Study in Czechia: Admission, Cost, Visa and Scholarships (2027)

Czechia's central fact is that studying in Czech is free. Charles University states it plainly: studies in Czech carry no tuition at all, and a fee only appears if a student overruns the standard length of their degree by more than a year. The standard length of General Medicine is six years, a student may take seven at no cost, and only from the eighth year does a charge begin. That applies across the public universities, not just to Charles. The catch is the language, and the answer for most international students is the other track: degrees taught in English, which are charged.

The English-taught fees are set by each faculty rather than by the university or the state, and the spread is enormous. Charles University's own summary is that its foreign-language programmes run from EUR 40 to EUR 30,620 a year depending on the programme. At the top of that range sit the medical degrees: the First Faculty of Medicine charges EUR 24,250 a year for both General Medicine and Dentistry. Masaryk University in Brno prices its Faculty of Medicine in Czech crowns instead, at CZK 380,000 a year for General Medicine and CZK 400,000 for Dentistry, while its Faculty of Arts charges CZK 76,000 for all bachelor's degrees, its Faculty of Education CZK 68,000, and its Faculty of Science and Faculty of Social Studies quote in euros from EUR 3,000. So two universities in the same country, and often two faculties in the same university, will quote in different currencies for programmes of the same length.

Admission is by entrance examination, run by the faculty, and the examinations are demanding at the medical schools. Charles's First Faculty of Medicine ran two rounds for the 2026/27 cycle and admitted 102 of 785 applicants to General Medicine in the preceding year. Round one is a knowledge test in three parts, round two is held online within thirty days, and only round two counts towards admission; the points from the two rounds are not added together. Masaryk's medical entrance examination is a written test in biology and chemistry. Both faculties publish sample tests and sell preparatory courses, and Charles offers bonus points worth ten per cent of the round one result to applicants with A grades in Biology, Chemistry and a third science at A Level, or a German Abitur with Biology and Chemistry as Leistungskurse at thirteen points and an overall average of 1.3 or better.

English is handled two ways, and it is worth knowing which applies. Charles's First Faculty of Medicine sets no separate language certificate: the entire entrance examination is held in English, which is the test. Masaryk goes the other way and asks for a documented English certificate at CEFR B2 or above, with the accepted list set faculty by faculty, in addition to the entrance examination.

Deadlines are set by faculty and they are scattered across the year, so a single national date does not exist. Charles's First Faculty of Medicine opened applications on 1 December and closed them on 5 September for the following academic year, with the written entrance test in Prague in mid-September. Masaryk publishes a table instead: its Faculty of Medicine closes on 31 July, Faculty of Science on 28 February, Faculty of Informatics on 15 April for the September intake and 15 October for the February one, Faculty of Social Studies on 15 May and 31 October, and its Faculty of Pharmacy runs 1 December to 31 May for applicants from outside the EU, a full two months earlier than the 31 July it gives EU residents. Anyone applying from outside Europe should check the non-EU line specifically, because at least one faculty sets it earlier.