Students say they intend to protest on April 11 against the way university tuition fees are collected, the SITA newswire reported wrote. The demonstration is scheduled to take place in front of parliament at 11 a.m.. University students, who have been required to pay tuition fees since the 2007/08 academic year, sent an open letter to parliamentary deputies, the Education Ministry and other competent bodies, explaining their reasons for staging the protest.
The students do not oppose paying tuition fees, or the system which exempts those studying for their first university masters degree, but do object to the way the tuition fees are collected. Specifically, they point to universities’ inability to specify the scale of their tuition fees even two months before the deadline for students to officially apply for university places; and they object to universities’ failure to inform them clearly about the terms for collecting fees prior to the start of the academic year. According to the amended law, which came into force on September 1, 2007, state universities can introduce tuition fees for external students starting with the 2008/2009 academic year. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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