The most important such obligation is the institution's duty to publish an annual detailed report on its activities and also prepare and publish its long-term program and strategy. No less important is the duty of the Ministry of Education to formulate and present the country's long-term higher education policy. Both these points are quite essential in the Czech context because to many observers, a key weakness of the past and existing system has been the absence of a comprehensive long-term concept and policy at the institutional as well as system level. An important point should be added here with regard to public higher education fees, which formerly did not exist. During the preparation of the law, this point was the subject of a heated political debate.
Extensions are possible on social or health grounds.
The new law has several shortcomings. Three shortcomings warrant brief mention here. First, although the law implies a significant opening of Czech higher education, it still remains fairly closed. For instance, it does not provide any space for exceptions in matters of student admissions or procedures for faculty appointments that remain very complex and rigid. For example, it contains virtually no provisions regarding the function, structure, and management of the new nonuniversity institutions, an otherwise important innovation in the Czech context.