THE AUTONOMY OF THE UNIVERSITY BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLITICS
Keywords:
university, autonomy, state, professors, studentsAbstract
From the perspective of systems theory, the university is a system. Like any system, it is composed of multiple subsystems. Its subsystems are faculties, institutes, colleges and other higher educational and scientific institutions. Like any being, it exists in a certain space - environment and at a certain time. Its environment is composed of numerous entities: the state, political parties, economic organizations, non-governmental organizations, citizens, etc. The environment influences the university. The influence of the environment can stimulate the development of the university,stagnate it, direct it in directions contrary to its goals and regress its development.
The state is undoubtedly the most powerful entity that can influence the university. After it come the other social subjects among which, in the first place, are political parties, then economic organizations (enterprises, banks, etc.), non-governmental organizationsand, finally, prominent intellectuals.
The influence of the environment is reflected in the autonomy of the university. It acts inversely proportional to its autonomy. The greater influence is, the lower its autonomy is. Therefore, the autonomy of the university can be treated as freedom from external influences.
The autonomy of the university as freedom from external influences is one of the most essential dimensions of academic freedom. This does not mean that the university should be isolated from society as its environment, but that its essential decisions and activities must not be conditioned and dictated by external centers of power.
The autonomy of theuniversity, as freedom from external influences, is achieved by freeing it from those influences. Understood as freedom from external influences, its autonomy manifests itself as normative autonomy, autonomy in teaching and scientific activity, organizational autonomy, financial autonomy and personnel autonomy.
The paper provides a review of the autonomy of the university from the influences of the state and political parties. Starting from the notorious fact that institutions are made up of people and that there is no better institution than the people who make it up, the paper places special emphasis on the influence of political parties on professors and students.
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