The European Ministers of Education,
Having discussed various aspects of the problems of student admission to universities
- conditions of eligibility and financial questions;
Take note of the increase, for social as well as educational reasons, in the number
of students emerging from secondary education with qualifications for higher education;
Stress the importance of maintaining the standards both of academic achievement required
for university entry and of the universities themselves during the process of expansion;
Hope that for university entrance more attention will be paid to the general level
of education than to pre-university specialisation;
Take note that, although universities (with their particular tasks and perspectives)
are the most important constituent part of high education, there is, at the same time,
need for further development of other forms of higher education;
Consider that all young persons qualified by ability and attainment to enter higher
education should have the opportunity to do so;
Urge that, in so far as admission restrictions exist as a result of an insufficient
capacity of institutions of higher education, these restrictions should be reduced
and gradually abolished by expanding the systems of higher education;
Believe that it should be the obligation of the State that at least all students of
ability who cannot finance a course of study themselves or from their parents' funds
should be provided with the means for studying from public funds;
Recognising the need to encourage exchanges of undergraduate and particularly post-graduate
students between European countries, hope that, over and above the provision already
made in this respect by international organisations, steps will be taken to ensure
that national programmes of financial support for students become equally applicable
to periods of study in other European countries,
Are of the opinion that increased opportunities and financial support for students
should have their corollary in adequate methods of selection, a suitably wide range
of courses, possibly a greater variety of diplomas at differing levels, and a degree
of academic supervision consistent with the maintenance of the traditional freedom
and integrity of the universities themselves;
Stress the desirability of fostering opportunities for those who did not follow the
regular path of entry to higher education from the secondary schools to be admitted
to higher education, both at home and abroad;
Welcome the work of the Council for Cultural Co-operation of the Council of Europe
in the field of higher education, and express the wish that the Council should devote
particular attention in its programme to the problems mentioned in the present resolution.
