Government hopefuls agree on deferred tuition fees

The leaders of three parties currently in talks on forming a coalition government have agreed on bringing in deferred tuition fees at Czech universities. During talks on Tuesday, negotiators for the Civic Democrats, TOP 09 and Public Affairs agreed on a system under which students would be able to receive loans and pay the fees per semester; graduates would then start re-paying the loans as soon as they began earning average salaries. Tuition fees at Czech universities could be introduced by 2012 or 2013.

Talks on a coalition program have been going on for almost two weeks. Bringing in tuition fees was one of the first issues the centre-right parties agreed on. Although the Social Democrats came first in lower house elections at the end of May, the party looks set to go into opposition.