Threats in the U.S., decrease in the EU,... (Re)discover News Tank's articles on academic freedom

Research budget cuts, interference in university governance, censorship of certain research topics... Attacks on academic freedom are one of the subjects that has kept the News Tank Academic editorial team busiest on a daily basis, particularly over the last few months. Read our latest articles on the topic on 20/05/2025, which is Academic Freedom Day.

Academic freedom declined slightly across the EU from 2023 to 2024 according to the 2024 edition of the European Parliament's Observatory on Academic Freedom. Five countries - Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Austria and Poland - showed significant declines between 2013 and 2023, with Hungary's situation being of particular concern, as it ranks among the bottom 20 to 30 % globally.

The election of U.S. President Donald Trump has brought restrictions on science and scholarship: executive orders that froze research funds, censorship on topics such as climate change and gender, and restrictions on transatlantic data sharing, for example.

European institutions seem to want to take the subject in hand.

On 21/03/2025, 13 EU ministers for…