This review article discusses the higher education as an element within the formal education system, which materializes the right to education as a fundamental right within the Welfare State of Law and educational activities as part of the structural quality of education within society. Quality and relevance, as well as the tension between these principles are presented as key elements that make up the system of institutional education. In this sense, the relevance element connects to guarantee the educational service as a fundamental right, while the quality is a universal law criteria and the element which establish the relationship with educational institutions of higher education.