Charles University´s statement concerning the plan of the Ministry of Education

26/10/2010

At a press conference on October 25, 2010, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports announced the plan to introduce, starting in the academic year 2011/2012, enrolment fees, which students would be required to pay while enrolling into each academic year and which would not surpass 6,000 CZK. According to the ministry, these fees will apply for two years, later to be replaced by a postponed tuition system.

Last year, Charles University proposed the enrolment fees as the least controversial solution to the never ending, often heated and almost always superficial discussions about the introduction of tuition fees at Czech public institutions of higher education. The university proposed enrolment fees of up to 4,800 CZK per year as an alternative to other proposals, such as fees for repeated examinations or the postponed tuition system. Charles University maintains its refusal of both of these solutions, i.e. postponed tuition and fees for unsuccessful examinations.

Charles University also insists on its previous statement that any system of tuition must in no case become a social barrier to access to public higher education and that the income from the supposed enrolment or tuition fees must not be considered a substitute for the insufficient and continually diminishing government funding.

No tuition or enrolment fees can therefore be introduced as a compensation for the alarming deficit in the public funding of higher education. As for the enrolment fees, Charles University naturally backs its proposal. However, it must undergo sufficient discussion and a full-fledged legislative process. And most importantly, it must be a long-term solution. Therefore, Charles University refuses the idea of enrolment fees as only a two-year transitory precursor to a postponed tuition system.

Professor Václav Hampl

Rector of Charles University in Prague

For more information:

Mgr. Václav Hájek

Department of External Relations

Charles University

Phone no.: +420 224 491 248

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