Standards and Scientific and Pedagogical Freedom in Universities: the Issue of Correlation within the Framework of a Unified Educational Process

The present study considers the issues of improving an educational process in Russian universities in the context of Russia's participation in the Bologna sys-tem. The author also addresses the problem of in-troduction of educational and professional stand-ards and the development of democratic principles in the field of scientific and pedagogical activity. It is noted that Russia has noticeably reduced its activity in brining higher education into line with interna-tional standards. In many universities, students are taught mainly according to patterns formed by prac-tice and determined by federal state educational standards (FSES). The curricula and methodological materials also conform to the specified standards. This situation is largely due to excessive top-down approach in management of higher education in Russia and, as a consequence, there is no real com-petitive component among universities. There is also an insufficient stimulation of generation of both new knowledge and methods of transferring it to students. The present study provides proposals on improving the structure of the Federal State Edu-cational Standard as well as the procedure of com-piling educational and methodological literature, aimed at expanding the autonomy of higher educa-tional institutions. There are substantiated pro-posals on realization of creative potential of the teaching staff and increasing educational activity of students.

Beyond Just Silencing

One popular line of thought in the media holds that academic freedom of speech is under threat from politically correct students and universities. In this chapter, it is argued that this debate is enhanced by enriching our range of concepts for thinking about freedom of speech. While silencing is an important concept, it’s a crude tool for thinking through these complex issues. Several new categories are introduced, presenting uncontroversial instances of each before working through how they apply to the more controversial instances that are the main focus. Using this new framework, it is argued that content warnings and the calling out of microaggressions do not present a significant threat to academic freedom of speech. However, there is a legitimate reason that they may appear to do so: the increasingly insecure employment structure of academia means that a wide variety of student preferences can have a damaging effect on pedagogical freedom.

Er friheden taget ud af friskolen?

The article investigates the last 15 years’ changes in the Danish law regarding private schools and asks to what extent the ideological and pedagogical freedom of the private schools have become more restricted. It traces the changes back to general concerns with integration of cultural and religious minorities and with the academic quality of schools, the latter in light of the international competitiveness of Danish society. e article nds that the freedom of the schools has become more limited and discusses whether the e orts to limit their freedom go beyond what is legitimate from a liberal democratic point of view. e article nds that it is legitimate for a liberal democratic state to presuppose ability for political autonomy among its citizens, but it is controversial for the state to demand that schools instill speci c values and loyalties into their students.