Czech universities demand budget increase to tackle deficit

The annual budget of Czech universities and colleges should be increased to 30 billion crowns (about 1.18 billion U.S. dollars) as of 2020, said Czech Rectors' Conference deputy chairman Mikulas Bek and rector of Brno's Masaryk University on Czech TV on Sunday.

At present, Czech universities have an annual budget of about 21 billion crowns. A similar budget level has been projected for the next three years.

Bek said Czech universities' budget has long been in deficit, which is covered by European subsidies. He said finances for universities must be found somewhere, because the European money flow will stop in three years.

Czech Education Minister Katerina Valachova said the universities' budget could be increased. However, such an increase will depend on whether the budget of the education sector could be raised.

Valachova believed the idea to raise universities' budget to 30 billion was unrealistic. She said it is more realistic at the moment to negotiate a budget rise from 21 billion crowns to 26 billion crowns.

However, Bek said that finances for universities need not come from public sources only. He believes there is no choice but to eventually increase the financial contribution of students and to introduce some enrolment or tuition fees.

According to figures from Czech Education Ministry, almost 327,000 people currently study at universities and colleges in the Czech Republic, a country with 10.5 million people. In 2015, more than 82,000 people graduated from universities and in 2014, the number of graduates was more than 88,000. Since 2001, the number of college graduates has almost tripled. Endit