ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the antecedents and directions for change in one higher education system in Central and Eastern Europe. It describes the historical context of the Czech and Slovak Republics' higher education systems, the two republics' present systems, and an analysis of possible future changes. Reformers are looking at funding mechanisms to change or enhance the funding basis, that is the ways in which the amount of the institutional allowance are provided. The rich traditions reflected in European higher education, reaching back almost a millennium, provide historical legacies that are important factors in the restructuring of the Czech and Slovak Republics' higher education. The Austrian-German university tradition forms one part of the background of the Czech and Slovak educational systems. Educators in the former Soviet Union, Romania, and Bulgaria felt the most severe impact while educators were less affected in Hungary and the former Czechoslovakia.
