Academic freedom, responsibility, and restrictions: Voices of university teachers in Iceland
Academic freedom is essential to universities. The article discusses the nature and value of academic freedom and reports study results on how it is understood by university teachers in Iceland and what they see as threatening it. Two key aspects of academic freedom are identified: (a) free choice o...
Published in: | Veftímaritið Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | Icelandic |
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Stjórnsýslustofnun
2022
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Online Access: | http://www.irpa.is/article/view/a.2022.18.1.7 https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2022.18.1.7 |
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fticelandunivojs:oai:ojs.hi.is:article/3558 2023-05-15T16:48:04+02:00 Academic freedom, responsibility, and restrictions: Voices of university teachers in Iceland Akademískt frelsi, ábyrgð og hömlur: Sjónarmið háskólakennara á Íslandi Frímannsson, Guðmundur Heiðar Ólafsdóttir, Anna Geirsdóttir, Guðrún Kristinsson, Sigurður Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S. 2022-06-23 application/pdf http://www.irpa.is/article/view/a.2022.18.1.7 https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2022.18.1.7 isl ice Stjórnsýslustofnun http://www.irpa.is/article/view/a.2022.18.1.7/pdf http://www.irpa.is/article/view/a.2022.18.1.7 doi:10.13177/irpa.a.2022.18.1.7 ##submission.copyrightStatement## Icelandic Review of Politics & Administration; Árg. 18, Nr 1 (2022): Vorhefti; 139-164 Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla; Árg. 18, Nr 1 (2022): Vorhefti; 139-164 1670-679X 1670-6803 Academic freedom university autonomy threats academic freedom in research academic freedom in teaching Akademískt frelsi sjálfstæði háskóla ógnir akademískt frelsi í rannsóknum akademískt frelsi í kennslu info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Peer-reviewed Article 2022 fticelandunivojs https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2022.18.1.7 2022-12-14T23:50:35Z Academic freedom is essential to universities. The article discusses the nature and value of academic freedom and reports study results on how it is understood by university teachers in Iceland and what they see as threatening it. Two key aspects of academic freedom are identified: (a) free choice of topics and methods in research and teaching, and (b) a knowledge and integrity requirement. The article is based on data collected in two research projects, i.e. data from questionnaires and group interviews collected in the first project and interviews with individuals in the second project. The questionnaires were collected in 2011, the group interviews were conducted in 2014 and the interviews with individuals in 2019-2020. A total of 48 academic staff from three universities were interviewed, 26 females and 22 males. Participants were asked how they understood academic freedom and how it related to various aspects of their job as researchers and university teachers. The results show that university teachers in Iceland place great value on academic freedom understood as the freedom to choose topics and methods, primarily in research but also in teaching. Their understanding is that this freedom comes with requirements of knowledge, integrity, and peer-review, both in research and teaching. Participants perceive restricted academic freedom as a result of political and economic pressure, competition for limited funds, the institutional system for performance assessment, and limited avenues for publication. Concerns about limited-term hiring and silencing were not voiced. Results are consistent between all three data sources. Akademískt frelsi er órjúfanlegur þáttur háskólastarfs. Í greininni er rakið inntak og mikilvægi akademísks frelsis og sagt frá niðurstöðum rannsókna á skilningi íslenskra háskólakennara á því og ógnum þess. Tilgreindir eru tveir inntaksþættir, (a) frjálst val viðfangsefna og aðferða í rannsóknum og kennslu og (b) þekkingar- og heilindakrafa. Greinin byggir á gögnum úr þremur gagnasöfnum sem ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland University of Iceland: Peer Reviewed Journals Veftímaritið Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla 18 1 139 164 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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University of Iceland: Peer Reviewed Journals |
op_collection_id |
fticelandunivojs |
language |
Icelandic |
topic |
Academic freedom university autonomy threats academic freedom in research academic freedom in teaching Akademískt frelsi sjálfstæði háskóla ógnir akademískt frelsi í rannsóknum akademískt frelsi í kennslu |
spellingShingle |
