Definitions of the target group(s)
The target groups for support measures during the higher education studies are not explicitly set by law. However, support measures are provided to foreigners, exceptionally gifted students, students with physical or sensory disabilities and to students with low incomes, in a manner and to an extent, which may differ by individual institutions.
Support and counselling for students was also included into the Government Regulation on the Accreditation Standards in Higher Education. The evaluation of the fulfillment of the standards focuses on e.g.:
assessing the adequacy (in view of the number of students) and the availability of support services of the higher education institution to students (according to their type, e.g. support in various areas of academic and studentsʼ life, scholarships and financial assistance and mobility) and their effectiveness;
verifying the existence, relevancy and accessibility of appropriate information and counselling services for students and applicants, including career guidance.
Specific support measures
According to the Higher Education Act, the higher education institutions have to assure guidance and counselling for students and take measures for balancing opportunities for study at a higher education institution. Various civic associations focused on particular impairment may help solve some problems. Significant help is realised through support in searching for forms and the timetable of lessons, self-study and examining in such a way so that every individual with special educational needs is able to fulfill comparable demands in an individualised way. For such support, the cooperation among particular guidance and counselling bodies, academic staff and academic officials is needed.
Teaching methods and special materials for the education of the disabled are usually provided by specialised academic guidance centres. The Help Centre for the Disabled, which was established at the Department of Special Education of the Faculty of Education of Palacký University in Olomouc, the Metropolitan University Prague Day Centre or the Teiresias Centre of Masaryk University in Brno, can serve as examples. They provide complex guidance, technical, and therapeutic services to students and staff with communication difficulties, visual or hearing impairments, mobility disorders, with specific learning disorders and behavioural disorders and with multiple disabilities. The services include personal assistance (e.g. sign language interpretation, ensuring the mobility of students with physical or visual impairments), adaptation of study materials (conversion into Braille tactile lettering, transcribing audio recordings), consulting (with teachers, family, among the disabled and the non-disabled, etc.), providing financial support, publication and educational activities and more. However, the availability of such services is not a rule. The accessibility of the higher education institutions buildings to disabled students is realised, without exception, through the new construction or renovation. The accessibility to historic buildings is solved individually.
The conditions for study of foreigners are included in the internal regulations of individual higher education institutions. These must make it possible to meet the commitments following from international treaties binding for the Czech Republic. The situation of foreigners in the Czech education system is described in Support Measures for Learners in Early Childhood and School Education.
There are linguistic products for foreigners who are applicants for study in the Czech language at a higher education institution – all-year residential courseprepares students for study in humanities, economic and technical programmes at Czech higher education institutions. In addition, foreigners are offered to study in foreign languages, especially in English. The intention is to extend this offer (including the creation of learning support in foreign languages, the equipment of higher education institutions, staff language skills, accommodation, leisure time spending etc., and foreign expertsʼ engagement) and thus contributing to create a true international environment at Czech higher education institutions.
The development of talented students is not institutionalised and mostly takes the form of various competitions for the best undergraduate or graduate theses. The winners of these competitions receive financial rewards. Such competitions are not only held by higher education institutions or the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, but also by non-educational establishments, such as the Czech Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, scientific societies of the Academy of Science, the Learned Society of the Czech Republic, the Czech Literary Fund and the Czech Music Fund, and various other foundations.