StudentSafe Europe · Student protection in higher education
Students should be able to speak up without risking their education.
StudentSafe Europe is an independent civil society initiative with a mission across the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). We research published complaint and appeal rules. Current findings concern Croatia and the University of Zagreb; all are provisional.
- What
- Independent, non-profit civil society association
- Seat
- Zagreb, Croatia
- Scope
- European Higher Education Area
- Is not
- A court, regulator, EU body or accreditation agency
Are you a student with a concern?
Find questions to ask before a complaint or appeal, and where to get qualified help.
We cannot receive complaints, investigate cases or give legal or psychological advice.
Four areas of student protection
We examine published national and university rules against twelve safeguards. Rules on paper do not establish what happens in practice.
- Protection from retaliation
- Raising a concern must never cost a student a grade, a supervisor, a reference or a place.
- Independent complaint procedures
- Complaints are heard by a body independent of the people involved, within set deadlines and with written reasons.
- Conflict-of-interest safeguards
- Anyone with a personal stake in a complaint must step aside from deciding it.
- Effective appeal and remedy
- Outcomes can be challenged before another body, and academic harm can be put right.
The EHEA brings EU and non-EU higher education systems together through the Bologna Process. National law and institutional procedures differ; shared commitments do not create identical legal rights.
Researchers: examine the methodology · Institutions: check or correct a record
Where academic power exists, safeguards should exist too.
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01 Assessment
One person may grade and supervise you.
Your exams, thesis, lab access and research time can depend on the same people.
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02 Progress
They may decide your next step.
References, further study and permission to graduate can follow the same chain.
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03 Future
Funding can follow that chain too.
So can jobs, grants, co-authorship and networks. This describes a structure, not anyone’s conduct.
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04 The risk
Who hears a concern about them?
If their colleagues hear it, independence depends on goodwill. The student bears the risk of speaking up.
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05 The safeguard
A separate route makes rights usable.
Independent decisions. People with conflicts step aside. Protection during the case, deadlines, written reasons, appeals and ways to repair harm.
What the StudentSafe Standard checks Why academic power needs safeguards
Twelve questions about published rules
The StudentSafe Standard is a draft for consultation that checks safeguards in rules, never individuals.
What we found so far
Read the findings for Croatia and the University of Zagreb, with sources and reasons for each result.
All 24 findings are provisional: they were prepared with AI assistance and none has yet been checked by an independent human reviewer. They may change.
Protection should not depend on where you study.
Our mission spans the EHEA. Current findings concern Croatia and the University of Zagreb; they remain provisional pending independent human review.
Not researched means we have not checked the rules, never that protection is absent.
Our European approachExplore countries and jurisdictions
The EHEA directory separates official membership from research progress. An entry does not mean its rules have been examined.
Browse EHEA countries