07 - Czech Republic - Registration and/or tuition fees

Tertiary professional education

All vyšší odborné školy, including public ones, levy tuition fees which constitute an income for the legal entity of a school. The amount of tuition fees in individual study fields of vyšší odborné školy which are established by the state, a region, a municipality or union of municipalities is set by the school head. The conditions, due dates of tuition fees, options for reductions or exemptions from such tuition fees and the maximum level of fees to be charged are set by legal regulations. Currently, the fees for public institutions are between CZK 2 500 and 5 000 a year. In exceptional cases, the school head may decrease the charges by up to 50% for a student. The fees are to be paid in two instalments: one for the winter term (due by 15th October) and one for the summer term (due by 15th February). Private schools set their tuition fees themselves according to the material and technical complexity of a given study field. The fees usually range from CZK 15 000 to 17 000. Fees at denominational vyšší odborné školy are usually similar to those of the public ones.

Higher education

A public vysoká škola can set

• fees for the admission procedure
• fees relating to the studies (applying to students who exceed the standard length of study or move on to study further programmes).

The fees are not disproportionate and they do not limit the accessibility of higher education. On the contrary, the fees charged to students who exceed the standard length of study by more than one year tend to be highly motivational and should lead to a more efficient use of the standard duration of study. The basis for setting fees is 5% of the average formula funding (i.e. of non-capital expenditure funded by the Ministry of Education from the state budget to public vysoké školy in the previous calendar year). The Ministry of Education sets the base by the end of January of a relevant calendar year. The base for setting fees linked to study for the academic year starting in 2007 was fixed at CZK 3 004.

Fees for the admission procedure are not more than 20% of the base (usually CZK 500).

If a student takes more than one year over the standard time to complete a Bachelor's or Master's course they pay at least 1.5 times the base for every further six months of study in which a student attends the institution. The standard duration of study includes any time studying on previous uncompleted programmes. If a graduate of a Bachelor's or Master's programme studies on a further Bachelor's or Master's programme, the public vysoká škola sets a fee equal to the maximum of the base for every further year in which a student attended the institution. The fees are not set if a graduate of a Bachelor's study programme studies in a follow-up Master's programme or in the case of parallel study programmes that do not exceed the standard length of a one year programme. When the total period of time taken by the further study exceeds the standard period required, the fees are set at least 1.5 times the base for every further six months of study in which a student attended the institution. The actual amount of fees is set by the vysoké školy.

The fees for studies at state vysoké školy are set by the Ministry of Defence and by the Ministry of the Interior.

The income from fees constitutes a scholarship fund which may not be used for any other purposes.

Institutions:

Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic
Tychonova 1 160 01 Praha 6
Tel.:420.973201111
E-mail: info@army.cz
Website: http://www.army.cz/

Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic
Nad Štolou 3 poštovní schránka 21 170 34 Praha 7 - Letná
Tel.:420.974832972
Fax:420.974833552
E-mail: public@mvcr.cz
Website: http://www.mvcr.cz/