Magna Charta Universitatum 2020

Last week, the Magna Charta Observatory had its annual conference in Bologna, where I participated together with a handful of Swedish colleagues. The theme could not have been more relevant: Universities engaging with Society in Turbulent Times. Chris Brink, former Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle, gave a powerful plea for universities’ social responsibility and how it can be fulfilled – it is about both “responsibility” and “responsiveness”. He was followed by Ronald Daniels, President of Johns Hopkins University and author, among other things, of What Universities Owe Democracy, who focused precisely on the mutual responsibility of democracy and universities. Among the speakers were also Sibongile Muthwa, Vice-Chancellor of Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, and Roman Gryniuk, President of Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University in Ukraine, who broadened the horizon significantly from the Anglo-Saxon perspective. In times of reborn nationalism, it is more important than ever to remember that the mission of universities is global, not least in times of war and crisis.

After an intensive conference, the week ended with the solemn signing of Magna Charta Universitatum 2020, a ceremony that had to be postponed due to the pandemic. It is not a question of a “new Magna Charta”, but of an addition to the original document from 1988, signed by the President of Stockholm University at that time, Inge Jonsson. The amendment emphasizes specifically the necessary responsibility and response of universities to contribute to society’s development – a mission that can only be fulfilled through autonomy and academic freedom.

Astrid Söderbergh Widding
President

Read more from the President’s blog

Photo: Eva Dalin.