Spain remains among the countries with the highest academic freedom in the world, according to data from the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) in its 2026 update. However, the global environment presents a worrying panorama, as this indicator shows a subtle but significant deterioration in multiple regions of the world.
The report describes various discreet forms of intervention that are eroding academic freedom: budgets conditioned to specific priorities, appointments of teachers or researchers made from outside the institutions, and lines of research that cease to be viable because their funding becomes political bargaining chip.
The AFI establishes that between 2015 and 2025, academic freedom retreated substantially and statistically significantly in 50 countries. In contrast, only nine nations managed to improve their indicators during that period, reflecting an unfavorable global trend for university autonomy and independent research.
