ALIGNMENT OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA WITH EU STANDARDS AS REGARDS THE CONSTITUTIONAL AUTONOMY OF UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

This paper examines the constitutional content, scope, and limits of university autonomy in the Republic of Serbia in the context of intensified administrative regulation of higher education and the Europeanisation of normative standards. The central premise of the study is that the constitutional guarantee of university autonomy and academic freedom must be balanced with the requirements of legality and public accountability in the fields of quality assurance, accreditation, and financial governance. The research addresses four main questions: (1) what constitutes the normative “core” of constitutional university autonomy; (2) how to distinguish legitimate public oversight from undue interference in the academic, organisational, staffing, and financial dimensions of autonomy; (3) to what extent Serbian higher education legislation is aligned with European standards concerning institutional independence and quality assurance; and (4) which criteria should guide constitutional review in cases involving sanctions imposed on higher education institutions. The methodological framework combines doctrinal legal analysis, interpretation of relevant European higher education instruments and standards, comparative alignment mapping, and the application of the proportionality test within the broader requirements of the rule of law, legal certainty, and foreseeability of sanctions. The findings indicate a high level of principled textual convergence between the national and European normative frameworks, accompanied by structural challenges in the institutional design of the accreditation system and in the predictability of sanctioning mechanisms. These issues have direct implications for the protection of academic freedom and the democratic function of universities. The paper contributes to the theoretical clarification of the constitutional core of university autonomy under conditions of ongoing Europeanisation of higher education governance.