The constitutional guarantee of access to higher education and the principle of equality: a legal analysis based on the example of the protection of the rights of socially vulnerable population groups

Abstract

The Constitution of Ukraine guarantees the availability and free of charge of higher education, however, it further specifies that citizens have the right to obtain higher education free of charge on a competitive basis. Taking into account the fact that obtaining higher education on a fee-based basis is expensive, the state, by legislative acts, undertakes to ensure equal access to higher education for socially vulnerable sections of the population. There is no further clarification in the legislation about what is meant by equal access to higher education for socially vulnerable segments of the population, as well as the very concept of "socially vulnerable segments of the population. Scientists have given a definition of the concept of socially vulnerable strata of the population, as well as defined the circle of persons who are classified as socially vulnerable strata of the population. In view of the fact that the socially vulnerable population includes a wide range of persons with a special administrative-legal status of the subject of administrative guardianship and from the analysis of benefits in the field of higher education, which are not addressed to everyone who can be attributed to them, we consider it reasonable to exist such a concept as: "subjects of administrative guardianship in the field of higher education", which will include persons from socially vulnerable strata of the population, who are granted the right to free higher education and special conditions for participation in competitive selection upon admission to a higher education institution. The article provides examples that, in our opinion, can be interpreted as ensuring equal access to higher education for socially vulnerable segments of the population. Changes in the legal provision of equal access to higher education for socially vulnerable sections of the population are also analyzed, and the opinions of scientists on this topic are given. In this work, we try to answer whether equal access to higher education for socially vulnerable population segments does not violate the constitutional principle of equality of all citizens to obtain higher education for free on a competitive basis.Higher education is certainly not the final stage in a person's education, because now everyone is talking about "lifelong education", but higher education is an important component in the formation of an individual, as a professional and as a person. Ensuring equal access to higher education for socially vulnerable sections of the population is a manifestation of the social state that Ukraine is.