Short-cycle programmes (EQF level 5) in Higher Vocational Education

Policy development
Regulation/Legislation
Czechia
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Timeline
  • 2025Approved/Agreed
ID number
49890

Background

A brief overview of the context and rationale of the policy development, explaining why it is implemented or why it is important.

In the Czech Republic, higher vocational education (Vyšší odborné vzdělávání) was introduced in 1995 as a tertiary “non-university” education. There was a need to create professional tertiary institutions similar to those in the Netherlands, Germany or Austria, since structured bachelor’s degree programmes at universities did not yet exist in the Czech Republic. Tertiary professional school programmes (VOŠ) have been assigned to EQF level 6. However, VOŠ are not legally part of the higher education system, because they are governed by the School Act, same as primary and secondary schools. There is no formal qualification at EQF level 5 in the current education system. This gap, and labour market demands for faster qualification pathways, motivated the policy to introduce short-cycle tertiary professional programmes at EQF level 5 that will make it possible to provide students with specific skills and knowledge that can be immediately applied in practice and will increase the employability of graduates. The policy is anchored in the Long-Term Plan for Education and Development of the Czech Education System 2023–2027, under Measure C4.1 ’Status of Tertiary Professional Schools and Modernisation of the Final Exam (absolutorium)’.

Objectives

Goals and objectives of the policy development.
  1. introduce short-cycle tertiary vocational programmes (EQF level 5) via existing Tertiary Professional Schools (VOŠ);
  2. provide flexible responses to labour market needs, especially when rapid qualification is needed – e.g. chip manufacturing, energy infrastructure, defence industry,etc.);
  3. improve employability by equipping students with specific, practice-oriented skills and knowledge that can be applied immediately in the workplace;
  4. enable permeability and progression between secondary education, short-cycle VOŠ programmes, and longer VOŠ or university bachelor programmes;
  5. expand access to tertiary vocational education for socially or educationally disadvantaged learners;
  6. simplify and modernise accreditation and authorisation to reduce administrative burden.

Description

What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.

An amendment to the School Act adopted in June 2025 introduced so-called short-cycle programmes, i.e. innovative short-cycle tertiary vocational education programmes, developed in cooperation with social partners. These programmes are designed to flexibly respond to labour market demands and enhance graduate employability by providing students with specific, practice-oriented skills and knowledge that are immediately applicable in real-world contexts.

Short cycle programmes will be provided by schools from September 2026, as the legislative changes are coming into effect on January 1, 2026.

Alongside the current 3–3.5-year higher vocational education programmes (EQF level 6), 1–2-year short-cycle programmes (EQF level 5) will be established, building on completed upper-secondary education. Admission will be open not only to graduates of related fields, but also to those whose previous secondary studies were not directly aligned with the chosen programme. This will enable their supplementary use for preparation for longer VOŠ studies and ensure permeability between educational pathways.

Graduates will receive a certificate and diploma with the designation “Professional Specialist” (without an academic title). The short programmes may also serve to complement previous secondary education and bridge gaps toward three-year VOŠ fields of study. This approach increases accessibility, particularly for students from lower...

An amendment to the School Act adopted in June 2025 introduced so-called short-cycle programmes, i.e. innovative short-cycle tertiary vocational education programmes, developed in cooperation with social partners. These programmes are designed to flexibly respond to labour market demands and enhance graduate employability by providing students with specific, practice-oriented skills and knowledge that are immediately applicable in real-world contexts.

Short cycle programmes will be provided by schools from September 2026, as the legislative changes are coming into effect on January 1, 2026.

Alongside the current 3–3.5-year higher vocational education programmes (EQF level 6), 1–2-year short-cycle programmes (EQF level 5) will be established, building on completed upper-secondary education. Admission will be open not only to graduates of related fields, but also to those whose previous secondary studies were not directly aligned with the chosen programme. This will enable their supplementary use for preparation for longer VOŠ studies and ensure permeability between educational pathways.

Graduates will receive a certificate and diploma with the designation “Professional Specialist” (without an academic title). The short programmes may also serve to complement previous secondary education and bridge gaps toward three-year VOŠ fields of study. This approach increases accessibility, particularly for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. All new VOŠ programmes are designed to ensure progression and permeability between levels.

The short-cycle programmes do not require separate accreditation. Instead, tertiary professional schools (VOŠ) are authorised to generate them from already accredited three-year programmes, based on which the short programmes will be developed. The short-cycle programmes are therefore authorised only by the respective VOŠ (in some cases with the consent of a recognition authority, e.g. in medical schools) and subsequently registered in the official register of schools and educational institutions. This guarantees participants the full status of VOŠ students.

