Council of State: green light for special transfer arrangements for university students with disabilities

A significant development regarding the right to education and inclusion in higher education. The Council of State has ruled that candidates with disabilities who pass the entrance exams for degree courses with limited enrolment (such as Medicine and Surgery), but who are allocated to campuses that are distant or incompatible with their care and support needs, are entitled to a transfer – even if this means being admitted as an over-quota student – to a suitable campus close to their place of residence.

This has been announced by Maurizio Bertolotto, the ombudsman for the rights of people with disabilities for the City of Naples, and Professor Alessandro Pepino, head of the ‘Orienta Studi’ helpdesk at the Office of the Ombudsman for the Rights of People with Disabilities for the Campania Region.

“The decision,” Bertolotto emphasises, “stems from the campaign waged by the family of a Neapolitan applicant who refused to give up in the face of rejections from universities, setting a legal precedent of paramount importance for the national university system. Until now, the mechanisms governing the national ranking list often forced students with disabilities to choose between giving up their studies or transferring to campuses lacking the necessary logistical and support facilities. The ruling by the administrative courts overturns this pattern, placing the protection of health and the duty to guarantee access to higher education at the centre.

It is emphasised that this new measure “applies to all degree programmes with restricted intake and represents a decisive step towards a truly inclusive university, capable of breaking down not only architectural barriers but also the bureaucratic ones that limit the educational aspirations of young people with disabilities”.