Throughout the history of universities, university autonomy and academic freedom have come to be regarded as indispensable if the university has to fulfill its function of generating and disseminating knowledge and information for the benefit of society. Although these are often conflated, they are distinguishable though interdependent. Autonomy relates to the self-governance of the university without external interference. Academic freedom entails the freedom of an individual academic to hold whatever views, orthodox or unorthodox, without censure or other penalty. It also entails critical inquiry.
Although academic autonomy and freedom are critical to the academic function, they are not beyond dispute. There is always a continuous debate on what are the proper boundaries of legitimate academic autonomy and freedom. These boundaries are not fixed and keep on shifting. The shifting is often caused by government intervention into university education by way of subsidising it.
As a quid pro quo for subsidizing university education, the government often feels entitled to stipulate conditions for the granting of such subsidies. Various governments follow different ways of doing this. There is a general trend in terms of which the government is defining the degree of academic autonomy. With autonomy it emphasizes accountability and with academic freedom it emphasizes responsibility. These are not mutually in conflict.
Although universities cherish their autonomy and academic freedom, these are always subject to threat. These cannot flourish in an authoritarian culture, but can only thrive in a democratic culture where other civil liberties are respected. The reason for this is that human freedom is indivisible and academic freedom cannot survive when other rights are violated.
The South African Constitution protects academic freedom. This is not generally done in most constitutions of the world. The reason why the South African Constitution expressly protects academic freedom is because academic autonomy and freedom were severely violated in the past. Although the protection of academic freedom in the Constitution does not provide indefeasible security, it makes the way of a transgressing government difficult. This is important because even a democratic government can violate academic freedom.
