Photo: Masaryk University in Brno. Credit: KK for Brno Daily
Prague, Feb 25 (CTK) – Universities in the Czech Republic secured studies of some 3,500 Ukrainian refugees last year, and the Education Ministry gave 173 million crowns to universities for the education of refugees from Ukraine, according to the ministry’s spokeswoman Aneta Lednova and the data from its website.
According to the ministry data, 5,457 students with Ukrainian citizenship, including those with the temporary protection status in the Czech Republic, studied at public Czech universities and colleges in 2022, while in 2021, before the war, 3,690 students from Ukraine attended them.
The highest number of Ukrainians, 923, studied at Charles University in Prague (UK), followed by the Czech Technical University (CVUT) in Prague with 610 Ukrainians, and Brno’s Masaryk University and the University of Technology (VUT) with 560 and 439 students from Ukraine, respectively, last year.
In total, universities and colleges in the Czech Republic registered 304,518 students, including foreigners, in 2022.
Czech schools have managed the integration od Ukrainian refugees very well, Education Minister Vladimir Balas (Mayors and Independents, STAN) said.
The ministry’s university, science and research section head Radka Wildova praised the work of universities in this respect, saying they secured not only studies but also accommodation and background facilities for refugee students.
Last March, the Education Ministry earmarked 150 million crowns for the studies and Czech language courses of Ukrainian refugees, Balas said previously.
Universities and colleges actually received 173 million crowns for these purposes and the sum was primarily to cover scholarships and lodging of new students coming form the war-stricken Ukraine.
The ministry also supported Czech language courses for students and school employees from Ukraine that universities organised with subsidies from the Norwegian Grants.
This year, the ministry plans to send another 200 million crowns to universities in support of students from the Ukrainian refugee community, its spokeswoman said.
Charles University, for instance, supported 25 academics and 231 students from Ukraine, who started to study there, along with 341 Ukrainians at study stays outside the existing exchange and study programmes last year, its spokesman Vaclav Hajek said. The school also organised Czech language courses for Ukrainian students and children, attended by 438 people, he added.
At the Prague University of Economics and Business (VSE) , 537 Ukrainians are currently studying. VSE organises a financial collection for the covering of the costs related to the accommodation of the Ukrainian students and academics and for securing their basic needs and for the payment of students of Ukrainians who are in a difficult situation, its spokeswoman Vera Koukalova said.
($1 = 22.309 crowns)
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