The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), which fully came into force on 2 October 2000, makes it unlawful for a public authority (including publicly-funded FE or HE institutions, with respect to their exercise of functions of a public nature) to contravene sixteen key rights laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
FE and HE institutions are required by the HRA to operate in a way that upholds and protects the human rights of those they deal with.
All institutions must pay proper attention to individuals' rights when they are making decisions that affect them. For example, how an FE or HE institution uses and permits use to be made of its communications systems could lead to situations where the rights of individuals are impacted upon unfairly. The most relevant of these rights and how they may concern colleges and universities are dealt with in this Overview paper.
The paper can be accessed in pdf format here - Human Rights Overview.
The paper can be accessed in html format here - Human Rights Overview.