Abstract
Academic freedom is a complex concept. The same is true of cross-border cooperation in general terms and in relation to the policy field of higher education. The paper explores the nexus between these two concepts through the lens of border studies and in relation to the case of the northernmost Italian Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen (South Tyrol). It does so through reference to the territorial autonomy of South Tyrol, which grants its German-speaking majority special rights, and in relation to South Tyrol’s position in the Austrian-Italian Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino.