President of the Republic of Slovenia on the purpose of academic freedom today

Bologna, 18.9.2008  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended a ceremony in Bologna today marking the 20th anniversary of the Magna Charta Universitatum, where he gave a keynote lecture entitled "The Purpose of Academic Freedom Today". As he stated in his lecture, academic freedom has always been essential for the very existence of European universities. In addition to its basic purpose of protection of universities, professors and students, the Slovenian President listed three additional purposes which make academic freedom important in our time:

As the first purpose he defined the development of a unified European intellectual space and research area as an essential means of strengthening the creative potential of Europe. The second purpose of academic freedom is, in the President's words, to enable a comprehensive discussion on the necessary reform of teaching, so that both the employability of university graduates and their ability to operate in a problem-solving mode are assured. As the third and perhaps most important purpose of academic freedom in our time, President Türk pointed to the creation of new models of global academic cooperation and the role of Europe as a key agent of creativity and development at the global level.

The Slovenian President concluded his lecture with the observation that all three purposes can be realised and that we need to make every effort to achieve them as soon as possible. He further explained that only success in the realisation of these purposes guarantees the appropriate positioning of Europe in the future world.