Curbing university autonomy and academic freedom in the name of quality assurance, accountability and internationalisation in East Asia

Different traditions of knowledge production and variations in history, political cultures, educational cultures and state-university relations suggest different interpretations of academic freedom and university autonomy. This paper provides a new perspective and expands the understanding of institutional autonomy and academic freedom by analysing the practices of state interventions and the consequences of neoliberal reforms in East Asian higher education. Our analyses advance two main arguments (1) in East Asia, authoritarianism is not the only threat to institutional autonomy and academic freedom, the application of market fundamentalism in higher education reforms leads to even tougher curbs on them; (2) greater institutional autonomy may not ensure academic freedom at the individual level.