За правото на висше образование и пределите на ограничаването му от страна на държавата в светлината на решението на Европейския съд по правата на човека по делото Tarantino and Others v. Italy

Abstract

University education as a human right is proclaimed in a number of international treaties – the UN Convention on the rights of the child (art. 28), the Universal Declaration of human rights (art. 26), the International Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights (art. 13), the European Convention on human rights and fundamental freedoms. Art. 2 of the first additional protocol of the Convention reads: „No one may be deprived of the right to education (...)” It is obvious that that right has a non-absolute character. At the same time the states have the obligation not only to provide and promote the access to the different levels of schooling, but also to set the criteria for this access, provided they do not impose unjustified restrictions or proscriptions. In the case of Tarantino and Others v. Italy the European Court was seized for the first time to rule on the issue of compatibility of the Italian law with art. 2 of Protocol 1 of the Convention regarding the act of restriction imposed by the state on the student admission process for several majors at all the Italian universities - both state and private universities. On the 2nd of April 2013, the court ruled that the state did not misuse their prudence with the act of regulating the access to University education and by setting a certain quota for admission. The opinion of the majority of the judges is not shared by Judge Pinto de Albuquerque, who argues that the restrictions are not only in conflict with numerous international acts of the United Nations and the EU, but also that they aim to decrease the rate of competition among health care professionals. The Tarantino and Others v. Italy case set on the agenda the question about the autonomy of the universities, particularly that of private universities and whether the state has legal basis and the authority to limit their sovereignty.