Academic freedom

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The academic freedom or academic freedom is a term that a number of freedoms and the corresponding responsibility for the universities , their teachers , the university administration and the students included. The term goes back to the Platonic Academy of Antiquity.

History of meaning

middle Ages

The libertas scholastica in the 12th to 15th centuries primarily meant papal or imperial guaranteed corporate special rights of the universities .

During the Reformation , the sovereign influence on the universities grew, for example the Leucorea with its function to train state officials including an oath of loyalty from the professors to the king and the empire.

17th century

The enlightened libertas philosophandi , represented by Spinoza and Pufendorf , for example , called for free thinking independent of church dogmas and a predominance of theology as well as a state-guaranteed free exchange of opinions among scholars. The re-establishment of the Reform University in Halle in 1694 was an example of this statist ideal of freedom .

The University of Göttingen opened in 1737 . Academic freedom of teaching was laid down in the statutes of the Philosophical Faculty, according to which “all professors should enjoy responsible freedom of teaching and conviction, provided they keep their distance from teaching that violates religion, the state and good morals. They should be free to choose the textbooks and writers they want to explain in their lectures. ”The free academic teaching practice in Göttingen went hand in hand with an opening of the study program for students of all denominations and the establishment of a Protestant and a Catholic university church .

Influence of the Enlightenment

In 1798, in a dispute between the faculties, Immanuel Kant postulated that the faculties of philosophy should be particularly independent of the influence of the authorities in relation to the faculties of medicine, law and theology, which should consist in an obligation solely to truth and reason. With the founding of the Berlin University, Wilhelm von Humboldt combined a purely scientific institution free from state interference, while Hegel saw scientific autonomy as guaranteed by the state.

In the Paulskirche constitution of 1848, there was for the first time a provision on academic freedom of teaching: Science and its teaching are free.

Federal Republic of Germany

Academic freedom consists in the freedom of science , research and teaching within the meaning of Article 5, Paragraph 3, Sentence 1 of the Basic Law .

  • Research : The scientist is free in his research questions, in his methodical approach (provided it does not violate other laws) and in the evaluation and dissemination of his research results.
  • Freedom of teaching : The lecturers (university professors) can design the courses (lectures, exercises, seminars, etc.) freely in terms of content and method and are entitled to freely express their scientific and artistic doctrine . However, this does not release them from the obligation to hold courses as defined in the respective study regulations.
  • Freedom of study : Within the framework of the study and examination regulations, students can freely choose which courses they attend and, as a rule, whether / when they take exams . This freedom gives the students more or less freedom in structuring their academic training, depending on the field of study .
    • Within the course, you can set priorities ( specialization subject ) of your own choosing.
    • These freedoms are partly limited by study regulations and partly binding timetables, which prescribe the teaching of the basics of a subject, especially in the first semesters, and are intended to guarantee that all students in a course can rely on a solid base of skills and knowledge in the further course of their studies can. Occasionally, these restrictions are criticized as the schooling of higher education; this applies in particular to bachelor and state examination courses . Training geared towards the labor market can also force stricter lines to be followed in the structure of the course.
    • The students can develop their own scientific opinion and should also express it. If it contradicts the doctrine , this is an opportunity to practice the art of reasoning .

For academic freedom among other aspects, some of which follow from the three "fundamental freedoms", z. B.

literature

  • Peter Classen : On the history of "Academic Freedom", primarily in the Middle Ages , in: Historische Zeitschrift , Vol. 232, H. 3 (June, 1981), pages 529-553.
  • Hermann von Helmholtz : About the academic freedom of the German universities , speech given at the beginning of the rectorate at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin on October 15, 1877, reprint of the edition Berlin, Hirschwald, 1878, publisher: University Library of Humboldt -University of Berlin 2005.
  • Franz Himpsl: The freedom of science: a theory for the 21st century , Wiesbaden: JB Metzler 2017 (dissertation University of Regensburg 2016), ISBN 978-3-658-17382-1 .
  • Ewald Horn : Academic freedom. Historical-critical investigation and frank consideration along with an appendix on student committees . Berlin 1905.
  • Axel Rüdiger: State theory and state formation: The political science at the University of Halle in the 18th century. Tübingen, Niemeyer 2005. ISBN 3-484-81015-7
  • Martin Nettesheim : Reasons and limits of academic freedom. DVBl. 2005, 1072 ff.
  • Julian Krüper: Academic Freedom and University Governance . On the structural change of supervisory instruments in the third sector using the example of university law , in: Hans-Jörg Schmidt-Trenz, Rolf Stober (ed.): Yearbook Law and Economics of the Third Sector 2009/2010 (RÖDS), pp. 119–148.
  • Carsten Nowak: The status of research in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and in the European Convention on Human Rights , in: Eric Hilgendorf , Susanne Beck (ed.): Biomedical Research in Europe, Nomos-Verlag 2010, pp. 75–116.
  • Michael Droege : Allocation of funds as a control instrument between academic freedom and democratic academic responsibility . WissR 2015, pp. 105–126.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ William J. Hoye: Roots of Scientific Freedom at the Medieval University of Münster, no year, accessed on December 17, 2017
  2. ↑ Marian Füssel: From academic freedom to freedom of science. On the premodern genealogy of a key concept. University of Göttingen, 2010
  3. ^ Constitution of the German Empire ( Memento of April 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) of March 28, 1849. Section VI. The basic rights of the German people, Art. VI § 152. verfassungen.de, accessed on December 17, 2017