Listen to this article:

New Delhi: The Academic Freedom Index (AFI) 2026 update paints a grim picture of the state of academic freedom worldwide. Data collected over the past decade indicates that over 50 countries experienced a decline in academic freedom, with a mere nine registering improvements, signalling a broader global shift detrimentally impacting both independent research and institutional health. 

The AFI Update 2026, prepared by researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the V-Dem Institute, studies the deterioration of institutional autonomy and its widespread implications on the freedoms of individual scholars. Conceptualising academic freedom as a multi-dimensional construct, the AFI combines a range of individual-level indicators and institutional safeguards, including parameters such as freedom to teach and research, freedom of academic and cultural expression, institutional autonomy, and campus integrity. 

The report emphasises the statistically significant positive correlation between institutional autonomy and individual academics’ freedom. It spotlights the necessity for well-functioning academic institutions, unhindered by interference from non-academic actors, to ensure that academics are free to research and teach without state-level pressures and coercive executive measures. 

The Relationship Between Institutional Autonomy (x-axis) and Freedom to Research and Teach (y-axis), 2000–2025, Photo: Academic Freedom........

© The Wire