Prague, Nov 14 (CTK) – U.S. students’ interest in staying in the Czech Republic rose by nearly one third from 2014 to 2016, according to the Open Doors statistics of U.S. student exchange, and the number of Czechs studying at U.S. universities also increased, Jakub Tesar from the Fulbright Commission said on Tuesday.
The Fulbright Commission grants scholarships to Czech and U.S. students in the other country.
A total of 3,572 U.S. people studied in the Czech Republic, and their number rose to 4,610 in 2016, the Open Doors statistics showed.
In the school year 2015-16, the Czech Republic was the 14th most popular country for U.S. students and the 8th most popular among the EU states, the statistics show.
“The weak Czech crown and the strong U.S. dollar, combined with the advantageous location in the centre of Europe, attractive historical towns and quality study infrastructure, this all definitely contributed to the strong inflow of U.S. students, who most often spent a half-year studying in the Czech Republic in 2014-16,” Tesar wrote in a press release.
All other central European countries are less popular with the Americans.
Compared with the rest of the world, the Czech Republic is even more popular with them than some big countries such as India and Brazil.
In the Czech Republic, U.S. students mostly join specialised programmes, and they often cooperate with Czech universities only marginally.
For example, almost 200 U.S. students showed interest in the 30 positions of secondary school English teachers offered by the Fulbright Commission, its director Hana Ripkova said.
According to the Open Doors statistics, the number of Czech student staying in the USA increased by 3.1 percent in 2016-17 compared with the previous school year.
In the past years, the number of Czechs studying in the USA oscillated around 750, reaching an annual 736, 796, 749 and 772 from 2014 to 2017.
Unlike the U.S. students in the Czech Republic, their Czech counterparts in the USA mostly study at universities.
The Fulbright Commission has been operating in the Czech Republic since 1991 based on an inter-government agreement.
At present, over 40 U.S. professors and students supported by the Fulbright scholarship are staying in the Czech Republic, Tesar said.
