Mohammed Isa Al Abbasi 
The Kingdom of Morocco got a score of 0.53 points out of a full point, as part of the latest leasing of the Academic Freedom Index (AFI), which is issued by the University of Frederich Alexander and the “Fedem Institute” at the University of Gothenburg, Germany.
The academic freedom index, which covers more than 170 countries around the world, measures the actual level of academics and university professors based on five indicators; They are: freedom in research and teaching, freedom of academic exchange and publishing, institutional independence, and the integrity of the campus, in addition to the freedom of academic and cultural expression.
In this regard, Morocco won 2.39 points in the Freedom of Research and Teaching Index, 2.56 points in the Academic exchange index, 2.17 points in the institutional independence independence index, then 2.32 points in the Indian Freedom of Expression Index.
At the level of the Middle East and North Africa, in which Morocco came third, Israel came first with 0.84 points, then Tunisia despite its drainage dramatically between 2019 and 2024, while Libya and Algeria got 0.30 and 0.19 points, respectively.
The index report data indicated that eight countries included in the index have recorded much higher levels of academic freedom in 2024 compared to 2014, including Bahrain, Montenegro and Uzbekistan; Meanwhile, more than 30 countries have declined over the past decade.
Among the countries that witnessed a statistically decline in the Academy’s Freedom Index, democracies such as Finland and the United States of America, as well as Israel and Portugal, in addition to Austria and Germany.
In this regard, the report considered that “these examples show that academic freedom may be under pressure in democracies as well, although this freedom is much better protected in democracies compared to authoritarian regimes.”
The same document stated that “academic freedom is at risk when the anti -pluralistic parties reach the rule,” reviewing three cases, namely Argentina, Poland and the United States, by highlighting how to undermine the anti -multiple parties of academic freedom as soon as they reach power in these countries.
She considered that “the politicians hostile to pluralism in these three cases worked, when they assume the government, to undermine the institutional independence and freedom of teaching, and to reduce or attack research that contradicts the political vision of the government at the national level,” noting in this regard that Argentina’s dotting in particular from 0.97 to 0.69 points, in less than one year.
The report emphasized that “the anti -pluralistic parties lack a commitment to the democratic process as a legal means to gain power and its loss. As soon as it reaches power, it tends to deepen the differences between political camps and reduce the area of public competition, “highlighting that” the presence of these parties in the opposition cannot be a major explanation for the decline in academic freedom; Indeed, more specifically, this freedom is in danger when these political organizations enter the government.
