Analysis of the System of Awarding Government Scholarships to Study at Public Universities in the Czech Republic for the Citizens of Developing Countries (Period 2009 - 2014)

The Evaluation of the Government Programme of Scholarships for Students from Developing Countries, prepared in 2011, pointed to a whole series of shortcomings related to the government scholarships policy. In a response to the findings, in 2012 and 2013 the programme was reformed and the Strategy for Government Scholarships for Students from Developing Countries 2013-2018 was adopted. The main goal of this diploma thesis is to evaluate the extent of implementation of the proposed recommendations related to the policy of awarding government scholarships for the purpose of study at public universities in the Czech Republic for the citizens of developing countries. The thesis focuses, furthermore, on identification of possible shortcomings in the programme implementation that prevent reaching the policy's key objectives in the domains of development, foreign policy and export support. The programme is analysed on the basis of theoretical and methodological assumptions of the public policy cycle theory. In general it may be concluded that a majority of the recommendations included in the Evaluation has not been implemented. It is also important to note, however, that some of the recommendations that have not been implemented were not reflected in the Strategy at all. One of the main reasons why the implementation has not been taking place seems to be insufficient personal capacity of the institutions that administer the scholarship programme; or alternatively, the insufficient political will to further reform the system. The diploma thesis includes proposals how to eliminate those mistakes and thus imprudent spending of public resources. The thesis is a single-case descriptive-explanatory case study. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used to conduct it.