Academic Freedom and Digital Autonomy: Toward a Values-Based Digital Strategy for Universities

This paper provides a theoretical and a complementary practical framework designed to help universities formulate a strategy for achieving greater digital autonomy and digital sovereignty. This framework is rooted in the value of academic freedom. To develop it, I discuss the role of universities in a democratic society and show how this role supports a conception of academic freedom that entails the need for institutional, collective, and individual autonomy. I then distinguish between two kinds of digital dependence—economic dependence and data dependence, comprising dependence on access control, the governance of data flows, and digital design—and discuss the circumstances under which these kinds of dependence undermine academic freedom. Finally, I demonstrate how universities can draw on these insights when making concrete decisions about their digital strategies.