Scholars At Risk Report Warns Of Sharp Global Decline In Academic Freedom

The report, Free to Think 2026, published on September 15 by the international academic freedom advocacy organization Scholars at Risk, documents 382 attacks on higher education communities across 59 countries and territories between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026. It concludes that violent state repression and government overreach have become the leading drivers of the global decline in academic freedom.

Scholars at Risk said governments are no longer relying solely on arrests, intimidation, disappearances, and prosecutions to suppress dissent. Authorities are also using legislation, executive orders, funding restrictions, and political appointments to censor academic content, restrict research, and weaken university autonomy.

“Universities are critical to democratic society because they cultivate critical thinking,” said Robert Quinn, Executive Director of Scholars at Risk.“As democracy comes under strain globally, we see governments interfere in higher education.”

Universities are critical to democratic society because they cultivate critical thinking. Scholars work at the intersection of power and ideas. But those in power often do not like to have the ideas that sustain their power questioned. As democracy comes under strain globally, we see governments interfere in higher education,” said Robert Quinn, SAR's Executive Director.

Types of attacks reported in Free to Think 2026 :

Violent state repression:

State authorities attacked, disappeared and wrongfully imprisoned members of the higher education community in China, Russia, and Pakistan, often weaponizing opaque security and related laws against those whose academic work expressed dissent.

Police and military forces cracked down violently on student expression and largely peaceful student protests in Iran, Serbia, India, Senegal, and Indonesia.

Government overreach and interference in university autonomy:

Governments passed legislation censoring curricula and academic content perceived as misaligned with political agendas in the United States, Afghanistan, and India.

Governments weaponized or cut access to funding on ideological grounds, interfering with independent scholarly research in the United States and Serbia.

Governments appointed partisan actors to university governance bodies, politicizing hiring, disciplinary procedures, and curricula decisions in the United States, Türkiye, and Georgia.

Governments restricted cross-border collaboration, instituting sweeping entry bans in the United States and banning the operation of entire academic institutions in Russia.

Despite the overall decline, the report identifies modest improvements in Brazil, Bangladesh, Hungary, and Venezuela, attributing them to political changes and sustained efforts by universities and civil society to resist government interference.

Clare Robinson, Director of Advocacy at Scholars at Risk, said these examples show that declines in academic freedom can be reversed when governments respect institutional autonomy and higher education communities actively defend academic independence.

“These countries demonstrate that it is indeed possible to reverse the decline of respect for institutional autonomy, but that it will not happen without the commitment and involvement of the higher education community. Universities must reject government attempts to control the sector. And governments must both proactively signal support for the sector and refrain from interference,” said Clare Robinson, Director of Advocacy at SAR.

The report urges governments and international organizations to adopt stronger protections for academic freedom, investigate attacks on scholars and students, and refrain from interfering in university operations, curricula, and administration.

It also calls on university leaders to defend institutional autonomy and promote academic freedom, accountability, equitable access to education, and social responsibility.

Scholars at Risk's Free to Think report is published annually through its Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, which tracks attacks on higher education institutions, students, and scholars worldwide with the aim of documenting violations, protecting vulnerable academics, and supporting accountability for attacks on academic communities.

Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of over 650 higher education institutions, advocates, and associations in more than 50 countries whose mission is to protect higher education communities and their members from violent and coercive attacks. SAR meets this mission through direct protection of individuals, advocacy aimed at preventing attacks and increasing accountability, and research and learning initiatives that promote academic freedom and related values.

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