Universities in Crisis: Academic Freedom, Mobility, and the Future of Higher Education

In this episode of Protecting Academia at Risk, we explore the urgent challenges facing universities today, from the rise of right-wing movements in Europe to the ongoing struggles of displaced and at-risk scholars. Together with Andrea Pető, Dina Gusejnova, Bernhard Kleeberg, Tania Arcimovich, Nadiya Kiss, and Elena Trifan, we discuss how universities can reclaim their role as spaces of free thought and critical inquiry.We reflect on the structural barriers that prevent meaningful academic integration, the failures of transnational organizations in protecting scholars at risk, and the broader implications of the neoliberalization of higher education. From the crisis of academic mobility post-Brexit to the contradictions within the EU’s approach to academic freedom, this conversation unpacks the layered complexities shaping the future of knowledge production.