Statement of the Czech Rectors' Conference on the Financing of Higher Education

The Czech Rectors' Conference approved the following statement of the CRC on the financing of higher education.

Rectors of universities in the Czech Republic, members of the Czech Rectors' Conference (CRC), express deep concern about the current state of financing of higher education. Higher education in the Czech Republic is a strategic sector for research and a key partner in building an educated society - and as such a crucial factor in terms of future economic development. Unfortunately, we have to state in this context that higher education is suffering from a real decline in funding, which contradicts the Programme Statement of the Government of the Czech Republic. The share of higher education in the financial chapter of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic has gradually fallen from 18% in 2010 to 12% in 2021. As a result of other negative phenomena such as high inflation and rising energy prices, as well as rising salaries in the regional education sector, the academic environment is no longer competitive, which in reality leads to a brain drain from the higher education environment. The CRC is convinced that another alarming phenomenon, which is the significantly lower share of higher education spending in relation to GDP compared to other OECD countries, can no longer be ignored. Higher demands on the higher education sector are coming and will continue to come also with the rising demographic curve. Therefore, we call on the Government of the Czech Republic to reverse these negative trends and tendencies, to act responsibly and to take corrective action.