As president stated in his lecture at a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Magna Charta Universitatum, academic freedom has always been essential for the very existence of European universities. In addition to its basic purpose of protection of universities, professors and students, he listed three additional purposes which make academic freedom important in our time: As the first purpose he defined the development of a unified European intellectual space and research area as an essential means of strengthening the creative potential of Europe. The second purpose of academic freedom is to enable a comprehensive discussion on the necessary reform of teaching, so that both the employability of university graduates and their ability to operate in a problem-solving mode are assured. As the third and perhaps most important purpose of academic freedom in our time, President Türk pointed to the creation of new models of global academic cooperation and the role of Europe as a key agent of creativity and development at the global level.