Academic freedom allows teachers, researchers and students to express themselves freely and to choose their own teaching and research topics. It safeguards the independence and quality of research and education. Rooted in Europe since the Middle Ages, academic freedom is at the heart of the European university model and has helped spread humanism across the continent.
The University of Strasbourg stands with universities facing threats to academic freedom. Since the 1970s, we have welcomed researchers from countries that restrict academic rights. As a founding member of the Migrants in Higher Education network (Migrants dans l'enseignement supérieur – MENS), we have developed a strong, active policy to support students and researchers in exile.
Go to the Students and researchers in exile web page
Welcoming and supporting researchers in exile
In 2017, the University of Strasbourg established the Fund for Researchers in Exile (Fonds d'aide des chercheurs en exil). This fund supports the Emergency Hosting Programme for Scientists and Artists in Exile (Programme d'accueil en urgence des scientifiques et artistes en exil – PAUSE), which provides funding to welcome researchers and PhD students in exile.
The PAUSE programme is open to researchers and PhD students from all disciplines who are at risk in their home countries and can no longer continue their work there. Participants join a research unit, receive dedicated funding and benefit from support with administrative procedures and professional integration. This allows them to pursue their research in safety and continue working on topics that are banned or restricted in some countries. Dozens of researchers and PhD students have already joined the programme at the University of Strasbourg.
Learn more about the researchers who have benefited from the PAUSE programme in Savoir(s), the University of Strasbourg's official magazine:
- "J'ai trouvé un refuge à l'Université de Strasbourg"
- "Jean-Jacques Madianga, parcours du premier docteur du programme Pause"
Standing for freedom
In 2022, the University of Strasbourg hosted the exhibition "Standing for freedom: portraits of scientists in exile" (Poser pour la liberté: portraits de scientifiques en exil). Led by photographer Pierre-Jérôme Adjedj in partnership with the PAUSE programme, the exhibition showcases the journeys of scientists forced into exile through photographic compositions combining portraits, countries of origin, host countries, and personal objects.
Learn more about the Standing for freedom project
The University of Strasbourg condemns the sentencing of Turkish intellectuals and academics involved in the Gezi movement
On 30 May 2013, several hundred activists gathered in Istanbul to protest the destruction of Gezi Park. The police responded with violence, sparking a movement that grew to hundreds of thousands of people by mid-June. The authorities continued to respond violently, and the Turkish government publicly condemned the movement, despite interventions from figures such as the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Thousands of people were arrested by law enforcement. In April 2022, 7 intellectuals and academics were sentenced to long prison sentences for taking part in the movement.
Upholding the principles of academic freedom and democratic values, the University condemned these sentences in a statement on 28 April 2022.
The University of Strasbourg stands with Pinar Selek
Pinar Selek is a Turkish sociologist who has faced ongoing legal harassment from the Turkish authorities since 1998. Acquitted four times since 2006, she moved to Germany in 2009 and then to Strasbourg in 2011. She was granted academic asylum at the University of Strasbourg and defended her PhD thesis in 2014. Since 2022, she has been a lecturer and researcher at the Université Côte d'Azur.
The University of Strasbourg supports Pinar Selek in her fight for academic freedom through a university support committee formally established in 2013. The committee and the University have sent delegates to Istanbul to attend her various trials in 2013, 2014 and 2024.
Find all the statements of support for Pinar Selek (coming soon)
The University of Strasbourg stands with Fariba Adelkhah
Fariba Adelkhah is a Franco-Iranian anthropologist, a former student of the University of Strasbourg and director of research at the Centre for International Studies (Centre de recherches internationales – CERI) of the Fondation nationale des sciences politiques (Sciences Po Paris). On 5 June 2019, she was arrested in Iran alongside her colleague Roland Marchal on charges of “endangering national security”. On 17 December 2019, the Board of Trustees of the University of Strasbourg adopted a motion calling for the release of both researchers. Roland Marchal was released on 20 March 2020. Fariba Adelkhah was sentenced by the Iranian courts and imprisoned for over a year before being released on an electronic tag. She was imprisoned again in Tehran from January 2022 to February 2023, before being released under a travel ban. She finally returned to France in October 2023.
Read the motion adopted by the University of Strasbourg's Board of Trustees on 17 December 2019 (coming soon)