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Academic Freedom and Cross-Border Cooperation: Conceptual Reflections and a Contextual Analysis in Relation to the South Tyrol Alpine Borderland

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Academic Freedom Under Pressure?

Abstract

Academic freedom is a complex concept. The same is true of cross-border cooperation in general terms and in relation to the policy field of higher education. The paper explores the nexus between these two concepts through the lens of border studies and in relation to the case of the northernmost Italian Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen (South Tyrol). It does so through reference to the territorial autonomy of South Tyrol, which grants its German-speaking majority special rights, and in relation to South Tyrol’s position in the Austrian-Italian Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Beiter et al. (2016).

  2. 2.

    Marginson (2014).

  3. 3.

    Telle (2017), p. 94.

  4. 4.

    See www.magna-charta.org, last accessed 11.2.2021.

  5. 5.

    In this regard, see Ethical Codes and Speech Restrictions: New Scenarios and Constitutional Challenges to Freedom of Teaching at University – The Italian Perspective by G Ragone and Trigger Warnings and Academic Freedom: a Pedagogic Perspective by F Magni, both in this volume.

  6. 6.

    Scott (1999).

  7. 7.

    Perkmann (2007).

  8. 8.

    Martínez (1994), p. 5.

  9. 9.

    Leresche and Saez (2002); O’Dowd (2002).

  10. 10.

    Brunet-Jailly (2011), p. 3.

  11. 11.

    Svensson (2013).

  12. 12.

    Ulrich (2020).

  13. 13.

    Engl (2020).

  14. 14.

    Alber (2017).

  15. 15.

    For an overview see Alber and Engl (2020).

  16. 16.

    See www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjbs20/current, last accessed 11.2.2021.

  17. 17.

    See Jordana et al. (2019); Beck (2019a).

  18. 18.

    Svensson (2018), p. 138.

  19. 19.

    Medve-Bálint and Svensson (2013).

  20. 20.

    Telle (2017).

  21. 21.

    Svensson (2020).

  22. 22.

    Popescu (2012); Zumbusch and Scherer (2019).

  23. 23.

    Krzymuski and Ulrich (2019), p. 213.

  24. 24.

    Ibidem, p. 226.

  25. 25.

    Available at www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/106, last accessed 11.2.2021.

  26. 26.

    The EGTC is governed by EC Regulation no. 1082/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5.7.2006 on a European grou** of territorial cooperation, amended by EU Regulation no. 1302/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17.12.2013 amending Regulation (EC) no. 1082/2006 on a European grou** of territorial cooperation (EGTC) as regards the clarification, simplification and improvement of the establishment and functioning of such grou**s, available at https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/cooperation/european-territorial/egtc/, last accessed 11.2.2021.

  27. 27.

    Beck (2019b).

  28. 28.

    Brunet-Jailly (2005).

  29. 29.

    As of 31.12.2018. Landesinstitut für Statistik (2019).

  30. 30.

    For instance, the establishment of a joint Brussels office of Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino was challenged before the Constitutional Court, with the Court, however, upholding the right of Italian regions to establish direct contacts with EU institutions and thus legitimizing the common representation office. Engl and Zwilling (2008), p. 168.

  31. 31.

    German and Italian are co-official languages in South Tyrol, spoken by 69.0% and 26.06% of the population, respectively (data from the 2011 census), Landesinstitut für Statistik (2012). Ladin is spoken by 4.53% of the population. The numerical strength of German-, Italian- and Ladin-speakers is the foundation on which South Tyrol’s power-sharing system rests.

  32. 32.

    Available at www.regione.taa.it/codice/accordo_d.aspx, last accessed 11.2.2021.

  33. 33.

    Constitutional Law no. 1, 10.11.1971. The ASt is available at http://www.provinz.bz.it/politik-recht-aussenbeziehungen/autonomie/autonomiestatut.asp, last accessed 11.2.2021.

  34. 34.

    Italy has a total of 20 regions.

  35. 35.

    Alber (2021).

  36. 36.

    Bilingualism applies to all South Tyrol, while trilingualism applies to the Ladin valleys and to Ladin interests in provincial offices.

  37. 37.

    It entered into force in 1954. Bundesgesetzblatt (BGBl) no. 270/1954.

  38. 38.

    Gleichstellungsgesetz, Bundesgesetz 25.01.1979, BGBl no. 57.

  39. 39.

    BGBl no. 423/1983.

  40. 40.

    Alber and Palermo (2012), p. 308.

  41. 41.

    Landesinstitut für Statistik (2014), p. 170.

  42. 42.

    Pallaver (2014).

  43. 43.

    Carlà (2018).

  44. 44.

    See www.europaregion.info/en/default.asp, last accessed 11.2.2021.

  45. 45.

    CoR (2020), p. 57.

  46. 46.

    Woelk and Zwilling (2019).

  47. 47.

    Among others, these reforms concerned the employment conditions of personnel in the school sector.

  48. 48.

    See www.uibk.ac.at/public-relations/presse/archiv/2013/429/, last accessed 11.2.2021.

  49. 49.

    O’Dell (2003); Löfgren (2008).

  50. 50.

    Terlouw (2012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eurac Research Institute for Comparative Federalism, Bolzano/Bozen, Italy

    Elisabeth Alber

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  1. Elisabeth Alber
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  1. German Research Institute for Public Administration, German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer, Speyer, Germany

    Margrit Seckelmann

  2. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Lorenza Violini

  3. German Research Institute for Public Administration, German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer, Speyer, Germany

    Cristina Fraenkel-Haeberle

  4. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Giada Ragone

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Alber, E. (2021). Academic Freedom and Cross-Border Cooperation: Conceptual Reflections and a Contextual Analysis in Relation to the South Tyrol Alpine Borderland. In: Seckelmann, M., Violini, L., Fraenkel-Haeberle, C., Ragone, G. (eds) Academic Freedom Under Pressure?. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77524-7_5

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