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In the broadest sense, social sciences encompass society, human behavior, and its influence on the world. Social sciences help understand how society works, ranging from the causes of unemployment, economic growth, what makes people happy, and so on. The information it provides is vital for governments and policymakers, non-governmental organizations, and local authorities.
Social Sciences and Law
Az akadémiai szabadság a hazai felsőoktatásban a rendszerváltás után
Academic freedom in Hungarian higher education after the regime change
This paper first reviews the historical development of academic freedom and institutional autonomy in higher education, looking at the most important literature on the subject. It then traces the evolution of the most important features of academic autonomy (freedom of teaching, freedom of research, collegial coordination and students’ freedom of learning) in domestic higher education on the basis of the laws. It is quite clear from the analysis that academic freedom has declined significantly over the thirty years under review. The paper then uses this analysis to construct a composite indicator of academic freedom in Hungary over time, and compares it with the World Bank’s performance indicators for the Hungarian government (Government Effectiveness; Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism; Regulatory Quality; Rule of Law; Voice and Accountability) over time. The analysis finds a robust correlation. A robust correlation can also be found when academic freedom is measured using the Academic Freedom Index for Hungary (published on the basis of the FAU and the V-Dem Institute), comparing its data for the years under review with the World Bank’s performance indicators for Hungarian government. As a result of the analysis, the decline in Hungarian academic freedom over the last three decades, and particularly in the last decade, has been closely correlated with the deterioration in Hungarian government performance indicators.
Az akadémiai szabadság kiüresedése
The hollowing out of academic freedom
Universities in the current world system of neoliberal capitalism have developed structural weaknesses that make them almost incapable of defending academic freedom in dark times. The crisis of education is linked to the social position of science and knowledge and, more broadly, to the crisis of late-modern society. In this paper, we argue that academic freedom can only be defended against the twofold – politico-ideological and neoliberal economic – threat to higher education from outside if it is given substance. Hollowing out academic freedom to be a mere legal guarantee is an insufficient barrier against these structural threats. We therefore propose an approach that focuses on the internal, institutional cultural side of academic freedom.
Az akadémiai szabadság tartalma és határai: a hagymamodell
The content and limits of academic freedom: The onion model
This paper is an abbreviated and updated version of our study for the STOA Committee of the European Parliament (Kováts–Rónay 2023). The paper reviews international documents on academic freedom in science and higher education, as well as the various views and approaches to academic freedom in the academic literature. This is synthesised in an onion model of academic freedom, which can be used to assess academic freedom in a given country. In this paper, we will analyse in detail the different components of the onion model, their interrelationship and the possible consequences of gaps. At the end of the paper, we will make a proposal on the direction in which it would be worthwhile to develop the guarantee elements of academic freedom.
Az akadémiai szabadság újraértelmezése
Rethinking academic freedom
Az egyetemi közösségi szerepvállalás támogató tényezői egy hazai empirikus kutatás tapasztalatai alapján
Factors that support the spread of University Community Engagement (UCE) – Experiences of an empirical investigation from Hungary
University community engagement (UCE) provides an opportunity for universities to meet today’s social and political expectations in relation to proving their social usefulness. Even though UCE as an academic practice is still at an early, peripheral phase within academy, it is still possible to identify factors that support the spread of UCE. Within present paper, we examine such factors in a Hungarian context, based on the results of a qualitative empirical research process. Our results show that the spread of UCE in a Hungarian context is most of all the result of committed academic actors working on the establishment of UCE initiatives on the long-run, i.e. it happens in a bottom-up manner.
A de facto akadémiai szabadsággal kapcsolatos tendenciák az Európai Unióban
De facto academic freedom trends in the European Union
Academic freedom is widely acknowledged both as a fundamental value of present-day higher education and science, and as a prerequisite for well-functioning democratic societies. Yet, in recent years, major concerns about the state of academic freedom in the European Union have been raised by various stakeholders. The European Parliament has therefore launched in 2022 an Academic Freedom Monitor that publishes annual reports aimed at contributing to the strengthening of the protection of academic freedom as a European fundamental right. In this paper we will present the methodology and analytical perspective developed in studies undertaken for the EP’s academic freedom monitor and key trends in the de facto developments of academic freedom in the European member States.
A FreeSZFE jogérvényesítési törekvései az egyetemi autonómia védelmében az illiberális politikai kontextusban
Legal proceedings triggered by the freeszfe to protect university autonomy in the illiberal political context of Hungary
The paper focuses on the case of students who opposed the model change of Hungarian universities by blockading their university in 2020 to defend institutional autonomy and their rights as members of the academic community: the case of the FreeSZFE (SZFE: Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem, University of Theatre and Film). It explores legal proceedings triggered by them to assess how institutions, which were established to defend fundamental rights, perform as guardians of students’ rights and institutional autonomy in the illiberal political context of Hungary. Proceedings at the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and the Constitutional Court are discussed with particular emphasis since even though they are supposed to be independent and dedicated to the protection of fundamental rights, they failed to defend university autonomy. Beyond the legal proceedings, the paper covers their non-legal background and effects, the motivations of members of the FreeSZFE community to initiate them, and how they were integrated into the toolbox of the protest movement. In this respect, the paper builds on interview-based research.
Magyar szülők ideális tanári interakcióról vallott nézetei
Hungarian parents’ opinions on ideal teacher interaction
Based on Leary’s interpersonal model (Interpersonal Circumplex), Wubbels elaborated the scheme of interpersonal behaviour that was completed by questionnaires (Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction, QTI). Our research involved 431 Hungarian parents. The aim of our present research was to determine the parents’ opinions on the ideal teachers’ interaction style. According to the parents, the main characteristics of the ideal teacher’s interpersonal behaviour include a controlling, decisive, helpful and understanding attitude, while it is less characterized by a doubtful and dissatisfied attitude. Opinions differ on strictness and leniency.
USAutonomy – az egykor hasznos legenda
Az akadémiai szabadság veszélyeztetettsége a szabadság földjén
USAutonomy – the once useful legend
The threat to academic freedom in the land of the free
The American tradition of academic freedom has been shaped by the establishment of institutions to ensure the financial independence of universities and by legal/political references to the First Amendment (freedom of speech). It is therefore the changes in these two factors that can be seen in the trends that threaten it today. On the one hand, the push for independence of funding from government sources has led to the growing influence of the business-economic world, and in addition, foreign, formally private donations (oil monarchies) have led to political exposure. On the other hand, in addition to the excesses of political correctness, left and right-wing identity politics are increasingly dominant in universities, not only as a political movement but also as a factor seeking to directly influence education and academic freedom. Partly for this reason, too, the social authority of academia and the acceptance of its values have been weakened.
