About & governance
An independent association,
StudentSafe Europe is a voluntary, non-profit civil society association based in Zagreb, working on student protection across the European Higher Education Area.
Legal identity
Who we are
Verified facts only. Anything not yet confirmed is marked as such rather than left out silently.
- Name
- StudentSafe Europa (the Croatian name set out in the Statute)
- English name
- StudentSafe Europe
- Short name
- StudentSafe
- Legal form
- Association (udruga) under the Croatian Associations Act (Zakon o udrugama): voluntary, non-profit, independent and internationally oriented
- Seat
- Zagreb, Croatia
- Area of work
- Croatia and abroad, with a focus on the European Higher Education Area
- Statute
- Adopted at the founding assembly in Zagreb on
- Registration
- The association acquires legal personality on entry in the Register of Associations of the Republic of Croatia. The registration details will be published here once that entry is confirmed.
- Website
- student-safe.com
Academic Safeguard Europe is the association’s research programme and Safe to Speak its public campaign; neither is a separate organisation. The StudentSafe Standard was earlier published as the ASE Standard. The visual identity on this website is a design concept pending formal approval under Article 4 of the Statute.
Where we are
What exists today, and what we are building.
Today
- A published Standard
- StudentSafe Standard v0.1.1: twelve safeguards with observable criteria, a draft for consultation.
- Research records
- National and university rules for Croatia, read against the Standard, with sources. All findings provisional.
- Open data and code
- Every record, source and correction in a public repository, under open licences.
- Policy positions
- Three asks under the Safe to Speak campaign, kept separate from the research.
Building toward
- Independent verification
- A second human reviewer for every finding before it is marked verified.
- Wider coverage
- More EU and EHEA systems, read in their original languages.
- Professional network
- A network of qualified lawyers, psychologists and other professionals for education, referral and support — only within the law.
- Support programmes
- Possible future programmes of qualified support, each requiring separate legal, privacy and security design before launch.
No services are operating yet
StudentSafe Europe does not currently accept complaints, investigate cases, represent students, or provide legal, psychological or health services.
Governance
How the association is run
As set out in Part V of the Statute. Office holders will be named here once their election is confirmed for publication.
- Assembly
- The highest body, made up of all members with voting rights, one vote each. It adopts the Statute, elects and dismisses office holders, approves the work plan, financial plan and annual reports, and meets at least once a year.Arts. 29–32
- President
- Elected by the Assembly for four years; represents the association and is primarily responsible for the lawfulness of its work and for carrying out the Assembly’s decisions.Arts. 33–34
- Vice-President
- Elected for four years; assists and deputises for the President internally, and steps in where the President has a conflict of interest.Art. 35
- Secretary
- Elected for four years; keeps minutes, the membership list, the archive and official records.Art. 36
- Commissioners
-
Programme leads for defined areas, elected by the Assembly for four years. Current areas:
Public Higher Education · Gender Equality, Women Students’ Rights and Safeguarding · Private Higher Education.
Commissioners cannot sign contracts, raise funds or represent the association without express written authorisation.Art. 37
Conflicts of interest
A conflict of interest exists when a private, professional, financial, academic, institutional, family or other interest of a member, researcher, reviewer or collaborator could influence — or reasonably appear to influence — impartial decision-making, a research finding, a review, a funding decision or public advocacy. The person must declare it without delay and step aside from the decision. Where it is disputed, the Assembly decides without that person’s vote, and may seek an independent external opinion on research questions.Art. 40
Membership
Any adult natural person or legal person that accepts the association’s goals and Statute may apply; membership does not depend on being a student. There is no membership fee.Arts. 18, 22 To discuss membership, use the contact page.
Protection for those who raise concerns internally
Members are entitled to protection from retaliation within the association for reporting, in good faith, a suspected irregularity, conflict of interest, misuse of resources or violation of rights.Art. 20 We apply to ourselves the principle we ask of universities.
Funding and transparency
Non-profit, and independent of funders.
The association may be funded by donations, grants, EU and other public programmes, foundations, sponsorship, project funds and permitted economic activities. All funds are used only for its statutory goals; any surplus is never distributed to founders, members or office holders.Arts. 44–45
Funding gives no right to determine research conclusions, approve publication or block independently produced work. Paid research or evaluation gives the client no right to influence the methodology or buy a positive result. The association aims to publish its significant sources of institutional funding.Arts. 13, 41
Current funding: none to report. This section will list significant funders, if any, once funding is received.
The association keeps accounts under the rules that apply to non-profit organisations in Croatia, and its work is public — through this website, reports, methodologies, publications and records of versions and corrections.Arts. 14, 46
Limits
What we are not, by Statute.
Our Statute sets these limits out explicitly, and so do we.Art. 12
StudentSafe Europe does not
- act as a court, police service, inspectorate, disciplinary body or public authority;
- establish the factual, disciplinary, criminal or civil liability of any person, adjudicate accusations or assess individuals;
- rank universities or other higher-education institutions;
- present findings about rules as claims about an institution’s practice or the outcome of an individual case;
- provide legal, psychological or other regulated services except through persons legally entitled to provide them;
- present digital tools as a substitute for individual assessment by a qualified professional.
No affiliation
We are not affiliated with the European Union, the European Higher Education Area, any government, quality-assurance agency or university. Our seal and identity contain no state coats of arms, flags, official EU symbols or other marks that could suggest public authority or affiliation with EU bodies.Art. 4
The Statute
Our founding document
The Statute of StudentSafe Europa was adopted at the founding assembly in Zagreb on 16 September 2026, under the Croatian Associations Act (Zakon o udrugama). It is written in Croatian; the Croatian text is authoritative. Summaries on this website are English paraphrases, cited by article.
It sets out the association’s name, seat, principles (Art. 6), mission and definitions (Art. 7), goals and activities (Arts. 9–10), the StudentSafe Standard (Art. 11), the limits of its work (Art. 12), public accountability, research integrity and data protection (Arts. 14–17), membership (Arts. 18–27), governance (Arts. 28–39), conflicts of interest and funding independence (Arts. 40–41), and finances (Arts. 43–46).
A public copy of the Statute is not yet published on this website. It will be added here, together with the registration details, once the association confirms them. Until then, each summary on this site cites the article it rests on.