Completion requirements will vary by programme length:

  1. Two-year programmes will conclude with a professional examination and defence of a practically oriented graduate thesis, developed in cooperation with specific company workplaces;
  2. One-year programmes will conclude with a defence of a final practical thesis.

Furthermore, all graduation and final theses within VOŠ programmes shall be practically oriented and focused on verifying professional competences gained during studies. The existing regulation of the mandatory minimum number of teaching hours in accredited VOŠ programmes will be abolished and replaced by a ministerial implementing decree to ensure uniform baseline standards.

From 1 July 2025, VOŠ accreditations were transferred to National Accreditation Bureau for Tertiary Education (Národní akreditační úřad pro terciární vzdělávání). The existing Accreditation Commission for Higher Vocational Education became an advisory body to National Accreditation Bureau for Tertiary Education. This new authority is established by the Amendment to Higher Education Act (from February 2025) as an independent legal entity under public law. In accordance with its statutory powers, it decides on institutional accreditations, accreditations of study programmes or accreditations of habilitation procedures and procedures for appointment as professor, conducts external evaluations of educational, creative and related activities of higher education institutions, issues opinions on the granting of state approval and on the type of higher education institution, and assesses matters relating to higher education submitted to it by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports and issues opinions on them. An application for accreditation of an educational programme in a specific field of education for an individual tertiary professional school shall be submitted to the National Accreditation Bureau for Tertiary Education. Accreditation of an educational programme in the relevant field of education is granted to a tertiary professional school by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports; in the case of an educational programme with a focus on healthcare, with the prior consent of the Ministry of Health, for programmes in the field of security services with the prior consent of the Ministry of the Interior, and in case of an educational programme focused on preparation for the pursuit of a regulated profession, also with the prior consent of the relevant recognition authority.

2025
Approved/Agreed

Amendment to the School Act was approved in June 2025.

Bodies responsible

This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
  • Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports
  • National Accreditation Bureau for Tertiary Education

Target groups

Those who are positively and directly affected by the measures of the policy development; those on the list are specifically defined in the EU VET policy documents. A policy development can be addressed to one or several target groups.

Learners

  • Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
  • Young people (15-29 years old)
  • Adult learners
  • Unemployed and jobseekers

Entities providing VET

  • Companies

Thematic categories

Thematic categories capture main aspects of the decision-making and operation of national VET and LLL systems. These broad areas represent key elements that all VET and LLL systems have to different extents and in different combinations, and which come into focus depending on the EU and national priorities. Thematic categories are further divided into thematic sub-categories. Based on their description, policy developments can be assigned to one or several thematic categories.

Modernising VET offer and delivery

This thematic category looks at what and how individuals learn, how learning content and learning outcomes in initial and continuing VET are defined, adapted and updated. First and foremost, it examines how VET standards, curricula, programmes and training courses are updated and modernised or new ones created. Updated and renewed VET content ensures that learners acquire a balanced mix of competences that address modern demands, and are more closely aligned with the realities of the labour market, including key competences, digital competences and skills for green transition and sustainability, both sector-specific and across sectors. Using learning outcomes as a basis is important to facilitate this modernisation, including modularisation of VET programmes. Updating and developing teaching and learning materials to support the above is also part of the category.

The thematic category continues to focus on strengthening high-quality and inclusive apprenticeships and work-based learning in real-life work environments and in line with the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships. It looks at expanding apprenticeship to continuing vocational training and at developing VET programmes at EQF levels 5-8 for better permeability and lifelong learning and to support the need for higher vocational skills.

This thematic category also focuses on VET delivery through a mix of open, digital and participative learning environments, including workplaces conducive to learning, which are flexible, more adaptable to the ways individuals learn, and provide more access and outreach to various groups of learners, diversifying modes of learning and exploiting the potential of digital learning solutions and blended learning to complement face-to-face learning.

Centres of vocational excellence that connect VET to innovation and skill ecosystems and facilitate stronger cooperation with business and research also fall into this category.

Expanding VET programmes to EQF levels 5-8

This thematic sub-category refers to expanding VET to higher levels and developing VET programmes leading to qualifications at EQF levels 5-8.

Subsystem

Part of the vocational education and training and lifelong learning systems the policy development applies to.
IVET
CVET

Country

Czechia

Type of development

Policy developments are divided into three types: strategy/action plan; regulation/legislation; and practical measure/initiative.
Regulation/Legislation
Cite as

Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). Short-cycle programmes (EQF level 5) in Higher Vocational Education: Czechia. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2025 update) [Online tool].

https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/49890