Guidelines for developing sustainable international scientific collaborations
Academic freedom
The UNESCO 鈥渢he right, without constriction by prescribed doctrine, to freedom of teaching and discussion, freedom in carrying out research and disseminating and publishing the results thereof, freedom to express freely their opinion about the institution or system in which they work, freedom from institutional censorship and freedom to participate in professional or representative academic bodies.鈥� In this sense, academic freedom as defined by the UNESCO is not guaranteed in many countries in the world. Sensitive topics cannot be openly discussed without jeopardising well-established collaborations. This is particularly true in social sciences and humanities.
Sensitive topics, among others, are:
- Territorial issues
- Human Rights and Universal Values
- Ethnicity
- Religion
- Criticism of the government
Sometimes, criticizing the government鈥檚 political line on those topics is not allowed at all and can lead to severe punishment. However, as Swiss universities are operating under greater academic freedom, those issues can be addressed by scholars based in Switzerland in a way that will not conform to the partner鈥檚 official line. In this case, there will be a confrontation between two value systems and particular attention must be paid to the personal security of the partners.