Programme priorities:
Funding

A well-considered and high-quality funding system is the most effective tool for the development and quality enhancement of higher education. The Student Chamber has long sought to ensure stable funding for higher education, but funding that is based on supporting quality teaching, science, research, creative activity, and other supplementary activities, together with the so-called third role of higher education institutions. The Student Chamber will always support funding models that reflect the qualitative aspects of educational and scientific activity over quantitative ones (i.e., funds allocated historically according to the number of enrolled students).

The Student Chamber has long pointed out that a distribution of normative funding heavily skewed toward the fixed indicator (A) fails to present the higher education budget to the public as an investment in quality education in the Czech Republic, and may represent an obstacle to increasing the budget of higher education institutions in future years.

Funding for higher education in the Czech Republic has long lagged behind the EU average. Current investment in tertiary education is low, particularly with regard to institutional support for higher education institutions. The Student Chamber will take part in responsible changes to the funding of public higher education institutions that will ensure they have sufficient resources for their strategic development.

At the same time, as elected student representatives, in cooperation with student senators, the Student Chamber will advocate for the effective use of public funds at higher education institutions. The Student Chamber is well aware of the significant fragmentation of governance structures within the academic environment, the substantial gaps in digitalization and savings in administrative processes, the duplication of agendas across faculties within a single university, and other areas in which savings can be made without a negative impact on the services provided.

Charging fees for the standard length of study

The Student Chamber firmly rejects any steps leading toward the introduction of fees for the standard length of higher education study in the Czech Republic. The Student Chamber regards the existing fees for extending one’s studies as an entirely sufficient form of fair charging for study, which requires no further extension.