The League of European Research Universities calls for “drastic action” to preserve academic autonomy
“Drastic action” is needed to protect European universities’ autonomy, as they have become “increasingly dependent” on companies for digital platforms to carry out their work, a group of universities has warned.
This reliance on hardware and software enables the “dominant platform companies” that provide it to “define and steer” universities’ digital infrastructure, the League of European Research Universities said in a statement published on 2 December.
“Higher Education Institutions have a limited influence on how data, algorithms and platforms are operated by global tech corporations, and an increased dependence on these companies’ digital products may lead to user and vendor lock-in,” Leru warned. “Such developments threaten institutional autonomy and academic freedom.”
In addition, the group said that EU data legislation is treating universities as though they are companies, leading to a problem of “over-regulation” of the academic sector.
To tackle the issue, Leru proposed a set of principles it said should be followed by universities and their workers, legislators, companies and other digital providers.
These would include universities and other public organisations working together when procuring digital services; building their own digital infrastructure; and conducting an analysis of “unwanted dependencies” on digital providers.
It said that digital learning and research tools “should be supplied partly as public infrastructure and partly through collaboration with platform companies, with universities retaining control over the gathering and processing of user data as well as influence on the development of such tools”.
Other principles include that universities should retain ownership of their educational and research data and metadata, that preference in procurement should be given to providers that use open-source and transparent algorithms, and that legislation and infrastructure should enable collaboration between European universities within and outside the EU.
“The current position is untenable,” said Kurt Deketelaere, Leru’s secretary-general, “and drastic action needs to be taken, both practically and in legislation, to restore universities’ independence of action and to help them deliver on their goals in support of knowledge creation for the benefit of society.”
A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe