AAU successfully transitioned to the “for-profit” legal status, maintaining its US and Czech accreditation, over the summer due to an approximate 10 million CZK deficit in the budget at the end of 2023.
The school was struggling financially due to a drop in admissions, according to professor Joshua Hayden. Unlike AAU, public universities may appeal to more EU nationals who can study in the Czech language for free or acquire a degree in English for a cheaper price.
“The truth is that we are a tuition-dependent university in a national environment that is unfair towards private universities. We managed pretty well during COVID, then had an influx of Americans and have struggled with numbers since. This is why tuition has gone up,” said Hayden, adding that unlike AAU, US universities have more alumni and charitable donations.
In contrary to the renewed American accreditation, the Czech National Accreditation Bureau of Higher Education declared AAU as a “newly established joint stock (for-profit) company” because Czech law states that accreditation cannot be transferred when an institution changes its legal status, according to the WSCUC Accreditation Liaison Officer, Richard Olehla.
Czech laws are also not conducive to donations, meaning there are no tax breaks for those who give to nonprofits like in the US, according to a Q&A document sent by President Jiři Schwarz. However, it remains unclear how being for-profit will help financially as there is currently only one investor, Martin Kúšik, a co-founder of AAU who is planning to buy 50% of the school’s shares.
“Simply, these [accreditation processes] have been two fundamentally different processes about the same issue,” said Olehla, referring to how both organizations “approved” of AAU’s legal transition without affecting the regularly renewed accreditation.
A WASC Committee Panel of three experts visited AAU on May 23 to speak to students and faculty (separately) and write a report in assessment of the school’s application to become a joint-stock company. This report was then given to the bigger committee in late June 2024 who advised the WSCUC commission’s decision on the application.
Czech laws are also not conducive to donations, meaning there are no tax breaks for contributions like in the US, according to a Q&A document sent by President Jiři Schwarz about why the legal change will benefit AAU. Currently there is one investor, Martin Kúšik, the co-founder of AAU who is planning to buy 49% of the school’s shares.
The Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) or WASC that accredited American universities nationally and abroad, reaffirmed AAU’s legitimacy in 2022 which would last for eight years. The Czech National Accreditation Bureau of Higher Education declared AAU as a “newly established joint stock (for-profit) company,” according to the WSCUC Accreditation Liaison Officer, Richard Olehla.
“These [accreditation processes] have been two fundamentally different processes about the same issue,” said Olehla, referring to how both organizations approved of AAU’s legal transition which would not affect the university’s regularly renewed accreditation.
Students who attended a meeting organized by WASC on May 23, 2024 were concerned about the for-profit transition and what it would mean for their degrees. Faculty were in disagreement over the university’s strategy going forward as only a single investor had been named thus far, according to Hayden.
“[The status change] has been communicated poorly,” said UK student Finn Capman, “people tend to find out important changes through rumor. I’ve heard lots of rumors that turn out not to be true.”
The admissions letters before 2024 included AAU’s title as a non-profit with the letters “z.ú.” after the name of the entity, prompting future employers or Masters programs about the status of the school. Now the letters “a.s” appear to indicate AAU as a joint stock company, according to Clea Boban, Director for Admissions and Student Support.
The visiting WASC Panel wrote a report with recommendations for AAU, including the need to finalize documents plus schedule the draw of funds from Kušík and “enhance the institution’s conflict of interest policies consistent with best practices for governing boards.”
The WSCUC Committee will visit again in the Spring 2025 term for further assessment.
