This text is a transcript of the keynote address delivered in Porto, at the European Conference on Educational Research (4 September 2014). It begins with four stories that are symptoms of the current corrosion of universities and research, which we cannot ignore. Then, in the second section, three words, plus one, are presented to criticize the ideologies of “modernization” that are dominating the university world: excellence, entrepreneurship, employability, and Europeanization. At the end, some conclusions are drawn for educational research, advocating the need to strengthen: (i) dialogical practices and cultures of collegiality; (ii) methods of diversity and convergence; (iii) educational development in a framework of openness and social commitment. The first and the last word of this text is freedom, because without it there is no thought, no knowledge, no education, that is, there is no university.
Excellence; Entrepreneurship; Employability; Europeanization; Freedom; Universities