Student Mobility in the EU – Recent Case Law, Reflections and Recommendations
Now more than ever, it appears that both societal and political factors are supporting and stimulating student mobility in all its shapes and forms, most notably through various initiatives on the European level. The Bologna Process, the European Qualifications Framework and the Lisbon Recognition Convention are all examples of this commitment undertaken by the Member States of the EU as well as other European nations. However, upon taking a closer look at the practical reality, we see that many obstacles remain to exist. As EU law currently stands after the Forster and Morgan and Bucher judgments, mobile students do not have a right to maintenance grants, neither from their host state or their home state. Furthermore, the European Court of Justice has – albeit reluctantly – allowed an exception to the principle of equal treatment on grounds of nationality with regards to access to higher education in the Bressol case. Although the recent, somewhat more restrictive attitude of the European Court can be defended and perhaps even welcomed, it does illustrate the need for a discussion and potential action on the European level by the political institutions. This contribution includes a discussion of the recent ECJ case law on student mobility and some reflections on the desirability, feasibility and potential form and content of such future action.
Case C-147/03, Commission of the European Communities V. Republic of Austria, Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) 7 July 2005
This case note studies the judgment of the ECJ regarding the Austrian university admission criteria for EU citizens. It will be argued that the Court’s finding of breaches of Art. 12, 149, 150 EC are in line with the previous case law and Treaty obligations. Emphasis will also be put on Austria’s reaction to the judgment and the current legal situation which will be in effect from the coming study year onwards. Austria introduced a quota-system which reserves 95 per cent of the study places for EU citizens, but 75 per cent thereof are allotted to holders of an Austrian diploma. It will be argued that this quota system will again establish indirect discrimination. Finally, the question of “educational free-riders” will be addressed as well as whether different tuition fees could solve the problem, by making comparisons to the situation in the US.
Reconceptualizing Vagrancy and Reconstructing the Vagrant: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Criminal Law Reform in Canada, 1953-1972
This article explores significant reforms to the vagrancy section of the Criminal Code during the mid-to-late twentieth century. By locating the reforms within their unique social, political, and economic climates, I examine how they reconceptualized the offence of vagrancy and concomitantly reconstructed the vagrant as a social problem. The reforms played a seminal role in reducing the number of vagrancy offences, eventually leading to the demise of vagrancy in the criminal law. Yet, while the "vagrant" ceased to exist in the law, the law still continues to preserve vestiges of the vagrant in a highly gendered manner.