Education of foreigners
Numbers of foreigners coming to the Czech Republic with the intention to study has had an increasing tendency. Higher education (universities) is an area of education in which usually (until the influx of Ukrainian refugees) most of the foreigners studied. Foreigners now account for 18% of all students of public and private universities; in absolute number it is 54,770 foreigners. However, particularly the numbers of foreign pupils in basic schools have risen significantly recently, namely due to the war conflict in Ukraine. In 2022/2023, 72,748 foreigners in total were studying in basic schools, which is by 138.2% (i.e. by 42,205 pupils) more than in the previous year.
Number of foreigners at nursery schools
Publication date: 31. 08. 2023
2022/2023
19,567
Number of foreigners at basic schools
Publication date: 31. 08. 2023
2022/2023
72,748
Number of foreigners at secondary schools
Publication date: 31. 08. 2023
2022/2023
14,128
Number of foreigners at universities
Publication date: 31. 08. 2023
2022/2023
54,770
Data and time series
Education of foreigners*
| 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children in nursery schools | Total | 367,361 | 362,653 | 362,756 | 363,776 | 364,909 | 357,598 | 360,490 | 369,205 |
| Czech citizenship | 359,059 | 353,159 | 352,287 | 352,433 | 352,967 | 345,734 | 348,387 | 349,638 | |
| Foreign citizenship | 8,302 | 9,494 | 10,469 | 11,343 | 11,942 | 11,864 | 12,103 | 19,567 | |
| Pupils of basic schools | Total | 880,251 | 906,188 | 926,108 | 940,928 | 952,946 | 962,348 | 964,571 | 1,007,778 |
| Czech citizenship | 861,970 | 885,951 | 904,116 | 916,902 | 926,419 | 933,968 | 934,028 | 935,030 | |
| Foreign citizenship | 18,281 | 20,237 | 21,992 | 24,026 | 26,527 | 28,380 | 30,543 | 72,748 | |
| Students of secondary schools (without conservatoires) | Total | 427,107 | 424,849 | 421,535 | 420,814 | 423,838 | 432,906 | 446,254 | 463,200 |
| Czech citizenship | 418,302 | 415,742 | 412,304 | 411,477 | 414,325 | 423,145 | 436,192 | 449,053 | |
| Foreign citizenship | 8,763 | 9,063 | 9,195 | 9,305 | 9,496 | 9,751 | 10,053 | 14,128 | |
| Students of higher professional schools | Total | 24,776 | 21,994 | 19,875 | 18,411 | 17,934 | 18,446 | 20,084 | 20,609 |
| Czech citizenship | 24,189 | 21,383 | 19,228 | 17,706 | 17,202 | 17,709 | 19,363 | 19,847 | |
| Foreign citizenship | 587 | 611 | 647 | 705 | 732 | 737 | 721 | 762 | |
| Students of public and private universities | Total | 326,423 | 311,045 | 298,663 | 289,649 | 288,577 | 298,986 | 303,633 | 304,518 |
| Czech citizenship | 284,428 | 267,624 | 255,029 | 245,011 | 242,296 | 249,129 | 251,964 | 249,767 | |
| Foreign citizenship | 42,011 | 43,435 | 43,650 | 44,650 | 46,294 | 49,861 | 51,749 | 54,770 | |
*) Source: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The number of children, pupils and students (status as of 30.09.; VOŠ as of 31.10.) of kindergartens to higher vocational schools, broken down by citizenship, is listed in the number of natural persons, whereby one person can only be listed under one citizenship. In contrast, the total numbers of children/pupils/students in this table are reported in the number of studies. The numbers of primary school pupils do not include pre-school education in primary schools. The number of university students is listed as natural persons as of 31.12. of the given academic year according to the state of the SIMS database as of 21.07.2022. The total number of students, or the total number of foreign citizenship students is not the sum for individual sub-categories, as one student can be held under more than one citizenship.