Foreigners in the Czech Republic

Unless stipulated by the law otherwise, foreigners in the Czech Republic enjoy the same rights and duties as to education as Czech citizens do. The right to education is based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The education of foreigners is governed by the following legal regulations of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the CR:

― Instruction No. 10 149/2002-22, on the Provision of the Compulsory School Attendance of Asylum Seekers in Asylum Facilities (of 15 May 2002, effective as of 1 June 2002, published in the Journal of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the CR No. 6/2002);
― Instruction No. 21 153/2000-35 of the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport of the CR, on the Provision of Czech Language Courses for Refugees (of 4 June 2000, effective as of 1 July 2000, published in the Journal of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the CR No. 7/2000);
― Instruction No. 21 836/2000-11 of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the CR, on Education of Foreigners at Basic Schools, Secondary Schools and Higher Professional Schools, including Special Schools, in the Czech Republic (brought out on 24 July 2000, effective as of 1 September 2000 and published in the Journal of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the CR).

The education of foreigners is based on the following six principles:

1. free education is provided at basic and higher professional schools, including education at reform and correctional school facilities, during the period of compulsory school attendance to foreigners
― holding permanent residence permit in the CR,
― residing in the CR temporarily, holding short-term visas for 90 days or less or 90+days visas,
― who were granted asylum in the CR,
― holding stay sufferance visas or temporary protection visas;
2. free education is also provided at secondary schools to foreigners classified to the same categories as above;
3. same financial compensation is set for both foreigners and Czech citizens educated at higher professional schools;
4. same financial compensation is set for both foreigners and Czech citizens educated at reform and correctional school facilities;
5. foreigners educated at CR schools study under the same conditions as Czech citizens do;
6. schools don’t have a duty to teach their foreign pupils/students Czech language using a special form of study.

The education of foreign citizens at public universities is regulated by Act No. 111/1998 Coll., on Universities and on the Amendments of Other Acts (University Act). The foreigner studies under the same conditions as a Czech student does. However, he/she shall pay a fee for study under bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral programmes, if the university runs a study programme for foreigners in a foreign language.

Methodological notes on the tables

Unless shown otherwise, the data refer to schools established by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the CR, by municipalities, regions and private or church founders. The data on universities included in the time series refer to public universities and, from the school year 2000/01 to schools of private founders, too. The tables concerning universities and listing data for 2001/02 only also include data for universities founded by the Ministry of Defence of the CR and the Ministry of the Interior of the CR.

Nursery schools, basic schools and special schools

Data on foreigners in nursery, basic and special schools have been measured since 2002/03 only. For this reason no time series are given.

Secondary schools

― Since 2002/03, data on foreigners educated at secondary schools have been measured according a new breakdown, by individual citizenship (measured before were only data on Slovak citizens, refugees, homeless people, and compatriots, other foreigners, at grammar schools and secondary technical schools only, not at secondary vocational schools); for this reason no time series are given.
― Tables on the education of pupils in subjects with the combination of Czech and a foreign teaching language (the so-called bilingual schools, where some subjects are taught in foreign language) are not included in this chapter this year, because these schools are mostly attended by Czech nationals.

Higher professional schools

― Since 2002/03, data on foreigners educated at higher professional schools are measured broken down by citizenship, too; for this reason no time series is given.
― The breakdown by field of study corresponds to the national Classification of Basic Branches of Education.

Universities

― Slovak students who entered study before 1993 are taken for Czech citizens.
― The breakdown by field of study corresponds to the national Classification of Basic Branches of Education.
― The figures on university graduates for 2002 are exclusive of graduates from private universities.

Nursery schools

An absolute majority of children - foreigners at nursery schools come from Viet Nam (0.5% of all children in nursery schools), the Ukraine (0.2%), Slovakia and Russia (0.1% each).

Basic schools

Foreigners account for 1% of pupils at basic schools in the Czech Republic, mostly citizens of Viet Nam (0.3%), citizens of the Ukraine (0.2%), citizens of Slovakia (0.1%), and citizens of Russia (0.1%).

Special schools

A total of 193 foreigners were placed at special schools in 2002/03 (accounting for 0.3% of all children and pupils of special schools), mostly citizens of Slovakia, citizens of the Ukraine and citizens of Viet Nam.

Secondary schools

As far as secondary education is concerned foreigners study primarily at grammar schools (1 210 pupils in 2002/03) and secondary technical schools (1 127 students). Most of them study at secondary schools in Prague (36%).

Citizens of Viet Nam followed by citizens of Russia, citizens of the Ukraina, and citizens of Slovakia dominates the totals on foreigners educated at grammar schools.

Apart from Czech pupils, secondary technical schools are most frequently attended by citizens of the Ukraina, citizens of Russia, citizens of Slovakia, and citizens of Viet Nam.

Foreigners studying at secondary vocational schools are mostly citizens of Ukraina, citizens of Slovakia and citizens of Russia.

Higher professional schools

The total number of foreigners increased by 81% on the school year 1999/2000, year-on-year increases being around 20%. The foreign pupils are mostly enrolled in initial study and about a third take distance study courses.

Most of them go to higher professional schools in the Moravskoslezský Region (42%) and Prague (26%). The former recorded the largest growth in the number of foreign pupils since 1999/2000 (by 344%). The foreigners study most frequently economic subjects, hotel industry and tourism. They make up 1.4% of all pupils at higher professional schools and are mostly Slovaks.

Universities

Most foreigners study at universities. Since 1996/97 they have grown in number at Czech universities almost twice. They take bachelor’s and master’s education programmes full-time and account for 4.9% of all university students.

Understandably, the number of students depends on the number of new enrolments in individual years. The new foreign entrants to universities have increased almost three times since 1995/96, and foreigners make up 6.5% of all new entrants to universities. The highest rise was recorded in 2000/01, when only very few potential students for universities were leaving Czech secondary schools in the previous year (as a result of the introduction of the compulsory nine-year school attendance of basic school in 1995/96). Consequently, this opened an opportunity to enrol “delayed demand“ applicants (applicants who graduated from secondary schools in the previous years) and rather a large number of foreigners. The situation was made use most by applicants from the Slovak Republic.

The numbers of foreigners – university graduates have grown by 64% since 1995. These figures start to be gradually affected by the high increase of new entrants in the previous years.

Most foreigners attend universities in Prague and Brno. In last six years, they are mostly students from the Slovak Republic. In recent years an increase has been recorded for the numbers of students coming from the countries of succession of the former Soviet Union (Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, etc. ) and the United Kingdom. Despite the drop recorded for the last six years quite a number of students from Greece also study in the Czech Republic. Most of the foreigners study medicine, technology and natural sciences.