The Czech Republic is situated in Central Europe, with an area of 78,864 square kilometres and a population of slightly under 10.3 million. Like other European Union countries, the Czech Republic has a low birth rate that is expected to drop further beyond 2015. About 40 per cent of the population are aged 29 or younger. National minorities include Slovaks, Poles and Germans. The largest ethnic minority are the Roma. In 2005, over 280,000 foreigners lived in the Czech Republic (2.7 per cent of the population).
The country is characterised by a high number of municipalities, 6,258 in all, with a relatively even distribution of the population. The rural areas are gradually depopulating while suburban areas are rapidly growing and developing. The capital Prague has 1.2 million inhabitants. There are four other cities with populations exceeding 100,000. Major cities include Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Plzen, Olomouc, Liberec, Ceske Budejovice, Hradec Kralove, Usti nad Labem and Pardubice (listed in order of population size).
The Czech Republic is a member of a number of important international organisations that focus on political, humanitarian and economic development, including the United Nations, European Union (EU), NATO, World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The country is scheduled for the EU Presidency in the first half of 2009.
The Czech Republic has agreed to accept the common European currency. The government expects the country to be ready to accept the euro in 2010. According to the latest proposal of the European budget for 2007–13, the Czech Republic could receive a net income of around CZK 93 billion annually. It will acquire the finances from EU Structural Funds and Solidarity Funds.
Currently, the Czech Republic ranks among the fastest-developing countries in the region. The economy is growing at a rate higher than the EU average. Agriculture and industry have decreased their contribution to GDP while services have increased their input. According to the Czech Statistical Office, GDP at purchasing power parity per capita reached only 71 per cent in the Czech Republic compared with the EU standard in 2004. The average annual GDP growth is estimated at three to five per cent. In 2004, GDP was 4.7 per cent. The capital city of Prague is the most economically efficient, producing virtually one-quarter of total GDP and 143 per cent of average GDP per inhabitant in the EU.
The beginning of 2008 finds the inflation rate at around 6 per cent which may indicate that the rich years of rapid economic development are over. Despite this, local experts regard the Czech economic situation fairly promising in the short-term.
In the past 15 years, the purchasing power of Czechs has grown year on year by about five per cent, but there are significant differences among various regions. Prague has the highest purchasing power (more than 130 per cent of the country average of the whole Republic).
In 2005, the average monthly salary was nearly CZK 19,000. In 2010, when the country is expected to accept the euro, the average salary should be around CZK 25,000. According to statistics, two-thirds of employees do not take home the average wage. Employees in technical fields and financial sector have the highest wages, agricultural and textile workers have the lowest.
Czechs spend a major part of their income (about one-third) on groceries, which differs significantly from the British. The next significant item is housing expenses (18 per cent of expenses, comparable with the EU). Czechs spend about 16 per cent of their income on cultural activities and leisure time and 14 per cent on transport and telecommunications. Approximately 45 per cent of the total population are economically active.
The Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy. The President is elected by the Parliament, which is divided into two chambers - the Assembly of Deputies and the Senate. Executive power is held by the national government. The President of the Czech Republic is Mr Vaclav Klaus. The presidential election will take place in February 2008 when Klaus was elected for another five year term. The next elections for the European Parliament will take place in 2009.
After five months of deadlock following the June 2006 general election, the President officially appointed the new government of Mr Miroslav Topolanek, made up of nine ministers from the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and six unaffiliated ministers.
Czech society places high expectations on the Czech educational system. The public considers Czech schools to be good in comparison with schools abroad. Most parents and also the public expect high-quality knowledge, drilling and discipline which often results in less emphasis on skills. Prestigious schools, mostly academically-orientated grammar schools ('gymnasiums'), are held in high acclaim. Up to 30 per cent of pupils transfer to grammar schools in some parts of the country. There are significant differences in the results of students from academic and vocational schools. Vocational schools are considered as having relatively low status among parents and society with some exceptions made for highly specialised handicrafts taught at art schools.
The Czech education system is based on a long tradition beginning in 1774, when compulsory school attendance was implemented. Currently, there are all types of education – starting with pre-school, through to elementary, secondary, university and postgraduate and ongoing education.
Children may enter pre-school education before they begin compulsory school attendance, as a complement to family-based education. This is served by crèches and nursery schools, intended to raise elementary habits of learning and also provide social contact among children, necessary for children's smooth transition to elementary school.
