University rectors described the draft budget for higher education for 2027 as insufficient; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports responded to their statement on 2 October 2026.
University rectors in Czechia described the underfunding of higher education as a problem for society as a whole which, in their view, will affect mainly young people and their families. They pointed out that large population cohorts are heading for universities, who will be finishing secondary school in the coming years, and expressed concern about the admission of new students.[1]
The rectors' arguments
Ingeborg Radok Žádná, rector of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, said that the rectors are aware of the decline in student numbers after the demographic peak. In her view, universities should offer lifelong learning, which she said will be needed in the future.[1]
Jitka Němcová, deputy chair of the Czech conference of rectors for private universities and rector of the Vysoká škola zdravotnická, said that private schools do not offer the same study programmes as public ones. They therefore cannot make up for any shortfall in funding by increasing their capacity.[1]
According to the rectors, there is a risk that, for lack of money, schools will not be competitive, that academics will leave them and that this will show in the quality of education. The rectors also pointed to the lower share of university-educated people in Czechia: according to the latest OECD report, 29 percent of people aged 25 to 64 have tertiary education, while the OECD average is 43 percent and the European Union average about 39 percent.[1]
In the dispute over the amount of money needed, an estimate was given that universities would need an annual increase of three billion koruna to function, not one.[1]
Response of the Ministry of Education
According to iDNES.cz, Minister of Education Robert Plaga (for ANO) does not take concerns about admitting students at the time of the demographic peak lightly and is aware of the underfunding of higher education. On the evening of Friday 2 October 2026, ministry spokesman Ondřej Macura wrote in response to the rectors' statement that operating funding for the educational activities of universities in the draft budget for 2027 rises by one billion koruna. According to him, the universities' budget is to be 35.9 billion koruna next year, compared with about 36.2 billion this year under the approved budget.[1]
Plaga stated earlier that he had negotiated for universities a year-on-year increase of one billion koruna in the medium-term outlook for 2028 and another billion in 2029. Macura described the growth in the outlook as key and as a signal that the minister's main aim is to improve the starting negotiating position and the future development of universities.[1]
Chronology
- — Rectors of universities described the proposed higher-education budget as insufficient and warned that universities may be forced to admit fewer students. iDNES.cz iROZHLAS
Sources
- iDNES.cz — 2 October 2026