While private and public Czech
universities had nearly 9 thousand foreign students in 2001, in 2010 it was close to 38 thousand. At present, there are nearly 400,000 foreign university students who study at 26 public and 45 private colleges and universities.
The highest number of foreigners, almost 7 thousand, study at
Charles University in Prague (6,852), many of them studying medical or pharmaceutical science. It is very similar at
Masaryk University in Brno – out of a total 5,599 foreigners, 1,315 are students at the faculty of medicine. The
University of Economics in Prague has over three thousand foreign students, most of them enrolled for disciplines lectured at the Faculty of International Relations.
Among the foreigners, the strongest interest is seen in economic science (30.6% of the total number of foreign university students), followed by technical science (16.5%), medicine and health care (15%) and humanities (15.3%). There are nearly 10 thousand foreign students at
private universities and colleges in the Czech Republic.
The biggest number of foreign students come from Slovakia, followed by students from the former Soviet Union. There are 2,545 students from Russia, 1,456 students from the Ukraine, 510 students from Belarus, and even 805 students from Kazakhstan. Many of the foreign university students come from countries with well-developed educational systems and renowned universities: there are 117 students from France, 394 students from Germany, 418 students from the United Kingdom, and 178 students from the USA. Increasing numbers are seen in students from Afghanistan (357), Cyprus (189), Greece (379), India (150), Israel (134), Malaysia (318), Norway (269), Poland (354), Portugal (483) and Vietnam (728 students). The statistics reporting students by nationality, developed by the Institute for Information on Education, includes students from exotic countries as well: Guinea-Bissau, St. Thomas Island, Togo, and Trinidad and Tobago. As regards Africa, the biggest group of students are Angolans (42) and Libyans (39).
|Foreign students choose courses taught either in Czech or in foreign languages. For example, the University of Economics in Prague offers nearly 30 branches of study, accredited in English as well, and one of them is also offered in Russian.
The highest number of branches of study accredited in English is offered by the
Czech Technical University in Prague (there are over 2,000 foreign students). However, artistic disciplines are taught in foreign languages as well – both in the branch of playing musical instruments or in the field of arts. A comprehensive overview of accredited study lines in public and private Czech colleges and universities can be found here. Languages are shown in the H-column: A = English, N = German, R = Russian, P = Polish, etc.