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Ongoing reforms and policy developments
Czechia

Czechia

14.Ongoing reforms and policy developments

Last update: 16 August 2024
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Structure of the chapter

This chapter provides a thematic and chronological overview of national reforms and policy developments since 2022. The web pages that follow group reforms in the following broad thematic areas:

Inside each thematic area, reforms are organised chronologically. The most recent reforms are described first.

Government's key objectives for education

In Czechia, the reform initiatives in education can originate, as in many other EU countries, from different stakeholders, including the government, regional and local authorities, non-governmental and non-profit organisations, employers and employee unions, or business. Most often, it is a political initiative launched by elected officials (members of Parliament) or Government Ministers, which is then put forward by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports through educational strategies. At present, the key educational objectives are formulated in the Strategy for education policy of the Czech Republic 2030+ and the Strategic plan of the Ministry for higher education for the period from 2021.

The Strategy for education policy of the Czech Republic 2030+ ('Strategy 2030+') was approved on 19 October 2020. It sets the direction of educational development and investment priorities for the ten-year period. The aim is to modernise the Czech education system in the field of regional education (i.e. the whole educational area except for higher education), leisure time activities and non-formal education and lifelong learning, prepare it for new challenges and at the same time solve the problems that persist in Czech education.

The Strategy 2030+ has two main strategic objectives:

  • Strategic objective 1: To focus education more on acquiring the competencies needed for active civic, professional and personal life
  • Strategic objective 2: To reduce inequalities in the access to quality education and enable the maximum development in children's, pupils' and students' potential

The strategic objectives will be implemented through five strategic lines, which indicate how to achieve the goals:

  • Changing the content, methods and evaluation of education
  • Equal access to quality education
  • Support for education staff
  • Increasing professional capacity, trust and mutual cooperation
  • Increasing funding and ensuring its stability

The implementation of the strategy will take place in three periods: 2020–2023, 2023–2027 and 2027–2031. In each of the defined periods, implementation will be based on the identification of five key measures that have the most significant potential to contribute to the fulfilment of the objectives of the Strategy 2030+ itself. These key measures will then be processed into separate measure cards with a defined structure. The cards of key measures for the period 2020–2023 are an annex to the Strategy 2030+.

Until 2027, the implementation document is, in addition to the implementation cards of the Strategy 2030+, also the Long-term Plan for Education and the Development of the Education System of the Czech Republic (2023-2027) based on the preceding Long-term Plan for Education and the Development of the Education System of the Czech Republic (2019–2023), whose partial objectives and measures were taken into account during the preparation of the Strategy 2030+.

The process of implementation of the first five key measures was evaluated in 2023, at the end of the first period of implementation of the Strategy 2030+, and key measures were selected for the following implementation period. Measures for the years 2027-2031 will be developed and will become part of the long-term plans for education and development of the educational system of the Czech Republic for the next period.

Details are available also in section National reforms in school education.

The Strategic Plan of the Ministry for Higher Education for the Period from 2021 ('SZ2021+') was approved by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in June 2020. The document was prepared in line with the Strategy 2030+ and the Innovation Strategy of the Czech Republic 2019-2030: The Country for the Future. SZ2021+ formulates a general vision of higher education in twenty points, emphasising its significance for society.

The long-term goal and task of the ministry is to create such conditions for all higher education institutions to:

  • provide quality education to students in the form of on-site courses, distance learning courses or in courses combining both forms, as well as through lifelong learning courses available to the general public;
  • carry out research, development, artistic and other creative and professional activities, the outputs of which will support the social, economic and cultural development of the country;
  • be themselves active actors in society, open to cooperation, discussion and knowledge sharing.

SZ2021 + includes the following six priority objectives:

  • develop competencies directly relevant to life and practice in the 21st century;
  • improve the availability and relevance of flexible forms of education;
  • increase the efficiency and quality of doctoral studies;
  • strengthen strategic management and effective use of research and development capacities at higher education institutions;
  • build capacity for strategic management of higher education;
  • reduce the administrative burden on higher education institutions staff so that they can fully devote themselves to their mission.

The individual priority objectives are developed at the level of operational objectives and specific measures.

A complementary document to the SZ2021+ is the Strategy for the internationalisation of higher education for the period from 2021, which formulates goals and measures to strengthen the international dimension of higher education institution activities. The priority objectives of this strategy are:

  1. Developing global competences of HE students and staff
  2. The internationalisation of HE study programmes
  3. Simplifying the process for recognising the education from abroad
  4. Creating an international environment at HEIs and promotion abroad
  5. Strengthening the strategic management of internationalisation
  6. Internationalisation activities of the national accreditation bureau

Details on both strategies are available in section National reforms in higher education.

Important implementation tools for achieving the goals set are financial programmes. The grant programmes for the regional (school) education announced by the Ministry of Education or the Government reflect the particular and current needs of the given area. The Programme to Support the Strategic Management of HEIs and the Centralised Development Programmes contribute to the development of the higher education institutions. Within the framework of and Operational Programmes projects across all educational levels are carried out. The European Education Area until 2025 is currently being implemented at the EU level, which will have its own indicator set. It is linked to the ET 2020 (Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training).