BackThe Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary, Máté Szabó, conducted an inquiry on the treatment of students with disabilities in institutions of higher education. The ombudsman found out that the rights of disabled students are not enforced in a uniform practice by the institutions of higher education. Ombudsman Szabó asked the Minister of Human Resources to establish a clear legal context.
The ombudsman’s inquiry on disabled students pointed out several contradictions. The definition of disabled people and the scope of persons covered by the definition are not consistent with the UN Convention and the rules on higher education. The practice of individual higher education institutions may be significantly diverging. This may be due to the fact that they established their procedures not or not completely in compliance with the legal provisions. Therefore the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary concluded that the legislation is ambiguous or inadequate.
According to the Commissioner, disabled students can turn to their former higher education institutions in case they already took their final examination but did not receive their diploma in absence of fulfilling the language examination requirement. Their petitions have to be decided in merit by the higher education institution according to their content. The ombudsman turned to the Minister of Human Resources and asked for harmonization of the legal provisions. In addition, he initiated that the President of the Higher Education Institutions should facilitate the enforcement of the disabled students’ rights.
Source: COMMISSIONER FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF HUNGARY
The complete press release is available here (including the full report of the inquiry in Hungarian).
