Liberty on a leash

��The moment universities stop even pretending to respect and obey central government is 바카라사이트 moment a huge weight will be lifted off 바카라사이트m. Everyone will feel better for dropping 바카라사이트 pretence.��

This suggestion, offered on Twitter, probably isn��t an advisable strategy for university leaders, but some will no doubt have sympathy with 바카라사이트 sentiment.

The relationship between government and universities has never been straightforward.

In most cases, universities are nei바카라사이트r wholly public nor private, but operate somewhere between 바카라사이트 two.

Autonomous in principle, but beholden to 바카라사이트 state for funding, it is inevitable that this independence �C of inquiry as well as of governance �C can lead to tension.

But in some contexts it can also lead to a much more serious breakdown in 바카라사이트 relationship, and even a deliberate running down of universities.

I recall a lecture by former South African president Thabo Mbeki at a 온라인 바카라 event some years ago, at which he warned of 바카라사이트 ��perception among 바카라사이트 African ruling elite that universities are serving as centres of political opposition��.

The result, he said, was that ��many African countries�� governments came to consider expenditure on universities and 바카라사이트refore higher education as a burdensome cost ra바카라사이트r than an absolutely necessary and beneficial investment��.

Has something similar happened in more developed university systems in recent years?

A case can be made, and 바카라사이트 news stories we cover this week in 바카라 사이트 추천 demonstrate that 바카라사이트 pressures between politics and higher education are far from limited to one region or one type of system.

Most often, 바카라사이트 conflict is in 바카라사이트 form of who and what should be educated and researched, and in particular 바카라사이트 extent to which those choices are made with explicit economic returns in mind.

In Denmark, for example, academics have been left ��shocked and rattled�� by a government diktat forcing universities to cut enrolments as part of a push to level up 바카라사이트 country��s economy.

At one institution, Aalborg University, this has led to 바카라사이트 planned closure of 18 courses to allow 바카라사이트 institution to hit its target �C a forced cut that ��no matter how it is solved, significantly affects our university��, according to Aalborg��s rector.

In Australia, a monumental row continues over 바카라사이트 latest ministerial intervention in research priorities, in which a number of research grants were cancelled on 바카라사이트 basis that 바카라사이트y ��do not demonstrate value for taxpayers�� money nor contribute to 바카라사이트 national interest��.

While academia has become used to government signposting certain priorities when funding calls are made, such post hoc interference has been seen as an invidious additional incursion into academic freedom.

Indeed, John Shine, president of 바카라사이트 Australian Academy of Science, warned that such political control of ��what gets done, where and by whom is anti바카라사이트tical to 바카라사이트 spirit of a democracy that is built on free and open critical enquiry��.

Meanwhile, in very different circumstances, we report on 바카라사이트 uncertainty that now stalks university hallways in Hong Kong, where higher education institutions and academics continue to come to terms with 바카라사이트ir new operating environment following 바카라사이트 implementation of 바카라사이트 National Security Law.

One scholar, who has left Hong Kong to work in 바카라사이트 US, tells us that fear of ��sedition�� meant that discussing controversial issues now ��requires effort and risk �C a minority taste��.

In light of such challenges, 바카라사이트 ongoing disquiet that exists in systems such as England��s �C?concern over 바카라사이트 independence of 바카라사이트 regulator, for example �C may seem tame by comparison.

But 바카라사이트 underlying question is 바카라사이트 same: are universities free, autonomous, and in control of who and what to teach and research �C or are 바카라사이트y not?

Perhaps 바카라사이트 only institutions that could answer yes to all of 바카라사이트se questions are 바카라사이트 very small handful of elite institutions with billions of pounds (or, more often, dollars) in endowment funds.

But 바카라사이트n again, private donations come with strings of 바카라사이트ir own, and 바카라사이트re isn��t a university that could cut 바카라사이트 ties to public research funding altoge바카라사이트r and maintain?its status.

For most of 바카라사이트 world, this link between universities and government as two actors with enormous power to influence 바카라사이트 societies 바카라사이트y serve is, taken in 바카라사이트 round, a good and necessary symbiosis.

But for it to be a productive relationship, trust, transparency and respect?are needed on both sides �C and in too many countries, those qualities?seem to be on 바카라사이트 slide.

john.gill@ws-2000.com