Policy Paper on Public Responsibility, Governance and Financing of Higher Education

The European Students' Union (ESU) believes that open access to all levels of education is the cornerstone of a socially, culturally and democratically inclusive society and a pre-requisite for individual and societal development and well-being. ESU sees higher education as a human right, guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Addressing higher education as a commodity and students as consumers who purchase the service goes against the fundamental social values and norms attributed to higher education. Students should be treated as members of the higher education community, sharing the responsibility and rights to govern this central institution of our civilization. This position paper focuses on: (1) Higher education as public good and public responsibility (education for sustainable development; commodification; higher education-industry partnerships; economistic and quantitative rhetoric; international trade; commodification and internationalization; and discussion about values); (2) Governance of higher education institutions (conservative approach; new public management; modern collegiality; external representatives; leadership and intersectionality; and leadership and training); and (3) Financing of higher education (background; funding gap; financing of research and training through higher education institutions; optimization of funding of higher education institutions; input factors; performance based funding; property; tuition fee free education; benefits of education; and financing students).