Academic freedom university autonomy threats academic freedom in research academic freedom in teaching Akademískt frelsi sjálfstæði háskóla ógnir akademískt frelsi í rannsóknum akademískt frelsi í kennslu Frímannsson, Guðmundur Heiðar Ólafsdóttir, Anna Geirsdóttir, Guðrún Kristinsson, Sigurður Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S. Academic freedom, responsibility, and restrictions: Voices of university teachers in Iceland |
topic_facet |
Academic freedom university autonomy threats academic freedom in research academic freedom in teaching Akademískt frelsi sjálfstæði háskóla ógnir akademískt frelsi í rannsóknum akademískt frelsi í kennslu |
description |
Academic freedom is essential to universities. The article discusses the nature and value of academic freedom and reports study results on how it is understood by university teachers in Iceland and what they see as threatening it. Two key aspects of academic freedom are identified: (a) free choice of topics and methods in research and teaching, and (b) a knowledge and integrity requirement. The article is based on data collected in two research projects, i.e. data from questionnaires and group interviews collected in the first project and interviews with individuals in the second project. The questionnaires were collected in 2011, the group interviews were conducted in 2014 and the interviews with individuals in 2019-2020. A total of 48 academic staff from three universities were interviewed, 26 females and 22 males. Participants were asked how they understood academic freedom and how it related to various aspects of their job as researchers and university teachers. The results show that university teachers in Iceland place great value on academic freedom understood as the freedom to choose topics and methods, primarily in research but also in teaching. Their understanding is that this freedom comes with requirements of knowledge, integrity, and peer-review, both in research and teaching. Participants perceive restricted academic freedom as a result of political and economic pressure, competition for limited funds, the institutional system for performance assessment, and limited avenues for publication. Concerns about limited-term hiring and silencing were not voiced. Results are consistent between all three data sources. Akademískt frelsi er órjúfanlegur þáttur háskólastarfs. Í greininni er rakið inntak og mikilvægi akademísks frelsis og sagt frá niðurstöðum rannsókna á skilningi íslenskra háskólakennara á því og ógnum þess. Tilgreindir eru tveir inntaksþættir, (a) frjálst val viðfangsefna og aðferða í rannsóknum og kennslu og (b) þekkingar- og heilindakrafa. Greinin byggir á gögnum úr þremur gagnasöfnum sem ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Frímannsson, Guðmundur Heiðar Ólafsdóttir, Anna Geirsdóttir, Guðrún Kristinsson, Sigurður Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S. |
author_facet |
Frímannsson, Guðmundur Heiðar Ólafsdóttir, Anna Geirsdóttir, Guðrún Kristinsson, Sigurður Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S. |
author_sort |
Frímannsson, Guðmundur Heiðar |
title |
Academic freedom, responsibility, and restrictions: Voices of university teachers in Iceland |
title_short |
Academic freedom, responsibility, and restrictions: Voices of university teachers in Iceland |
title_full |
Academic freedom, responsibility, and restrictions: Voices of university teachers in Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Academic freedom, responsibility, and restrictions: Voices of university teachers in Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Academic freedom, responsibility, and restrictions: Voices of university teachers in Iceland |
title_sort |
academic freedom, responsibility, and restrictions: voices of university teachers in iceland |
publisher |
Stjórnsýslustofnun |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.irpa.is/article/view/a.2022.18.1.7 https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2022.18.1.7 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Icelandic Review of Politics & Administration; Árg. 18, Nr 1 (2022): Vorhefti; 139-164 Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla; Árg. 18, Nr 1 (2022): Vorhefti; 139-164 1670-679X 1670-6803 |
op_relation |
http://www.irpa.is/article/view/a.2022.18.1.7/pdf http://www.irpa.is/article/view/a.2022.18.1.7 doi:10.13177/irpa.a.2022.18.1.7 |
op_rights |
##submission.copyrightStatement## |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2022.18.1.7 |
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Veftímaritið Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla |
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18 |
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139 |
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164 |
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