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Free online course “dangerous questions: why academic freedom matters”


23 October 2018

Scholars at Risk, together with the Academic Refuge project partners, have created a free massive open online course (MOOC) on why academic freedom matters. The course begins 29 October on FutureLearn.


Scholars and students around the world ask questions; questions about the environment; questions about health; questions about poverty and development; questions about justice; questions about truth. And the answers to these questions affect all of society.  

But sometimes asking questions can be dangerous. Academic freedom protects the right to ask sensitive, even dangerous questions. Not just scholars' questions, but the freedom for you to think and ask questions that really matter.  

This course is designed for students and staff in higher education and is also relevant for anyone interested in asking critical questions. In its first run in June the course brought together participants from 98 countries. Join the global conversation about academic freedom.

The MOOC features interactive quizzes, discussion forums, animations, and video lectures through which participants explore what academic freedom is, and why it matters not only to scholars, but to all of society.  

Sign up today.

*The Academic Refuge project aims to improve the capacity of European universities to assist refugees and threatened academics on campus and to promote understanding and respect for higher education values. Partners include the University of Oslo, the UNICA network, the University of Ljubljana and Scholars at Risk. The European University Association (EUA), the European Association of International Education (EAIE), Al-Fanar Media, and University World News are associate partners on the project.

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