The Magna Charta Universitatum is an international charter on the academic freedom and institutional autonomy of universities. Karlstad University has now signed the new, updated version.
– Signing the charter shows that Karlstad University supports the key principles of, among other things, academic freedom, autonomy and equality. We value the importance of freedom in research and education, and international mobility. This permeates all our policy documents as well as our activities, says Acting Vice-Chancellor, Margareta Friman, who signed the charter on 19 June.
Magna Charta Universitatum, MCU, was established in 1988 in connection with the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna. The charter is a constitutional document of value for the international university community. By signing the charter, the universities pledge to promote, support and defend the autonomy of higher education institutions.
Christina Ullenius, Vice-Chancellor of Karlstad University at the time, signed the charter in 2002. But the world has changed since then. An updated version of the MCU was therefore launched in 2020 and it is this new version that Margareta Friman now has signed.
The fundamental principles of MCU are that:
- Universities are autonomous institutions.
- Teaching and research in universities must be inseparable.
- Freedom in research and education must be respected.
- Universities shall strive to attain universal knowledge.
More than 900 universities worldwide have signed the original charter drafted in 1988 and many of them, including the majority of Swedish universities, have in recent years also signed the new version, among them Karlstad University.
Russian universities have, however, been suspended from the charter. More information about the Magna Charta Universitatum and a list of signatory universities can be found here:
