Access to higher education in the Czech Republic : from central regulation to a balance of incentives

The paper points out quantitative, institutional and substantive changes both in higher education and secondary education and shifts in the interrelationship between these two levels of education that have taken place during last five years in the Czech Republic. These changes resulted from the influence of general political and economic transformation since 1989 in the system of education on the one hand, and limitation of state regulation of it on the other. New mechanisms of funding were introduced as a part of systemic changes of education. This paper shows how these changes have influenced access to higher education, beginning with the characteristics of access to higher education in the Czech Republic prior to the political changes