POWERCIT investigates the developments of social citizenship and rights in Europe. We conceive social rights as bundles of power resources that empower citizens to access their entitlements: in other words, it is not sufficient for social rights to be established by law – citizens must also be provided with resources needed to access them. In this sense, our analysis focuses not only on normative resources (i.e., laws establishing the personal and material scope of social rights), but also on instrumental resources – the diverse array of means aimed at making rights accessible.
POWERCIT, in particular, focuses on higher education, an integral part of national education systems. While the status of higher education is contested, approaching it as a social right gives us a unique perspective on the developments of education policies and social citizenship. We compare the recent developments in the higher education systems of four European countries – Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. In particular, we focus on the status of higher education in national law, recent reforms and their implications for funding and curricula, and the public provision of scholarships aimed at making higher education accessible.
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