Most foreign students choose Czechia for its high-quality education

According to a recent survey by the Czech National Agency for International Education and Research (DZS), international students mainly choose to study at a university in Czechia because of the country’s high-quality education. 

The survey focused on international students actively studying at Czech universities and colleges for bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees in Czech or English. “The results show that nine out of 10 students considered their study program to be of good quality,” said DZS director Michal Uhl.

The survey also revealed that specific study programs and linguistic or cultural proximity are important factors for foreign students studying in Czechia. Additionally, the number of non-Czech students in the country has been steadily increasing since 2002, with 18 percent of students at Czech universities and colleges being foreigners in 2022.

The highest number of foreign students come from Slovakia, Ukraine, and Russia, with 38 percent from Slovakia, 14 percent from Russia, and 10 percent from Ukraine in the last academic year. However, Uhl noted that the number of Russian students would likely continue to decrease due to the ongoing war.

Deputy Education Minister Jaroslav Miller announced that an amendment to the law on university education may change the tuition fees for international students studying in Czechia. "This amendment says that the college will choose its own strategy, and we leave it up to them," Miller said. "Schools would then have the option to charge fees for studying in a foreign language [currently the standard case] or not."

Foreign students who study in Czech are currently tuition-free, while those studying in other languages, such as English, are charged a fee. The proposed amendment would give schools the autonomy to decide whether or not to charge tuition for foreign language programs.

The survey also showed that foreign students studying in Czechia are more likely to stay there after graduation. "Forty-five percent of foreign graduates choose to stay in Czechia after their studies to work," Uhl stated. "And almost half of the students in the survey expressed a desire to remain in the Czech Republic and enter the labor market or continue their studies," he said.

However, the survey also revealed that obtaining visas can be challenging for foreign students, with three-quarters of respondents finding it time-consuming or administratively demanding.