The outcome of the altercation with his superiors was that Johan Vilhelm Snellman had to leave the University and he settled on the idea of returning to his birthplace, Stockholm. There he published a pamphlet entitled Om det akademiska studium (‘On academic studies’). It soon became an established classic on university education and gave the grounds for Snellman’s earlier actions whilst clarifying what he thought a university community should be.

As educational institutions, Snellman considered school and university to be fundamentally different. In schools the learning was structured around the authority of the teacher. Their job was to explain how matters stood, and the pupils would assimilate the knowledge imparted: “At school the teacher is the pupil’s authority, whose word is to be trusted without challenge.” At university the student is recognised by their self-possession, taking a direct part in assessing the quality of the knowledge and not being content with ready assessments. The professor is not there to merely present ready knowledge but also to determine the basis for how the understanding has been arrived at, inviting the student to join the analytical process. The student is offered an opportunity to support their view and is also encouraged to present grounds which differ from those of the professor. In this way the student develops a sense of independent responsibility. Let’s take an example.

The school pupil is given a writing task. The teacher guides the pupil, telling that the text should be about 2,000 characters in length. When guided in this way, school-leavers end up writing a text for something or someone, and they are incapable of assessing for themselves how long it should be. In Snellman’s university, the students are not told how long it should be, but rather have to decide themselves on the length according to its purpose. When a student like this graduates, he or she can work it out for themselves.

Snellman understood academic freedom to mean that students were given leave to act independently. The student in this way would commit errors, but also learn to take responsibility for those errors. When students are left to work in a group say, there is a great risk that the co-operation breaks down. But failure of this kind is often the most valuable aspect of the learning experience. In this way the university student comes to learn how shared tasks should not be conducted. So, in the Snellman’s idea of a university the students are given responsibility, in order that they may learn to bear it.

Sources:

• Juha Himanka, ‘The University as a Community of Selves. Johan Wilhelm Snellman's "On University Study"’, Higher Education 2012, 517–528.
• Juha Himanka, ”Kuka yliopistoa ohjaa? Yliopistoko itse koulun penkillä?” (’Who governs the university? Is the University itself in need of a lesson?”), from Timo Aarrevaara & Jatta Herranen (eds.), Mikä meitä ohjaa? (’What governs us?’), 2005, 15–28.
• Matti Klinge, Ylioppilaskunnan historia I (’The History of the Student’s Union. Vol 1’), 1967, 59–63. (”Snellman rettelöijänä”, ’Snellman the troublemaker’).
• Ilkka Niiniluoto, ”Akateeminen vapaus” (’Academic freedom’),  rector’s speech, 2004 opening ceremony of the University of Helsinki, from Dynaaminen sivistysyliopisto (‘Dynamic Civic University’), 2011, 223–232.
• Thiodolf Rein, Juhana Vilhelm Snellmanin elämä: Edellinen osa, (’The Life of Juhana Vilhelm Snellman: Part one’), 1895, 113–126. (”Snellman sankarina”, ’Snellman the hero’).