Join us to reflect on the principles of academic freedom & university values. Spread the information & stay tuned! Details & registration below.
Date:
Event location: King's College London, London, UK
Type: Magna Charta Anniversaries
Anniversary Conference 2025
Bush House
London, UK
11-13 November 2025
What are universities for?
Higher education principles, values and responsibilities in a fragmented world.
The raison d'être of the university remains the production, transmission, curation, dissemination and use of knowledge. Universities pursue their mission in interaction with society and for the benefit of society. This interaction is governed by formal regulations, but also by an evolving social contract, which stipulate rights for the university communities and obligations they have towards society as well as responsibilities of the public authorities vis-à-vis higher education.
Recognising the variety of traditions and contemporary circumstances in higher education around the world, the Magna Charta Universitatum, first adopted in 1998 and revised and restated in 2020, https://www.magna-charta.org/magna-charta-universitatum/mcu2020 has contributed significant elements for a global social contract. It outlines the centrality of values in the work of universities (such as academic freedom, integrity, institutional autonomy, public responsibility) and articulates value-based guidelines for the exercise of both rights and obligations, within institutional contexts and in the broader society. The Magna Charta was signed by higher education institutions from all continents, expressing their commitment to these fundamental values and the common understanding of key elements of a social contract applicable globally.
At present, however, in a highly fragmented world, what is this social contract? Is it changing? How are responsibilities of higher education and for higher education understood, codified, and practiced? Is there a balanced and productive understanding of both rights and responsibilities within the sector itself and in the interplay with the public authorities? Or maybe not quite?
The remarkable milestone of 1,000 signatories of the Magna Charta Universitatum is anticipated to be reached at this meeting. By raising these questions, this global anniversary gathering proposes to interrogate directly the uneasy, yet fundamental question of what are universities for in our contemporary world.
