The Scholars at Risk Network (SAR) has called on the international community, governments and higher education institutions to improve reporting of attacks on higher education and threats to academic freedom.
In its latest annual Free to Think report into attacks on higher education and academic freedom, released on Tuesday, its researchers reported 391 attacks on higher education communities in 65 countries and territories between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022.
The report says the attacks – which include violent attacks on the university space, wrongful imprisonments and prosecutions, the use of force against students, terminations and expulsions and imposition of travel restrictions, threats to institutional autonomy, and other pressures violating the rights and safety of individuals – have become a distressing worldwide phenomenon.
To increase protection, a stronger response is needed, it says.
According to Robert Quinn, SAR’s founding executive director, higher education communities around the world have suffered varied, ruinous attacks over the past year, particularly Russian terrorists’ devastation of Ukrainian university infrastructure.
SAR is an international network of more than 600 higher education institutions and thousands of individuals in more than 40 countries offering protection to scholars and students – and its Free to Think series of annual reports is a product of SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, which researches and reports on attacks on higher education to protect vulnerable scholars and students, hold perpetrators accountable and prevent future violations.
In reviewing global and regional trends, including spotlights on 24 countries and territories, Free to Think 2022 notes with concern, among other things, the violent impact of war, conflict and political upheaval in Ethiopia, Myanmar and Ukraine, where academic activity has been upended and campuses have been destroyed, occupied, raided and taken over for military or other strategic gain.
There are numerous scholar rescue organisations that universities can work with, including SAR, the Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA), the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF), PAUSE, the Philipp Schwartz Initiative or similar programmes.
SAR network members alone this past year have created more than 170 temporary positions in response to events facing scholars around the world, including the situations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Yemen and Ukraine, the report says.
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