This timeline, created by Mariam Kharpoutli and Ilaria Berti is conceived as a visual and pedagogical tool and offers a concise map of the legal and institutional frameworks underpinning current debates on academic freedom, with a focus on the European context.
This visual and interactive timeline provides an accessible overview of the historical and institutional development of academic freedom. It traces the evolution of academic freedom as a concept from medieval European universities to the present, highlighting key global and European milestones.
Moreover, the timeline illustrates how academic freedom has emerged through a long historical process rather than a single founding moment, connecting early university models such as Bologna and Paris with Enlightenment thought, twentieth-century international human rights instruments and more recent European Union and Council of Europe initiatives. Policy responses adopted in response to contemporary crises affecting academic communities, such as Syria, Hungary, and Ukraine, are also particularly highlighted. Starting from 2012, relevant EU provisions concerning academic freedom can be directly linked to.
The timeline reaches 2023. Updates concerning more recent initiatives are needed and welcome.