Measuring the legal protection of academic freedom: The scorecard for South Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20853/39-4-7497Keywords:
academic freedom, institutional autonomy, academic self-governance, collegiality, employment security, tenure, working conditionsAbstract
This article measures to what extent academic freedom as construed in terms of international human rights law, specifically UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel of 1997, is protected in South African law. It determines the elements of this right, operationalises these by way of 37 human rights-based indicators, and then assesses whether South Africa’s legal framework related to higher education and research adequately protects academic freedom and its structural safeguards, such as institutional autonomy, academic self-governance, and employment security, including tenure. The authors had previously applied this scorecard to determine the strength of the protection of academic freedom in the law of European countries. The analysis for South Africa shows that, as in Europe (and, as it were, most countries of the global North), rather than politically motivated “ideological” attacks, it is the utilitarian, economistic, and, in this sense, illiberal vision of higher education and research, reflected in law and in practice, that puts academic freedom under pressure in South Africa. As in European and in many other countries, market liberalism erodes academic freedom in South Africa, but, additionally, “transformationism” as well as the notion that universities should be development-oriented threaten academic freedom here. Remedying the situation, apart from legislative reform, will require reasserting the truth-seeking (and communicating) role of the university.
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References
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Dworkin, Ronald. 1996. “We Need a New Interpretation of Academic Freedom.” In The Future of Academic Freedom, edited by Louis Menand, 181–98. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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European University Association (EUA). 2007. Lisbon Declaration: Europe’s Universities beyond 2010: Diversity with a Common Purpose (April 13, 2007).
Fabrizio, Kira R. 2007. “University Patenting and the Pace of Industrial Innovation.” Industrial and Corporate Change 16(4): 505–34. https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtm016.
Hall, Martin and Ashley Symes. 2003. “Co-operative Governance or Conditional Autonomy? Principles for Governance of South African Higher Education.” In Kagisano No. 2 – Good Governance in Higher Education: Reflections on Co-operative Governance in South African Higher Education, 5–29. Council on Higher Education.
Higher Education Act, No. 101 of 1997.
Hlatshwayo, Mlamuli N. 2024. “Exorbitant Vice-Chancellor Salary Packages Suggest Something Is Fundamentally Broken in Our Higher Education System.” Daily Maverick, August 22, 2024. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2024-08-22-exorbitant-vice-chancellor-salary-packages-suggest-something-is-fundamentally-broken-in-our-higher-education-system.
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Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act, No. 51 of 2008.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). 1966.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). 1966.
Jansen, Jonathan D. 2005. “Accounting for Autonomy.” South African Journal of Higher Education 19(2): 214–28.
Jansen, Jonathan D. 2023. Corrupted: A Study of Chronic Dysfunction in South African Universities. Johannesburg: Wits University Press.
Karran, Terence, Klaus D. Beiter, and Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua. 2017. “Measuring Academic Freedom in Europe: A Criterion Referenced Approach.” Policy Reviews in Higher Education 1(2): 209–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322969.2017.1307093.
Karran, Terence. 2009. “Academic Freedom in Europe: Time for a Magna Charta?” Higher Education Policy 22(2): 163–89. https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2009.2.
Kaye, David. 2020. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression: Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, U.N. Doc. A/75/261 (July 28, 2020).
Kenney, Martin and Donald Patton. 2009. “Reconsidering the Bayh-Dole Act and the Current University Invention Ownership Model.” Research Policy 38(9): 1407–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2009.07.007.
Krüger, Rosaan. 2013. “The Genesis and Scope of Academic Freedom in the South African Constitution.” In Kagisano No. 8 – Academic Freedom, 5–27. Council on Higher Education.
Labour Relations Act, No. 66 of 1995.
Malherbe, Rassie and Sarie J. Berkhout. 2001. “The National Qualifications Framework and the Unconstitutional Limitation of Academic Freedom.” South African Journal of Higher Education 15(2): 62–73.
Merton, Robert K. 1973. “The Normative Structure of Science” (1942). In The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations, edited by Norman W. Storer, 267–78. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ministerial Statement on University Funding. 2021. [On years:] 2022/23 and 2023/24 (Statement of December 2021).
Mkize, Phumla. 2023. “Placing Unisa under Administration May Not Solve Problems.” Sunday World, August 20, 2023. https://sundayworld.co.za/education/placing-unisa-under-administration-may-not-solve-problems.
Moja, Teboho, Nico Cloete, and Nic Olivier. 2003. “Would Moving from Co-operative Governance to Conditional Autonomy Contribute to Effective Governance?” In Kagisano No. 2 – Good Governance in Higher Education: Reflections on Co-operative Governance in South African Higher Education, 30–46. Council on Higher Education.
Moodie, Graeme C. 1994. “The State and the Liberal Universities in South Africa: 1948-1990.” Higher Education 27(1): 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01383758.
Muller, Seán M. 2021. The Incentivised University: Scientific Revolutions, Policies, Consequences. Cham: Springer.
Muller, Seán M. 2024. “Academic Freedom in the ‘Incentivised University.’” Deepening the Discourse on Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and Public Accountability in South African Higher Education, Higher Education Conference (February 28–March 1, 2024), Council on Higher Education.
National Commission on Higher Education. 1996. A Framework for Transformation, Report, 1996.
National Plan for Higher Education. 2001. Ministry of Education (February 2001).
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Published
2025-08-23
How to Cite
Beiter, K. D., and T. Karran. 2025. “Measuring the Legal Protection of Academic Freedom: The Scorecard for South Africa”. South African Journal of Higher Education 39 (4):22-56. https://doi.org/10.20853/39-4-7497.
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