Response of the State Secretary in charge of higher education to the Ombudsman on enforcing the rights of students with disability

During one of his earlier, comprehensive investigations the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights concluded that various institutions of higher education and their faculties, in particular, did not have a uniform practice as far as the enforcement of the rights of students living with disability was concerned. Therefore, he requested the Minister of Human Resources to take the necessary measures in order to create an unambiguous legal environment. The State Secretary in charge of higher education partly concurred with and partly disputed the findings of Máté Szabó.

The Ombudsman pointed out that the definition of ‘people living with disability' and the group of people falling into this category as specified in the relevant UN convention and in the rules regulating higher education in Hungary are not coherent. According to the State Secretary, it is not contrary to the requirements of legal certainty and equal opportunity that the relevant statute does not specify those living with psycho-social disability with regards to higher education.

In the Commissioner's view, institutions of higher education should not make accepting medical certificates submitted by students with disability dependent on whether or not the authority issuing the certificate had indicated the ICD (International Classification of Diseases) code on it. In his response the State Secretary noted that he would revise the practices of the higher educational admission procedure and the data publication and registration procedures of the Higher Educational Information System taking into account the Commissioner's proposals.

The State Secretary agreed with the Ombudsman that the institutions of higher education had failed, in many cases, to adjust the provisions of their institutional regulations to the changed legal environment. Since all institutions of higher education are free to formulate their organizational and operational practices, it does not, in itself, infringe the requirements of legal certainty and equal opportunity if institutions internally enforce the rights of those living with disability to different extents, responded the State Secretary to the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman also investigated if the institutions of higher education might review the background and circumstances of students when deciding on awarding exemptions and benefits. The State Secretary does not feel necessary, due to the diversity of higher education,  to further regulate reviewing criteria, since most cases are unique, requiring individual reviewing.

Máté Szabó also pointed out that in many cases higher educational institutions deny the applications of students living with disability requesting exemption from the mandatory language exam after having passed the final examination saying that the students' legal relationship with the institution has been terminated. In the Ombudsman's view, such requests should be reviewed on their merits and the institutions may not refer to the termination of the legal relationship. In his response the State Secretary stressed that, under the relevant statute, such requests may be submitted and reviewed on an individual basis even after the termination of the students' legal relationship with the institution of higher education; however, further legal regulation of the issue would lead to unwanted difficulties in implementation.

The State Secretary acknowledged that the current regulation of the issue does not cover the possibility of exemption in the case of doctoral schools. According to the Ministry, the possibility of exemption in the case of doctoral schools should be considered not while the student is in legal relationship with the school but during his/her admission. The State Secretary also pointed out that, as of 2016, a certificate of foreign language will be required also for the admission of high school graduates to institutions of higher education – doctoral schools will review exemption requests accordingly.

As a conclusion, the State Secretary stressed that the findings in the Ombudsman's report would be taken into consideration during the revision of relevant legal regulations and efforts would be made to regulate the scope of benefits and exemptions of students living with disability in an unambiguous and predictable manner.