Compulsory education applies to children from six years of age. It is spread over nine progressive grades, and is provided at elementary schools. There is a recognised division between the primary and secondary school levels: the first stage covers the first to fifth grade, and the second stage the sixth to ninth grade. The primary level is usually taught by a single generalist teacher, while at the secondary stage, subjects are taught by teachers commonly specialising in two subjects.
The school year at elementary and secondary schools runs from the beginning of September until the end of June. The main holiday is in July and August. Pupils attend school from Monday to Friday. There are no classes at weekends. Elementary schools are the responsibility of municipalities.
Upper secondary education is a multi-structural but internally co-ordinated system guaranteeing education and vocational training for almost the entire population of young people, following completion of compulsory education and before taking up employment or continuing in higher education. Students attending upper secondary schools are generally aged 15 to 19 years.
Secondary schools are divided into Secondary Grammar Schools, Secondary Technical Schools and Secondary Vocational Schools, providing:
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Secondary education when the student gets a report on a final exam after one to two years of study (provided at Secondary Vocational Schools) |
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Secondary education with a vocational certificate – completed after two to three years of study by a report on a final exam and a vocational certificate stating professional capability (provided at Secondary Technical Schools and Secondary Vocational Schools) |
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Secondary education with a school leaving examination, when usually after four years of study a student gets a report on a leaving examination. A leaving examination consists of several exams including one on the Czech language and other exams according to study specialisation and the student's choice. From 2008 onwards, the secondary school leaving exam should consist of two parts, common (state) and profiling (specific for individual schools provided at Secondary Grammar Schools and Secondary Technical Schools). |
The approximate total number of pupils in compulsory education, kindergartens, and upper-secondary education is about 2,000,000. Most pupils in primary and secondary education attend public-sector schools. Private schools have been established since 1990. They are considered to be equivalent to state schools. If they are classified among the school network, they get an allowance comparable to, although not exactly the same as, state schools.
Non-state (private and religious) elementary schools make up about 1.2 per cent of all elementary schools and account for below one per cent of the total number of pupils; about two fifths of non-state elementary schools are denominational schools.
The most significant boom has been in non-state upper secondary schools, mainly vocational ones. 22 per cent of upper secondary schools are private, accounting for about 13 per cent of all pupils. Non-state schools are free to charge fees, although denominational schools do not usually do so.
Private and state schools are generally the same quality. The most prestigious schools are state grammar schools. Private schools, on the other hand, are more flexible toward the needs of students.
Higher education institutions are either university, or non-university type. The secondary school leaving certificate is the minimum entrance qualification. Each institution defines its own admission criteria and determines the content of the entrance examination.
Institutions of higher education are legal entities. A faculty cannot be an autonomous legal entity, but is a part of an institution of higher education. All 24 state higher education institutions are state-subsidised and only three military and one police institution remain state institutions. Universities can offer all types of study programmes, while non-university institutions can usually only offer Bachelor's programmes.
Programmes may be for Bachelor, Masters or Doctoral studies and may be full-time, distance or a combination of both. Each study programme is further divided into areas of specialisation. Separate Bachelor programmes, as introduced in 1990, usually serve as a first stage of university studies. Around one quarter of all applicants are enrolled in Bachelor degrees at universities or other institutions of higher education. The 1998 Higher Education Act emphasises that a Bachelor degree is a self-contained professional qualification and should be awarded primarily by the emerging non-university higher education institutions. Studies for a Bachelor degree last for three to four years.
Masters can last between four to six years, the typical duration being five years. In some fields, the duration of study is six years (Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, and Architecture). If a student proceeds to a Masters degree course after obtaining a Bachelor, the typical duration of study at Masters level is one to three years.
A Doctoral study programme can follow after the completion of a Masters. It is aimed at scientific work, independent creative activity in the area of research and development or independent theoretical and creative skills in art. The typical duration of study is three years. Bachelor degrees and Masters are taught through lectures and seminars. Doctoral studies run according to an individual study scheme under a tutor's guidance. A vast majority of all students attend public institutions of higher education.
Besides public colleges and universities, there are also private colleges in the Czech Republic. Private higher education institutions began to emerge shortly after the new law on higher education came into force in 1999. Private schools can only function as legal entities with the Ministry of Education's approval and on the basis of the Accreditation Commission's recommendation.
