Czech higher education still at the crossroads

The paper addresses the development of higher education in the Czech Republic after 1989, with special emphasis on the relevant legislation, institutional settings, financing and enrolment. Czech higher education has changed profoundly since 1989. Universities were granted almost full autonomy as early as in 1990. They have reformed their curricula, expanded programmes in the humanities and social sciences, and eliminated political criteria from admissions policies, both for faculty and students. However, the structural changes were not as quick and profound as obtaining and mastering the freedom was. The most significant structural changes in the Czech tertiary educational system addressed in the paper are decentralisation and diversification. With regard to financing, the authors argue that universities have remained dependent on the state to a high degree. Several attempts to expand multi-source financing by introducing cost-sharing features (tuition fees, loans, student allowances) failed. The reliance on the public budget led to a severe financial crisis in public universities. As far as the enrolment is concerned, the authors demonstrate that, although the number of students rose by almost 60% between 1989 and 2001, the offer of educational opportunities was too low to meet the steeply rising demand for tertiary education. The chance of being admitted hovered around 50%. Owing to the combined effect of a drop in the size of the relevant age cohort and the growing proportion of students admitted to bachelor programmes, the chance of enrolment started to increase in 2001. In spite of this recent change, the transition from secondary to tertiary education still remains the most critical moment in an educational career.