ABSTRACT
The university is one of Europe’s most infl uential and enduring creations and this powerful reaffi rmation of its core principles was drawn up in 1988 in celebration of the 900th anniversary of Europe’s fi rst university: Bologna. In order to achieve its noble ends, the Magna Charta goes on to argue that a university needs to uphold certain key principles: research and teaching must be inseparable; it must be ‘morally and intellectually independent of all political authority and economic power’; and individual academics must be free to research and teach as they see fi t. ‘Freedom in research and teaching is the fundamental principle of university life and governments and universities must ensure respect for this fundamental requirement’ (1988: 1).
