Higher Education is a Human Right.
The right to tertiary education is protected by many international instruments. Below is a non-exhaustive list.
The UNHCR Tertiary Education Strategy is the most clear on the issue of higher education as a human right. It states, “Access to secondary and tertiary education is the first step in closing the gap between learning and earning.” The effort builds upon the 2019 Refugee Education 2030 and commits itself to the 15by30 target, a goal of, “15% of refugee learners enrolled in higher education by 2030”. The strategy emphasizes that this goal is necessary to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4.
The Global Compact on Refugees was written to with the purpose of ensuring host communities have the support they need so that “refugees can live productive lives.” Section 2.1 declares that, “States and relevant stakeholders will contribute resources and expertise to expand and enhance the quality and inclusiveness of national education systems to facilitate access by refugee and host community children (both boys and girls), adolescents and youth to primary, secondary and tertiary education.” Section 2.4 agrees, “Measures to strengthen the agency of women and girls, to promote women’s economic empowerment and to support access by women and girls to education (including secondary and tertiary education) will be fostered.”
The Global Refugee Forum followed the year after the Global Compact on Refugees. Among its four key objectives was to enhance refugee self-reliance. It resulted in multiple education-specific agreements dealing directly with higher education and career readiness.
https://www.unhcr.org/the-global-compact-on-refugees.html
Sustainable Development Goal 4 extends beyond the Millennium Development Goal 2 and Global Education for All commitments. It agrees to, "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by 2030. It further assents to: “By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.”
Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights agreed that, “education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity,” and that, “Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means”,
Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities declares that, “States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning directed to: a. The full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth, . . . b. The development by persons with disabilities of their personality, talents and creativity, as well as their mental and physical abilities, to their fullest potential”. The commitment to education at all levels, for lifelong learning, to develop their full potential is a common thread across these documents. Full potential cannot be reached if the right to education is limited to only a certain age or level.
In 2012, the Peoples’ Sustainability Treaty on Higher Education was drafted by representatives of higher education organizations, agencies and student groups around the world. It laid out a rationale for the importance of higher education as a tool to “improve the life chances of graduates and the communities they belong”.
The UN General Assembly Resolution on the Right to Education in Emergency Situations was an affirmation of many international agreements that came before: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the United Nations Millennium Declaration. Like most such agreements, the focus of the document is not specifically on higher education, but it lays out important points as to why higher education matters. The Resolution states that, “Considering that quality education can mitigate the psychosocial impact of armed conflicts and natural disasters by providing a sense of normalcy, stability, structure and hope for the future,” and, “Considering also that, in situations of displacement, education, among other factors, can play a significant role in contributing towards preparing for and promoting durable solutions for the affected population,”. These statements bolster the cause of higher education as a right akin to primary education.
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone has the right to education. It expounds on that basic premise by including, “Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit,” and that, “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality”.
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
Article 4 of the Convention Against Discrimination in Education agrees that signatories will, “promote equality of opportunity and of treatment in the matter of education and in particular: . . . make higher education equally accessible to all on the basis of individual capacity; . . . To provide training for the teaching profession without discrimination.”
https://en.unesco.org/themes/right-to-education/convention-against-discrimination
Part III, Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women states that women should have equal rights with men particularly including, "The same conditions for career and vocational guidance, for access to studies and for the achievement of diplomas in educational establishments of all categories . . . this equality shall be ensured in pre-school, general, technical, professional and higher technical education, as well as in all types of vocational training”.
In 1990 in Jomtien, Thailand, the World Declaration on Education for All was created. In its preamble, it affirmed the goal of the agreement that education was imperative for, “a safer, healthier, more prosperous and environmentally sound world”, and, “that education is an indispensable key to, though not a sufficient condition for, personal and social improvement”. Article 8, section 2 specifically addressed higher education when it stated that, “Societies should also ensure a strong intellectual and scientific environment for basic education. This implies improving higher education and developing scientific research.”