Right to higher education
Unpacking the international normative framework in light of current trends and challenges
Description:... Higher education is too often dissociated from the right to education. In many countries tuition fees are on the rise, and only the privileged have access to, or succeed in completing, higher education, making it difficult to argue that there is an actual right to higher education to be enforced. However, international human rights law is clear: the right to education includes the obligation of states to ensure that higher education is made accessible to all based on capacity. In addition, states have an obligation to progressively introduce free higher education, an obligation which is yet to be implemented globally. Confronted with drastic changes worldwide interms of rising inequalities, human movement, growing digitalization and the effects ofthe COVID-19 pandemic, it is high timeto clarify existing obligations as wellas what aspects of the right to higher education might require further explanation considering new contexts and challenges. This publication aims to help guide policy-makers, civil society and the international education community, to fully enforce the right to higher education and ensure that the human-rights based approach is placed at the heartof the higher education debate.
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