Systematization of Legal Norms in Higher Education and Science in the Republic of Croatia

U radu se na temelju znanstvene i hijerarhijske sistematizacije analiziraju formalni izvori prava u području visokog obrazovanja i znanosti. Nakon uvoda tematiziraju se načela s posebnim naglaskom na načelo autonomije sveučilišnih visokih učilišta. Slijedi analiza zakona, podzakonskih općenormativnih te drugih akata koji se isključivo primjenjuju na istaknuto područje. U zaključnom dijelu iznose se argumenti, odnosno (ostvareni) kriteriji za tumačenje “sveučilišnog prava i prava znanstvenih organizacija” kao podgrane posebnog dijela upravnog prava i/ili kao samostalne pravne grane.The basic research question is whether the legal norms that regulate the area of higher education and science have characteristics on the basis of which they might justifiably be interpreted as an autonomous systemic unity, i.e. as a separate branch of law- This involves the need to clarify the process of identification/determination of these characteristics, as well as the criteria for independent interpretation. The research is based on two hypotheses. The first one is that the legal norms regulating the area of higher education and science are part of a legal system as a whole. The second one is that each system, therefore the legal system as well, is a construction. Considering that this construction is not arbitrary, but rather a consequence of the application of (generally) accepted criteria arising from different approaches to the interpretation of a legal system, the answers are sought using the methodological approaches typical of legal science. The highlighted question is primarily directed at the period of the development of the law in the area of higher education and science, from the adoption of the Bologna declaration, which is symbolically taken as the beginning of the reform, until today. Interpretation of the particular parts of the legal system as a separate systematic whole (legal branch or subbranch) is characterized by the following features: 1. It is a part of the legal system that is regulated by a special law; 2. This part of the legal system includes certain (specific) principles and a number of legal institutions; 3. The norms, legal institutions, principles and institutions that belong to a certain part of the legal system represent a coherent whole. All of these features also apply to the area of law that is referred to in this paper as „university law and the law of scientific organizations". The regulations in higher education and science are marked by the following processes: an increase in legal norms, most of which increasingly govern and create entirely new social relations and introduce new categories (such as initial accreditation, learning outcomes, informal learning, partial and full qualifications, etc.), which also causes an increase of (related) social relations in the field of higher education and science. In the context of scientific systematization this means creating new legal institutions. By 2003, some of the legal institutions were students, study programmes, and bodies of higher education. Recently, many new ones, such as mobility, external evaluation, internal evaluation, licenses, project financing, qualification, and type of learning have been created. The described increase in legal norms has been further intensified by an increasing number of higher education institutions and other bodies as subjects of scientific activity