The new, 2020, version of the MCU adopted by the MCO Governing Council, never departs from the originally formulated principles adherence to which the original signatories pledged back at the time. It rather is intended to reflect cognizance and responsiveness to the challenges and concerns of the day.
Since 1988, when the MCU was called into to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna, the world has become more of a melting pot, students have grown in diversity and in number, and public expectations have evolved.
Paradigms of learning, teaching, and research have shifted. ‘Despite these changes, the potential of higher education to be a positive agent of change and social transformation endures. The principles laid out in the Magna Charta Universitatum are as valid today as they were in 1988, and they are the necessary precondition for human advancement through enquiry, analysis and sound action. The dramatic changes outlined above require the global academy to identify responsibilities and commitments that the signatories agree are vital to universities around the world in the Twenty-First Century. That is the reason for this new declaration’, the Charta reads.
The universities – signatories to the Magna Charta Universitatum further ‘acknowledge that they have a responsibility to engage with and respond to the aspirations and challenges of the world and to the communities they serve, to benefit humanity and contribute to sustainability.
Intellectual and moral autonomy is the hallmark of any university and a precondition for the fulfilment of its responsibilities to society. That independence needs to be recognised and protected by governments and society at large, and defended vigorously by institutions themselves’.
Thus, it is a uniquely powerful message that the Charta conveys to the world of academia.