Private colleges are financed by students who choose the respective subject. In some cases, part of the tuition fees may be financed by means of subsidies. Private higher education institutions must be non-profit-making to be given a state grant.
At present, students have the opportunity to graduate from more than one-fifth of these institutions; there are more than 30 that are accredited. The majority are in Prague, but some well-established ones are also in other towns – e.g. in Brno, Kladno, Česke Budějovice, Ústí nad Labem and Karlovy Vary. There were 19,120 students studying at Czech private colleges in 2004.
The local education reform agenda is focusing on school quality assurance and English in the classroom. The UK is well-placed to be a partner of choice in these areas. Czech-British co-operation in the fields of Education, Science and Culture is based on a 1990 bilateral government agreement and the 2003 Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation in the Field of Education and Training between the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and the Department for Education and Skills in England. The British Council as a key partner co-operates with the Ministry of Education on projects covering:
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- Teaching of English, teacher training for English teachers (projects in PRESETT and INSETT);
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- Head Teacher Development (projects in Professional School Leadership, International Placement for Heads and Teacher International Professional Development);
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- Citizenship and multicultural education (projects in teaching English to Roma pupils; Comenius 1: Inclusive education; www.Czechkid.cz, part of the Czech Ministry of Education’s project Multiculturalism Through Children’s Eyes within the EU campaign All Equal All Different);
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Special education needs; |
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School inspection (project in Effective School Self-Evaluation); |
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Secondary technical and vocational education (project in English for Specific Purposes); |
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Higher education financing |
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School links (Czech Republic is the UK’s strategic partner for project Global Gateway). |
Economic growth and a propensity for travel among our younger audience present opportunities for UK education providers. More young people are seeing English and internationally recognised qualifications as a gateway to a successful career.
Around 33 per cent of 18-years old enter institutions of higher education. Most of the students complete a Masters, as the Bachelor degree is still seen rather as an interim stage. In 2004, a total of 284,977 application forms were sent to universities, of which nearly 97 per cent were applications to public universities. Application statistics suggest that interest in university studies has been growing steadily. As a result higher education institutions are still only able to meet around 50 per cent of the demand for places.
Based on the results of the entrance exams, 108,813 applications were evaluated positively, but the actual number of students who registered for study was 76,296. The disparity is mainly due to the limited capacity of institutions and also students getting accepted to more than one university and then choosing between them. The figures suggest there are thousands of young Czechs who do not succeed to get admitted to university and who could be interested to pursue their study needs abroad.
The majority of students are interested in Economic and Humanities subjects, for which over 105,000 students in total applied in 2004 (almost 40 per cent of all applications submitted). The interest in Humanities is almost identical with the interest in economics. Pedagogical and teaching subjects are in third place. Technical subjects and natural science are also popular among students.
The likelihood of being accepted on a course, given the capacity issues also has an influence on the choice of subject. Despite the high interest among applicants in Economic subjects, the chance for admission is more or less average. Applicants interested in technical, agricultural and forestry specialisations have the highest chance for admission (the ratio between the applicants and those actually registered was 2.33 and 2.44, respectively). Applicants desiring to study law have the lowest chance (the ratio was 8.58), followed by those interested in medicine (the ratio was 5.58).
Private colleges focus primarily on attractive subjects that usually lead to a Bachelor's degree. Among popular subjects of private colleges are Business, Finance and Law.
The proportion of HE students studying abroad is similar to EU levels, with approximately 0.6 per cent of total HE students studying abroad. They come from the highest income backgrounds. The UK's main market competitors are Germany, Australia and the USA. The UK is currently the most popular country of study amongst students in all EU countries. At the time of Czech Republic’s accession to the EU in 2004, the USA. and Germany were the most popular destinations amongst Czechs studying abroad. Since the accession, Czech students have been eligible for home student status and government support in the UK, a change that together with the local restriction in the supply of places has increased Czech demand for UK higher education. If the increase in GDP continues as projected, demand to study abroad could increase further in the future.
