The CRef expresses its support for Serbian universities and for academic freedom

Universities throughout the world are essential spaces for knowledge, learning, and dialogue. Because they nurture critical thinking, they inevitably unsettle those who seek to govern through manipulation, disinformation, or fear. Today, academic freedom is facing a worrying erosion in many countries, sometimes away, sometimes much closer to home.

Following the tragic death of a student from the Faculty of Philosophy, the University of Belgrade offered its full cooperation to the Serbian authorities in order to ensure a transparent, thorough, and legally grounded investigation. The response of the authorities—namely, the highly publicized entry of police forces into the rectorate—constitutes a serious violation of university autonomy and academic freedom.

These events are part of a broader climate of threats, smear campaigns, and even acts of violence directed at students, staff, and academic leaders, including attacks specifically targeting the Rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić. They appear largely as attempts to intimidate a university community that has been mobilised since the Novi Sad accident in November 2024, calling for transparency, justice, political reform, the restoration of the rule of law, and democracy.

Discussions held in recent months within the international academic community have clearly shown that the struggle unfolding in Serbia extends far beyond its borders. As Rector Vladan Đokić has stated: “Today it is happening in Belgrade. Tomorrow it may happen at any other university in Europe that dares to stand with its students.”

The CRef recalls the fundamental principles of the Magna Charta Universitatum, which affirm that academic freedom and institutional autonomy lie at the heart of democratic societies. When these principles are threatened in one country, the integrity of the entire European academic community is at stake.

The CRef therefore calls on:

• the Serbian authorities to immediately cease all forms of intimidation against students, staff, and university leadership;
• European institutions and European governments to respond firmly, clearly, and unequivocally to these recent events;
• the international academic community to express its solidarity with the Serbian higher education sector.