Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy: Reflections on the Challenges and Sustainable Development of Higher Institutions of Learning in South Africa

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-630-7_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Academic Freedom; Institutional Autonomy; Higher Education; Research; Socio-Political; Development

Abstract

The ongoing dialogue for academic freedom and university autonomy remains important for the development and sustainability of higher learning institutions. The concept of academic freedom, although explicates different meanings in context and nature, its understanding from the lens of most developing nations stems from academics’ pursuit of knowledge, self-development, and discovery without fear of victimization. The argument of institutional autonomy explains the autonomy or freedom to disseminate knowledge, facts, and empirical research for their immediate local and community needs. However, the pursuit of academic freedom and institutional autonomy has been largely constrained in South Africa with consequences for sustainable, developmental, and innovative milestones of universities. The paper reflects on the challenges of academic freedom and institutional autonomy and argues that academic freedom and institutional autonomy are still untapped and under-utilized for the sustainability and growth of South African universities. These include cultural beliefs and environment, and state control and intervention that stifles free academic enquiry. Through a theoretical argument, we explore political, cultural, social, and other institutional challenges constraining academic freedom and institutional autonomy in South Africa. We argue that it is unrealistic to continue nursing the agenda of university reforms, development, and sustainability through innovative research and community development without canvassing for unhindered academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Thus, we conclude on the need for a thorough harnessing of academic freedom and institutional autonomy that can be leveraged as pathways for the resuscitation, development, and sustainable teaching and learning environment for nuance knowledge production and innovative research ideas among South African universities.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Samson Adeoluwa Adewumi
AU  - Princess Thulile Duma
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/12/31
TI  - Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy: Reflections on the Challenges and Sustainable Development of Higher Institutions of Learning in South Africa
BT  - Proceedings of the Focus Conference (TFC 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 60
EP  - 73
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-630-7_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-630-7_4
ID  - Adewumi2024
ER  -