Problems of the Implementation of the Principles of Legitimate Expectations, Legal Certainty and Legal Safety in the Sphere of Higher Education

• Authors: Birutė Pranevičienė , Laima Ruibytė
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The article addresses conceptions of legitimate expectations, legal certainty and principles of legal safety, as well as the relationship between them and the reform of higher education in Lithuania. The article inquires into the approaches of Lithuanian students to higher education reform. One of the main reasons for the reform of higher education in Lithuania is that the state has limited possibilities to fund all those interested in university education. Under the Lithuanian Constitution, "Higher education shall be accessible to everyone according to his individual abilities. Citizens who are good at their studies shall be guaranteed education at State schools of higher education free of charge." The guarantee of the studies free of charge should be based on state and public interest - e.g. the need for specialists in different spheres.This paper focuses on the aspects of reform connected with the constitutionally guaranteed right to a free of charge higher education for the students that show good achievement results and also to the aspect of the fixing of fees for students not funded by the government. The results of the survey show that the majority of respondents did not understand the aims of the reforms conducted by politicians, which makes it difficult to feel secure about the future of Lithuanian high schools. The conclusions offered here are that the reforms enacted in Lithuanian higher education, in particular in connection with tuition, are only partially linked to the principles of legitimate expectations, legal safety and legal certainty. The fact that the Law of Higher Education and Studies, as initiated during the reform, is applied only for new entrants to the colleges and universities is assessed according to the principle lex retro non agit, but the fact that there were no concrete objectives to the reform, which itself was followed by changes in legal regulation, made students feel a lack of legal safety and legal certainty.

Keywords

EN

Legitimate expectations; legal certainty; legal safety; regulation of higher education

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Baltic Journal of Law & Politics
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 56-73

Dates

published

2009-01-01

online

2010-01-06

Contributors

author

Birutė Pranevičienė

• Faculty of Public Security, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania

author

Laima Ruibytė

• Faculty of Public Security, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania

References

• Schwarz, Kyrill-A. Vertrauensschutz als Verfassungsprinzip (Legitimate Expectations as Principle of Administration) (Eine Analyse des nationalen Rechts, des Gemeinschaftsrechts und der Beziehungen zwischen beiden Rechtskreisen). Studien und Materialien zur Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, Vol. 87. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2002.
• The Announcement of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania //
• Thomas, Robert. Legitimate Expectations and Proportionality in Administrative Law. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2000.
• Usher, John A. Bendrieji Europos Bendrijos teisės principai (The General Principles of the European Union). Vilnius: Naujoji Rosma, 2001.
• Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany) //
• Law on Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Lithuania. Official Gazette, 2009, no. 54-2140.
• R. v. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte Fedesa. Case C-331/88, 1990 ECR I-4023.
• Ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania on the Compliance of Articles 1 and 2, Part 2 of Article 3 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania "On the Assessment of the USSR Committee of State Security (NKVD, NKGB, MGB, KGB) and Present Activities of the Regular Employees of This Organization" as well as Parts 1 and 2 of Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Enforcement of the Law "On the Assessment of the USSR Committee of State Security (NKVD, NKGB, MGB, KGB) and Present Activities of the Regular Employees of This Organization" with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. Official Gazette, 1999, no. 23-666.
• Ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania on the Compliance of Paragraph 4 (Wording of 22 April 2003), Paragraph 5 (Wording of 30 June 2005) of Article 47 (Wording of 18 July 2006), Article 57 (Wording of 18 July 2006), Paragraph 3 (Wording of 22 April 2003), Paragraph 4 (Wording of 30 June 2005) of Article 58 (Wording of 30 June 2005), Paragraph 1 (Wording of 22 April 2003) of Article 60, and Paragraph 1 (Wording of 22 April 2003) of Article 61 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Higher Education with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as on the Dismissing of the Part of the Case Subsequent to the Petition of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, the Petitioner, which was set forth in his Decree no.1k-1138 "On Applying to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania" of 22 October 2007, Requesting to Investigate whether items 3 and 14 of the Methods of Establishing the Needs of Funds from the State Budget of the Republic of Lithuania and Assigning them to Institutions of Science and Studies Approved by Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania no.1272 "On Approving the Methods of Establishing the Needs of Funds from the State Budget of the Republic of Lithuania and Assigning them to Institutions of Science and Studies" of 11 October 2004 (Wording of 5 October 2006) are not in Conflict with Paragraph 3 of Article 40 and Paragraph 3 of Article 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. Official Gazette, 2008, no. 34-1224.
• Ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania on the Compliance of Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 4, Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 5, Item 1 of Paragraph 3, Paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of Article 7 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Remuneration for Work of State Politicians, Judges and State Officials, as well as Chapter II of the Appendix to the same law, Appendix 6 to the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Approval of the Financial Indices of the 2000 State Budget and the Budgets of Local Governments, Article 9 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Amending the Law on the Approval of the Financial Indices of the 2000 State Budget and the Budgets of Local Governments, Government of the Republic of Lithuania Resolution No. 499 "On the Temporary Experimental Procedure for Remuneration for Work to Heads and Other Officials of State Power, State Administration and Law Enforcement Bodies" of 29 November 1991, Government of the Republic of Lithuania Resolution No. 666 "On Remuneration for Work of Judges of Courts, Officials and Other Employees of the Prosecutor's Office and the State Security Department of the Republic of Lithuania" of 24 June 1997, Government of the Republic of Lithuania Resolution No. 1494 "On the Partial Amendment of Government of the Republic of Lithuania Resolution No. 689 ‘On Remuneration for Work of Chief Officials and Officers of Law and Order Institutions and of Law Enforcement and Control Institutions’ of 30 June 1997'" of 28 December 1999 with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. Official Gazette, 2001, no. 62-2276.
• Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Law of Administrative Procedure of the Federal Republic of Germany) //

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10076-009-0011-y