Academics in eastern Europe warn of risks to academic freedom

07 Sep 2022 | News

Hungarian and Polish academics raise concerns over academic freedom, as governments further tighten controls over universities and research institutes

By Anna Rzhevkina

Protesters at a 2017 rally against the Hungarian government’s higher education law. Photo: I stand with CEU

University heavyweights in Hungary and Poland are continuing to decry curbs on academic freedom, as alarm bells sound about increasing restrictions on universities across the EU.

Hungary is viewed as the most extreme case of an EU member state limiting academic freedom, as highlighted in the 2018 ruling by the European Court of Justice that the government violated EU law when the Central European University (CEU) was pressured into moving from Budapest to Vienna.

The situation in Poland is seen as less acute, but the conservative government has been accused of leaning on academic institutions to drop courses and research that are critical of government policies.

According to the latest edition of the Academic Freedom Index, published in March 2022 by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, academic freedom

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