Universities and democracy?

This presentation will help decipher the different national political environments and differing academic cultures that significantly shape the range of activities universities are able to engage in, including the promotion of democracy and, more generally, open and civil societies. 

The political and policy world in which universities operate is undergoing a transition, one that is reflective of a significant change in domestic politics and international relations: a populist turn inward among a key group of nation-states often led by demagogues and autocrats that includes China and Hong Kong, Turkey, Hungary, Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Within right-wing political ecosystems, universities, in effect, offer a canary in the coal mine - a window into the extent of civil liberties and the political environment and trajectory of nation-states.

The war in Ukraine and student and faculty led demonstrations in Russia and Iran add to the complexity of understanding the role of universities as leaders or followers, or intermediators, in the nations they are intended to serve.

This event will be particularly useful for those interested in higher education research.

Related links

• Centre for Global Higher Education
• Department of Education, Practice and Society