The Scorecard 2023 provides a full comparative analysis of the state of play of university autonomy in 35 higher education systems in Europe. With findings across four dimensions of university autonomy -- organisational, financial, staffing, academic - the Scorecard supports an evidence-based dialogue on this crucial topic. This allows concrete benchmarking of national regulatory frameworks as well as the exchange of good practices. For the first time, this update also includes a chapter on provisions for academic freedom in national legislation. Building on this analysis, the report identifies several notable trends across the 35 systems considered. These include aspects related to changing governance models, consolidation of the higher education landscape, transnational university collaboration, underfunding challenges, tensions around campus real estate, evolving academic careers, and issues related to internationalisation, to name but a few. Three higher education systems (Georgia, Romania, Scotland) feature in this edition for the first time, alongside four returning systems (Cyprus, Czechia, Greece, Türkiye). This extended coverage enables better comparability as well as the possibility of drawing more comprehensive Europe-wide conclusions. The Hungarian higher education system is not included in the scoring, rather it is the subject of a complementary analysis. The report is complemented by a series of country profiles released throughout 2023-2024.