Progress in reform of HE funding in Croatia - November 2010 edition - Luka Juroš

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

2. Presentation overview Recent events Draft of new laws To do 2

3. 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? Questions asked at last ACCESS meeting 3

4. 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 Recent events 4

5. 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 Authors of draft laws 5

6. 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) Features of draft laws 6

7. 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 Costs of study – in general 7

8. 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 Costs of classes (teaching) 8

9. 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) Support for other costs today 9

10. 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 Student support in new law 10

11. 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 Statistics, data collection and analysis 11

12. 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 Introduction of funding agreements 12

13. 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 Role of Tempus ACCESS - Ministry perspective 13

14. Thank you! • Web: www.mzos.hr • E-mail:luka.juros@mzos.hr, tomislav.vodicka@mzos.hr • Address: Donje Svetice 38 HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia