Free education in the Czech Republic for international students is available in Czech-taught programs at public universities. On 15 October 2026, EdVista hosted a webinar for applicants called “Studying at a Czech university: step-by-step admission plan and students’ experience”. EdVista founder Oksana Stupak led it. She is a Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences and a lecturer at Masaryk University. Two current students shared their own path: Dmytro, a first-year student, and Liza, a master’s student.
Below we summarize the main points: the rules of free study, the admission route, student life and common mistakes.
Is Czech Republic tuition free for international students? Yes, if you study in Czech at a public university. Public universities apply the same conditions to all applicants regardless of citizenship. The EU portal Study in Czechia confirms that Czech-taught programs at public institutions are free for students of all nationalities.
Programs taught in English usually charge tuition, and private universities set their own fees. Fees vary by university and program. We compare the options in our article on English programs at Czech universities.
The main condition for Czech-taught programs is the language. Most programs require Czech at B2, so to study in the Czech Republic for free you need the language first. According to Oksana Stupak, some universities accept B1, but this is an exception rather than the rule.
Free higher education in the Czech Republic covers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs taught in Czech. A bachelor’s program usually takes three years and a master’s program two years. Czech Republic free education also has a time limit. Students who exceed the standard length by more than one year pay a fee for the extra time. The rule comes from the Higher Education Act.
There are three ways to get into a Czech-taught program, and Oksana Stupak described each of them at the webinar:
For the third option, universities convert your grades into the Czech five-point scale, where 1 is the highest mark. The list of programs that admit without exams usually appears in late November or early December. Combining options with and without exams gives you a backup plan.
The webinar presented the route in five steps. Our hub university in Czech Republic for international students also describes the general path.
Applications for creative programs open earlier, in September and October. If you are not admitted, some universities open a second round in July or August.
Nostrification has two forms. Internal nostrification is done by the faculty and recognizes your diploma only for that faculty. External nostrification is valid in the whole country but takes more time and may include extra exams in Czech. For external nostrification, the diploma needs an apostille or superlegalization. Read more about apostille for the Czech Republic and nostrification in the Czech Republic.
Many applicants look for real stories about free university education in the Czech Republic before they decide. Here is what the two guests of the webinar told the audience.
Dmytro studies regional development at Mendel University in Brno. He entered at 17, right after school. For nine months he studied Czech with an EdVista group. At the same time, he prepared for the TSP entrance test. Dmytro passed the B2 exam on his first attempt.
He called the fear of not understanding lectures in Czech a myth. In his words, “If you learn the language properly and take it seriously, everything is clear.”
Lectures gather about 200 students and attendance is optional. Seminars matter more, because students earn extra points there.
The hardest part at the start was finding friends. Dmytro spent his first week alone, then met other Ukrainians and later Czech classmates. Most of them are around 20, so the age gap felt strange at first. His advice for learning Czech is to switch everything around you to the language: books, series, news and even your phone. “Just patience and strength,” he summed up.
Liza came to Czechia at 19 after a teacher training college, without any Czech. She learned the language in daily life, at free courses and with a private tutor. Within three months she spoke freely and found part-time work in a shopping center.
She completed a bachelor’s degree in Czech language at the University of Ostrava. Now she studies for a master’s degree at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. Students build their own schedules, so Liza keeps one day a week free for work. She warned about credits: if you do not collect enough credits, your studies end.
Liza lives in a dormitory in Prague and notes that Prague is more expensive than Ostrava. The ISIC student card gives discounts on transport, food and books. Living costs depend on the city and the type of housing. Our article on the cost of studying in the Czech Republic explains them in detail.
Full-time students in accredited university programs have free access to the Czech labour market. The Ministry of the Interior describes the rules for part-time work on its portal for foreigners.
Where can I find free Czech courses? Liza started with free courses for people with temporary protection, which ran in 2022. She noted that such courses vary in quality, so she added lessons with a tutor. For systematic preparation up to B2, consider our Czech courses, which lead from zero to B2.
At the end of the webinar, Oksana Stupak named the mistakes she sees most often in applicants’ families.
The first one is starting the language too late. Some parents come in May and hope to learn Czech in a few weeks. “You cannot learn Czech in a hurry,” she explained.
The second concerns documents. A translation made abroad may not be accepted, and the university can ask for a translation made in Czechia. Some faculties also request extra certificates, for example about the accreditation of your school. Without a complete set of documents, the application is rejected even after successful exams.
The third mistake is missing deadlines. “If the application deadline is 28 February, you cannot apply on 1 March,” she said. Universities communicate by email, so check your inbox regularly.
The fourth is leaving housing to the last moment. First-year students do not always get a place in a dormitory. For example, the Faculty of Medicine at Masaryk University houses senior students first. We collect more examples in the article on spring applicants’ mistakes.
You can watch the webinar recording on YouTube (recording in Ukrainian). To start learning Czech and preparing for entrance exams, explore our preparation for admission to Czech universities.
A bachelor degree in the Czech Republic is open to school leavers from any country. In Czech, it is tuition free at public universities. Applying straight after school has its own features. Many applicants are 17 or 18, receive their school diploma only in summer and make some decisions together with parents. This article covers […]
An apostille for the Czech Republic confirms that a foreign school diploma is genuine, so Czech authorities can accept it. International applicants need it mainly for nostrification, the official recognition of foreign education in Czechia. Universities set their own rules for admission documents. Below we explain when your diploma needs an apostille and when superlegalization […]
On July 14, 2026, an excursion to VUT (Brno University of Technology) took place. A group of applicants from Ukraine visited the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication Technologies, located at: Technická 3058/10. Oksana Stupak, the founder of EdVista, organized the visit. Read the report about this event below. You may want to join the […]
There is no “universal” country for studying. Each person has their own selection criteria: some students are primarily focused on the cost of education, others on a specific university or the availability of programs in English. Therefore, higher education in the Czech Republic for Ukrainians is only one of the options, not the best choice. […]
The EdVista Czech summer school in Brno lasted from July 4 to 20, 2026. Participants studied Czech every day, met Ukrainian students of Czech universities, went on excursions in Brno, visited Masaryk University and the Technical University in Brno, and in Prague they visited Charles University. The program combined language learning with immersion in the […]
Leave your contacts and our specialist will contact you.
