An Investigation into the Academic Freedom of Faculty Members of Shiraz University Based on Demographic Variables

The purpose of the study was to investigating the amount of academic freedom of faculty members of Shiraz University. For this purpose, a sample including 203 faculty members from Shiraz University colleges in the academic year 1389-90, were selected based on proportion classification sampling. They completed a researcher-made questionnaire on academic freedom. In this study, the effect of five factors; i.e., college, work experience, gender, academic rank, and awareness of university regulations on the amount of academic freedom in instructional, researching, institutional, thinking and moral-cultural dimensions were examined. The results of MANOVA showed that academic rank influenced the amount of academic freedom in four dimensions (instructional, researching, institutional and thinking), college in two dimensions (researching and institutional) and awareness of university regulations in all dimensions. Gender and work experience had no influence on the amount of academic freedom. The results of multiple regression revealed that academic rank and awareness of university regulations are significant predictors of the amount of the academic freedom. It suggests that faculty members with higher academic ranks enjoy a higher level of the academic freedom than the others. Furthermore, faculty members with more awareness of rules showed more academic freedom than the others.