Right of Direct University Enrolment for Children of War Veterans Annulled

26 December 2006

Last Wednesday, December 20, the Constitutional Court ruled to annul the provision from the 2004 Law on the Rights of Veterans of the Homeland War and Members of their Families, which gave the right to veterans, their children and children of victims of war to direct enrolment in secondary and higher education institutions, provided that they passed the lower limit for necessary points in entry exam.

This decision was made on the basis of the petition to the Constitutional Court submitted by the Croatian Helsinki Committee, the University of Zagreb, the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education and one individual person.

The rationale of the ruling lists two main reasons. First, the article was in collision with Constitutional provision guaranteeing equal access to education, which prohibits recognition of advantage in enrolment to any group of applicants on basis other then their abilities, therefore, to groups of applicants that themselves, or their parents enjoy legally recognized status.

Second, the said article is incompatible to the Constitutional provisions on autonomy of the University, which has exclusive right to determine the rules and criteria for enrolment in higher education institutions.

Although this outcome was expected from the very beginning � that the provision is unconstitutional was obvious even to the laymen � and in spite of the fact that this right was opposed from the beginning by prominent individuals and groups inside the academic community, the Government continues to defend it as justified to this day.