India has been placed in the ‘severely restricted’ category for academic freedom, according to a new report by Scholars at Risk, an international network that tracks attacks on higher education.
The report, titled Free to Think 2026, flags growing government influence over university governance, faculty appointments, and campus expression in India.
India was grouped in the ‘severely restricted’ category alongside:
The‘completely restricted’ category, the lowest ranked, includes China, Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, Turkiye, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Gaza.
The academic freedom index score of India saw a sharp decline from the year 2022 to 2025. Despite scoring higher than several ‘completely restricted’ nations like China (0.10) and Iran (0.08), India was still ranked below them due to a sharper decline in its score over the 2015–2025 period.
The report also noted a similar downward trend globally, including a decline in the US institutional autonomy score from 3.3 (2019) to 1.7 (2025).
