Filtered by tag: academic freedom × Clear
WEEKEND READING: Free speech, free labour and emeritus professors
The UK's Office for Students launched a free speech complaints scheme covering all former staff, but its press release specifically highlighted emeritus professors, prompting discussion about their ambiguous status. Emeritus titles are honorary with no employment rights, yet professors often expect continued library, email, and research facility access. Universities benefit from essentially free academic labour in return. Authors argue institutions should replace the informal arrangement with formal, time-limited contracts clarifying mutual obligations, or consider abandoning the title entirely.
Why higher ed’s AI rush could put corporate interests over public service and independence
Matched: AI, Artificial Intelligence
Universities are rapidly forming corporate AI partnerships — with Nvidia, Microsoft, OpenAI and others — raising concerns about higher education's independence and public mission. Decades of corporatization have already shifted universities toward market-driven priorities, and AI is accelerating this trend. Financial pressures, enrollment declines, and competition for prestige may push institutions to prioritize commercial interests over academic freedom, public-good research, and democratic faculty governance.