2008 Students’ Rights Charter

Preamble

We, the students of Europe, hold these rights to be self-evident.

We believe that education is a right not a privilege; that students are equal partners in education; and that education has a societal, personal, cultural and an economic objective. Every student is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Charter without regard to their field, mode of study or methods of programme delivery. ”Every student is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Charter, free from any form of discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of political conviction, religion, ethnic or cultural origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic standing or any disability they may have.”

The rights laid down in this Charter stem from the fundamental human right for education.

In this document, “students” refers to all those working towards a qualification in higher education.

Access to Higher Education

1. Everyone has the right to an inclusive, high quality education free of charge.
2. Everyone has the right to access correct information, in a transperent manner, on the content, outcome and requirements of an educational programme.
3. Everyone has the right to free access to adequate means of support in order to take up, progress through and complete their educational programme.
4. All students have the right to an education that is inclusive.
5. All students have the right to have their backgrounds and experiences recognised as an important part of educational quality and to be able to make use of them.
6. All students have the right to an education imbued with different equality perspectives that improve the quality of education.
7. All students have the right to progress between cycles.
8. Everyone has the right to adequate counselling about their options before they choose a study programme.
9. All students have the right to apply to any institution without administrative, financial or physical restrictions.

Student Involvement

10. All students have the right to organise themselves freely in legally recognised entities. Students must not suffer academic, financial or legal consequences stemming from such involvement.
11. All students have the right to co-goverance in all decision making bodies and fora relevant to their education directly or through democratic representation.
12. Students have the right to be informed about all higher education affairs in a transparent manner.
13. All students have the right to have their opinion considered as that of a stakeholder on equal footing in higher education.
14. All students have the right to freely express themselves and this should not be limited to academic matters.

Social Aspects of Studies

15. All students have the right to adequate counselling and support on their wellbeing; on how to successfully complete their education; and on how to prepare themselves for integration into the labour market.
16. All students have the right to adequate social support that meets their needs on an individual basis.
17. All students have the right to financial independence.
18. All students have the right to a free and fair appeal against any act which they feel to be discriminatory.
19. All students have the right to a space for social interaction.
20. All students have the right to specific social support related to their educational mobility.

Academic aspects of studies

21. All students have the right to be evaluated or graded solely on their academic performance including extra-curricular activities as being considered as part of their academic programme.
22. All students have the right to a free and fair appeal against any decision related to their studies.
23. All students have the right to a flexible study program.
24. All students have the right to teaching and learning environments that support and encourage the development of autonomous learning, critical thinking and personal growth.
25. All students have the right to teaching and evaluation methods suitable to their mode of education.
26. All students have the right to academic freedom of thought; and the freedom to challenge the knowledge that exists today.
27. All students have the right to fair recognition of comparable qualifications.
28. All students have the right to a continuously reviewed and up-to-date programme.
29. All students have the right to participate as equal partners in the continuous assessment and improvement of their educational programmes.
30. All students have the right to free access to comprehensive and objective information on the quality of the programme and institution in which they wish to study or are already studying.
31. All students have the right to have the grading of their academic work challenged by an external examiner.

Right to privacy and access to knowledge and information

32. All students have the right to be recognised for their academic work.
33. All students have the right to privacy and the right to protection against misuse of personal information.
34. All students have the right to freely access and share knowledge with society as a whole.
35. All students have the right to teaching techniques and technologies based on the principle of open source.