The funeral prayer of the academy

The prerequisite for a university to be considered a university in the true sense is the existence of academic freedom within it. Academic freedom is, fundamentally, the freedom of faculty members working in higher education institutions to seek and discover the truth, publish their findings, and teach them to their students within the scientific fields in which they are authorized and qualified.

According to the Academic Freedom Index 2023 report released recently, Turkey ranks 166th out of 179 countries. While 1 represents the highest score and 0 the lowest in this index, Turkey's score is only 0.084. The score of Czechia, which ranks first in academic freedom, is 0.977. Iran is just below us, and Egypt is one rank above us. Let alone developed countries, our pathetic situation becomes even more apparent when we see some of the countries that rank above us—meaning their universities are freer than ours.

Universities in Rwanda, Mauritania, Yemen, Somalia, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and even Afghanistan rank higher than us in academic freedom. Looking at the past, Turkey reached its highest score in this index in 2004 with 0.56 points. However, there has been a sharp decline, especially after 2016, and the pathetic point we have reached is clear. It seems the presidential system has also sent Turkey soaring (!) in the field of academic freedom. Can there be quality education in universities where there is no academic freedom? Of course not. Naturally, this situation is also reflected in education quality indices. While only 11 of the 202 universities in Turkey are in the top 1000 in the world university rankings, 86 are below the top 1000, and most painfully, 105 cannot even enter the rankings.

A university without academic freedom is not a university. Unfortunately, universities in Turkey are on the verge of taking their last breath, or perhaps they already have. While Boğaziçi University professors are protesting for their school's academic freedom by standing in their robes, their action is actually the funeral prayer for the university. There is a corpse in the middle, but no one to bury it. So, do we grant our absolution to the corpse lying there?