Academics quit institute over academic freedom concerns

A group of academics has quit the Australia India Institute at Melbourne University, citing concerns for academic freedom and alleging interference by the Indian High Commission, writes Charmaine Manuel for the Brisbane Times.

A letter signed by 13 affiliated fellows sent to Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell on 29 March alleges the Indian High Commissioner to Australia intervened in the institute’s activities, including repeated instances where research or views unflattering to India were blanked.

But the university insists that decisions not to publish particular articles were “not restrictions of academic freedom, but rather are an exercise based on editorial judgement as practised by academic institutions everywhere”.
Full report on the Brisbane Times site