THE AUTONOMY OF MACEDONIAN UNIVERSITIES BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION AND THE NEW LAW ON HIGHER EDUCATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35120/sciencej0503375rKeywords:
proposal, university, autonomy, constitution, lawAbstract
The paper contains an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion.
The introduction provides a very brief overview of the significance of university autonomy as a condition for the development of creativity in the field of education and science and of the constitutional regulation of autonomy, with a special focus on the Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia. This is followed by a brief historical overview of the development of the implementation of the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of universities in the Law on Higher Education of the Republic, starting with the Law on Targeted Education, up to the present day.
The first chapter provides a general overview of the Proposal for Law on Higher Education from the aspect of university autonomy.
The second chapter analyzes the provisions of the Proposal for Law that are contrary to the Constitution of the Republic, namely: the provisions of Articles 43 to 45 - on the significant influence of the Government on the National Council for Higher Education; Article 85, point 2 - on the prior consent of the Government for competitions for the enrollment of students at public universities; Article 86 - on the appointment of four out of eleven members of the university council; Article 117 - on the disposal of the universities with the real estate and other assets in their ownership with the consent of the Government; Article 132, paragraph 10 - on the inability of private universities to organize study programs in general medicine, veterinary medicine, nursing and midwifery, legal studies, defense and security studies and for teachers in primary and secondary education studies; Article 175 - on the granting of consent by the Ministry of Education and Science to the employment agreement of selected persons in another public higher education institution; Article 200 - on the authorization of the Minister to stop the execution of a general act of a university, due to alleged unconstitutionality;
The third chapter analyzes the provisions of the Proposal for Law whose constitutionality is questionable, namely: Article 199 - on the authorization of the Minister of Education and Science to repeal or annul decisions of higher education institutions; Article 201 - on the annulment of diplomas by the Ministry and Article 202, paragraph 3 - on the possibility of inspection supervision over elections for academic titles to encroach on university autonomy.
The conclusion provides a synthetic review of the previous contents.
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