Transcript Slide 1
Progress in reform of HE funding in
Croatia
- November 2010 edition Luka Juroš
Ministry of Science, Education and Sports
Tempus ACCESS Consortium meeting
Corvinus University Budapest, Hungary, November 2010
Presentation overview
Recent events
Draft of new laws
To do
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Questions asked at last ACCESS
meeting
How to encourage the definition and follow the implementation of
strategic goals of universities, local community and society at large?
How can the Ministry provide financial support to quality higher
education?
How can transparency be assured in the funding of higher education,
both from public and private sources?
Professionalization of administration
How to assign new positions? How to predict expenses related to new positions?
How to assess needs?
What are our sources of data? Do we know what is the real state of
affairs?
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Recent events
In early October the Ministry published three draft laws on its web site
Draft law on universities, higher education and research
Public discussion opened until November 1
Comments are still accepted
The laws will go through full parliamentary procedure (two readings)
Opportunity for public consultation will thus be open until the final vote in parliament
Ministry web site: “this was the first phase of public consultation”
Goal was to determine a draft text for Cabinet procedure
During the Cabinet procedure all stakeholders in science and higher education will
have the opportunity to submit further comments
Further comments will also be gathered during discussions in parliamentary
procedure
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Authors of draft laws
The minister named the following persons to draft the new laws:
prof. Vlatko Cvrtila (Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb)
prof. Slavko Krajcar (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of
Zagreb)
prof. Žarko Puhovski (Faculty for Philosophy, University of Zagreb)
dr. Tvrtko Smital (Institute Ruđer Bošković, Zagreb)
dr. Ana Lucić-Vrdoljak (Institute for medical research and medicine of labour, Zagreb)
Ivo Šušak (Croatian Institute for History)
Employees of the Ministry: Mirna Slaviček, Vito Turšić, director of the Directorate for
Higher Education, dr. Hrvoje Meštrić, director of the Directorate for Research,
president of the Working Group.
The persons were named by the minister and were not representatives
of their institutions
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Features of draft laws
Law on universities
Restructuring of universities
Funding agreements / contracts – 3-year funding
Collection and publishing of statistics and data
Law on higher education – many changes
Abolishment of tuition fees; introduction of enrolment fees
Student welfare Ordinance
New grading scheme (5 pass grades + 2 fail grades)
Restructuring of teaching positions; introduction of teaching licence
Restructuring of national council for higher education and research
Reintroduction of magisterij znanosti
Abolishment of binarity of study programmes at first cycle (binarity of institutions not
changed)
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Costs of study – in general
Conventionally, two types of costs of study can be identified
Costs of classes or teaching (also called tuition) – nastava
Generally charged in form of tuition fees
Other costs related to studies – accommodation, literature,
transportation, food, other living costs, etc.
Generally charged directly to students
Students can receive different kinds of support for these costs
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Costs of classes (teaching)
Currently, the costs of classes (teaching) in Croatia are co-funded by
students through tuition fees
Higher education institutions (around 130 of them) are completely autonomous in
setting all tuition fee issues
The new law foresees the change in practice
All tuition fees are to be abolished
National-level general enrolment fees are to be introduced
The maximum enrolment fees are to be 60% of average net monhtly
salary in Croatia in previous calendar year, for 1st and 2nd cycle
programmes
The amount is 100% of average net monthly salay for third cycle programmes
HEIs determine the actual amount payable
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Support for other costs today
Currently, all full-time students in Croatia are entitled to the following:
regulated food prices
75% subsidy of food costs
health insurance
no tax on student employment (over 130 million euro annual student earnings with a
cap of around 7,000 euro annual earnings per student)
subsidy for private accommodation
tax relief on student parents’ income
complete tuition fee remission at enrolment of first and second cycle programmes
Most full-time students in Croatia have got completely or partially
subsidised local transportation costs
Today, around 25% of full time students receive scholarships and are
accommodated in dormitories (source: EUROSTUDENT Croatia)
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Student support in new law
New Ordinance on student welfare
The state budget will support the costs of enrolment fees
Planned to cover cost of enrolment fees for students who regularly complete their
obligations
Planned to cover cost of enrolment fees for socially disadvantaged students
Support for other costs
Will be discussed and developed in the new ordinance
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Statistics, data collection and
analysis
National funding for Information systems of HEIs (ISVU)
2009 Act Quality Assurance stipulates that the Agency for Science and
Higher Education collects and analyzes national data on higher
education and research
EU project planned to develop and implement the National information
system for science and higher education – 2012 - 2013
New law also puts strong emphasis on data collection and analysis
University yearbooks
An ordinance on data collection will be passed
Kinds of data collected, format, means of collection
Data on teaching, studies, employees, students, enrolments, research and other data
relevant for institutional and national decision making
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Introduction of funding agreements
Overall consensus about introduction of funding agreements
Ministry plans several activities to support the introduction
EU twinning project for funding agreements
Planned to implement through 2012 and 2013
Work with individual universities and the ministry
National workshop on funding agreements with Germany’s Centre for
Higher Education experts (dr. Frank Ziegele)
February 2011
Twinning project for funding agreements
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Role of Tempus ACCESS - Ministry
perspective
Progress with adoption of new laws affects what can be done within
Tempus ACCESS
New laws are the prerequisite for substantial changes in student welfare
and higher education funding system in Croatia
Expert opinion: how to interpret staff/student ratio
Expert opinion: comments on other aspects of funding agreements
In particular, the possible elements of funding agreements relating to access into highered
Expert opinion: overall principles for the drafting of the new Ordinance on
student welfare (Pravilnik o studentskom standardu)
Review of the new Ordinance on student welfare (recenzija Pravilnika o
studentskom standardu)
Participation in the Dubrovnik conference
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Thank you!
Web: www.mzos.hr
E-mail: [email protected],
[email protected]
Address: Donje Svetice 38
HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
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