Access to and Portability of Student Grants and Loans - Where Targets Meet Free Movement Law
Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2011-38
Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance Research Paper No. 2011-07
22 Pages Posted: 30 Sep 2011
Date Written: September 30, 2011
Abstract
In the area of higher education, the relationship between the Bologna Process, Union law and national law is tense. This paper analyses that relationship through the lens of student grants and loans. The Bologna Process is a form of voluntary cooperation between European states including all those of the EU. One of the targets agreed in this process is to double student mobility in 2020 and portability of student grants is a tool to reach that target. In the European Union, higher education and student mobility are also high on the agenda, however targets are not similar to those of the Bologna Process. Student grants and loans, indispensable for student mobility, are firmly in the hands of the Member States. Their support systems differ widely according to the national perception of the role of the student in society. Still, financial support needs to be compatible with Union law. This paper looks at how national financial measures are constrained by free movement rights of Union citizens. It argues that this might affect the Bologna target of higher mobility of students and could indirectly lead to social discrimination according to the wealth of the country of origin. The paper concludes with a short discussion of how a European Student Lending Facility might decrease the tension between targets, Union law and financial support and what consequences this might have for social justice and the construction of a European view on the role of the student in society.
Keywords: Student mobility, EU citizenship, free movement law, Bologna process, national diversity
JEL Classification: K19
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation