher education institutions and individual scholars become more vulnerable to external pressures, ranging from economic constraints to political and ideological restrictions.

Autonomy Declines Across Countries

While constitutional protections for university autonomy are widespread in Latin America, Central Asia, and Eastern and Western Europe, this de jure protection does not always ensure de facto protection. In recent years, institutional autonomy has begun to decline in many countries, predominantly in Europe, North America, and Latin America.

The report tells us that between 2015 and 2025, higher education institutions in 43 countries across different regions, many of them liberal democracies, experienced substantial and statistically significant declines in institutional autonomy.

Significantly, in 21 of these 43 countries institutional autonomy was well protected in 2015. During the same period, only in 11 countries there have been substantial and statistically significant improvements in academic freedom.

US Universities Under Pressure

The US case illustrates how institutional autonomy of higher education institutions can be quickly damaged by coercive executive decisions, though it also suggests the pushback by academic institutions, civil society organisations, and court action against illegal measures are key to protecting academic freedom.

The decline in academic freedom in the United States began around 2020, largely initiated by state-level actions in many states and mostly undertaken by officials associated with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. This attack intensified under the second Trump administration beginning in 2025 with a range of federal-level actions as well.

These attacks undermine not only individual-level freedoms of faculty, staff, and students but also the autonomy of higher education institutions. Political interference in university administration and governance, decisions about the syllabi and subjects, hiring practices and research agendas, has increasingly, and alarmingly, become a constant feature of contemporary US higher education.

Several federal actions in 2025 targeted the autonomy of universities: political accreditation, conditional federal funding depending on compliance with government demands, and conditional research support to influence admissions, hiring, and other governance practices at institutions, specifically federal directives against diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) policies of higher education institutions.

While this political strategy led to high-profile confrontations between the Trump administration and Ivy League universities, it also prompted multiple lawsuits against the federal government, alleging unconstitutional interference with institutional autonomy. In any case, multiple attacks at both the state and federal levels have created severe pressure on American universities.

Academic Freedom Faces Wider Threats

This steady deterioration in institutional autonomy in higher education institutions across the world is a serious cause for concern.

Vrijendra taught in a Mumbai college for more than 30 years and has been associated with democratic rights groups in the city.

Published on: Thursday, September 17, 2026, 09:53 PM IST