For 2004/2005, the Higher Education Statistics agency reported a total of 915 Czech students studying at UK higher education institutions. Over two thirds of these students were undergraduates, the rest studied postgraduate taught (160) and research (80) courses. The most popular subjects were Business Studies, Politics, Sociology, Computer Science, Law, English Studies and Design. The following British universities attracted the highest numbers of Czech students: University of Salford, University of Glasgow, University of Plymouth, University of Oxford and University College London.
In 2004/05, a total of 2,455 Czech students attended FE courses in the UK. More recent FE and HE figures are not available yet.
As of 2003 (latest information available), 25 links existed between 11 Czech and 22 UK universities including among others University of Wales; Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama; University of Derby; Scottish Agricultural College; University of Glasgow; University of Hertfordshire; University of Huddersfield; University of Central Lancashire; University of Leeds; Liverpool John Moores University; Birkbeck, University of London; University of Nottingham; Nottingham Trent University; University of Plymouth; Brunel University and Sheffield Hallam University. There exist both direct university links and links within EU educational programmes (Socrates II - Erasmus, Leonardo, Comenius, Lingua).
The Czech Republic has concluded international treaties on the recognition of education certificates with Afghanistan, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
Education acquired in the Czech Republic is recognised in the European Union:
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automatically (i. e. only with submitting diploma) - for example, medical doctors or architects, |
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semi-automatically (i. e. with comparison of the length and contents of study at a comparable educational institution), |
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in terms of experience (especially people with lower qualifications, craftsmen and other professions enumerated by the Trade Licensing Act) or |
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for purpose of providing services (e. g. a UK lawyer can plead his client at the bar in the Czech Republic). |
Although, in accordance with certain conditions, anyone can establish a school in the Czech Republic, it is a very long and demanding process. The current school network is overflowing and the competition is especially high in the field of upper secondary education. Competition for textbooks is also high and prestigious home and foreign publishing companies are well established in the market. Educational computer programs are also available. From the investor's point of view it is a classically developed market, comparable with other European countries.
The government does not provide funding for school level reform on a large scale. Most projects with international involvement are financed from EU projects (Phare, Socrates, Youth, Leonardo and others). There is a Sectoral Operational Programme (SOP) which states priorities for using the EU funds.
The British Council is based in Prague with a small presence in Brno. We also have contact points in our ten Partner Libraries in the following towns and cities: Brno, Ceske Budejovice, Karlovy Vary, Liberec, Olomouc, Ostrava, Pardubice, Plzen, Prague and Usti nad Labem.
We work in the following professional areas: Climate Security; Knowledge and Creative Economy; and Intercultural Dialogue.
The British Council has administered examinations in English as a Foreign Language for Cambridge English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in the Czech Republic since 1992. The examinations are held three times a year, in March, June and December. Nearly 10,000 candidates take the Cambridge examinations every year with a success rate of over 80 per cent. The Examinations Unit also administers the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam as well as examinations for a range of international professional bodies, universities and colleges. These include ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, around 800 candidates a year), CIMA (The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), CIM (The Chartered Institute of Marketing), Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, Open University, Securities and Investment Institute, IFM (Institute of Financial Management), University of London, IFS (The Institute of Financial Services), Deakin University, The College of Estate Management, Manchester Business School, University of Reading, BBC, Edinburgh Business School, The University of Sheffield, University of South Africa, The University of Warwick, University of Leicester, University of Sunderland, University of Portsmouth, University of Northumbria, London Metropolitan University and others.
Our key partners and clients are the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for the implementation and support of international strategic priorities through delivery of joint programmes with the Embassy (e.g. climate change); Department for Education and Skills facilitating meetings with Czech Ministry of Education under Memorandum of Understanding (MOU )– signed in 2003); Youth Sports Trust (Dreams and Teams); VisitBritain (promotion of the UK as a travel destination); corporate clients such as Generali and T-Mobile (English language and professional skills training).
We work closely with a range of UK stakeholders and country partners to achieve our outcomes, such as the National Centre for School Leadership (University of Manchester); HM Inspectorate of Education (Scotland), a range of UK schools, HE institutions and individual experts, British Embassy, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment, Academy of Sciences, Parliament of the Czech Republic Senate, Charles University (Pedagogical Institute and Faculty of Humanities), National Museum, ten partner libraries throughout the Czech Republic and English Language Teachers’ Associations.
We do not have a dedicated EducationUK marketing function but can offer market information on a reactive basis.
For further information please visit our website at www.britishcouncil.cz
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