Defining the target group (a)

The Framework Law on Higher Education in BiH, in Article 7, specified that access to higher education is open to all those who have completed a four-year secondary school in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Access to higher education, based on individual capacities, is guaranteed by a legal framework that prescribes equality in the sense that the activity of higher education is directed towards the full development of the human personality, respect for human rights, civil and other democratic, academic, legal and constitutional principles and freedoms. According to the Law, access to higher education cannot be restricted, directly or indirectly, on any real or presumed basis contrary to the Constitution, laws and international law, such as gender, race, sexual orientation, physical or other disability, marital status, skin color, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, association with a national community, property, birth or any other status.

Special support measures

Ensuring non-discrimination in terms of enrollment and completion of higher education is realized by requiring institutions to comply with the law, controlling the application of legal and by-law general and individual acts, both in public and private institutions, and by financing or co-financing the work of higher education institutions in accordance with current regulations.

Full-time students enrolled in BiH are entitled to financial assistance in the form of scholarships and some forms of financial assistance in the form of accommodation, meals, health insurance, transportation. Part-time students are not entitled to any form of financial aid.

Guidelines for the implementation of the social dimension at HEIs in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina propose measures in terms of building institutional mechanisms for student support:

- Planning a special item in the budget for higher education institutions with the aim of providing scholarships for students who belong to the target groups (responsibility: competent Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, higher education institutions);

- Reduction of study costs for students from target groups (responsibility: responsible Ministry of Finance, higher education institutions);

- Planning the possibility of multiple payment of study costs, based on the social dimension (responsibility: competent Ministry of Finance, higher education institutions);

- Consideration of securing additional grants for financing target groups of students (responsibility: competent Ministry of Finance, higher education institutions);

- Introduce/or increase the co-financing of study costs in the II and III cycle of studies (responsibility: competent Ministry of Finance, competent Ministry of Education);

- Review the appropriateness of learning outcomes/academic achievements required for students with disabilities/chronic illnesses/specific impairments (Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, higher education institutions, labor market representatives).