2010 sees the end of the process of establishing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Although not all countries may have achieved all the objectives, many are those countries and universities who have implemented many of the targets set. Within the Bologna Process, there have been many developments such as: European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) for the transfer of period of study abroad; joint degrees: and quality assurance aspects among others. Guidelines for Quality Assurance and the development of an overarching European Qualifications Framework have been developed. While the Bologna Process brings with it many advantages on an education level, the discussion has not really considered the legal aspects of such a system. Once the EHEA is implemented comprehensively across Europe, situations may arise which would require universities to consider the legal aspects of learning that students may have experienced within different tertiary institutions. This paper considers what problems may arise, for example with fraudulent behaviour by students in the acquisition of ECTS credits in another university; with weaknesses or failure to prove quality of learning following an external quality assurance audit in another university; with the failure to deliver learning by one of the partner universities runningjoint degrees etc., and explores the possible legal implications of such situations as well as identifying the legal lacunae which exist and which need to be taken into consideration if the EHEA is to maintain the reputation that it aims for.
Abstract:The paper aims at defining in particular the concept of academic freedom within the context of the European legal sources. Even though the idea of a special corporative status for professors was born during the Middle Ages, it was only during the second half of the twentieth century that the Constitutions recognised academic freedom as an individual's legal right.. Such an individual right is regulated within the category of the freedom of expression, even if it is characterised by particular aspects. Like any individual right that is recognised at the constitutional level, the freedoms of teaching and research are subject to limitations that protect other fundamental rights. Furthermore, today the academic freedom has lost its traditional sense as a defence against public powers and is now granted to play a social function, protecting not only the corporative interests of teachers. It can then be concluded that only through the developing of the social role of education and research, by the principles of quality, transparency and accountability, ensures the individual and institutional rights of the teachers and researchers, strengthening and upgrading the role that universities are playing in the last 900 years.
La “objetividad” y “neutralidad” de la ciencia pueden conducir a la discriminación y a la violación de derechos fundamentales de las personas. Para evitarlo, es necesario respetar algunos principios en el uso de la ciencia como base de decisiones de relevancia jurídica, como emerge en el caso de la genética forense y de la inteligencia artificial.
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