Czechoslovak Higher Education at the Cross-Roads

Abstract

This article describes the current state of higher education in Czechoslovakia and the programme of reform. In the first part, some of the main features and most relevant reasons for the crisis of Czechoslovak higher education are briefly highlighted, in particular the centralised administration and political screening of personnel in higher education, the systematic destruction of teachers' research and educational activities, the failure adequately to expand and restructure higher education, and the decreasing role of higher education in the life of both the individual and the society. It is apparent, however, that the crisis was caused mainly by the ensemble of social changes in post-war Czechoslovakia. In a more detailed second part, I comment on the new Higher Education Act of 1990 as a direct consequence of the November 1989 Revolution. The new principles of a radical decentralisation in higher education governance are described, and the establishment of a new relationship between the state and the higher education institutions is explained, as well as the new structures of power and responsibility on the one hand, and the various aspects of the changes envisaged in the concept and structure of higher education studies on the other.