On 1 January, several important law amendments entered into force in the area of government of the Ministry of Education and Research, improving the availability of preschool education, school lunch support will also be made available to upper secondary school students, the scope of people eligible for study allowance will increase and allowance will become more available. The minimum wage of teachers is increased to 900 euros and employment contracts with academic staff and research workers of higher education institutions are now entered into for an unspecified term.
General education
Entered into force on 01.01.2015:
- amendments of the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act, providing support to local governments from the state budget to cover the costs of school lunch not only for students acquiring basic education, but also for upper secondary school students.
- amendments of the Preschool Child Care Institutions Act, which:
- allow local governments to perform their duty in ensuring the availability of places in preschool child care institutions. At the request and with the consent of the parent, children from 1.5 to 3 years of age may also be provided with childcare service instead of a place in a preschool child care institution;
- the ratio of adults (persons employed in the field of learning and teaching and persons who assist the teacher) and children in a preschool group is provided;
- the duty of establishing internal rules of the preschool institution (previously not within the scope of application of the act) and clearer regulations for admission of children to preschool institutions is established.
- Regulation of the Government of the Republic “Minimum Wage of Basic School and Upper Secondary School Teachers”. The minimum wage of a teacher will be 900 euros instead of the previously established 800 euros.
Higher education and research
Entered into force on 01.01.2015:
- amendments of the Study Allowances and Study Loans Act, supplementing the Act with a new type of study allowance - the needs-based special benefit; the terms and conditions for applying for the current needs-based study allowance are also made more flexible.
- Needs-based special benefit as an additional study allowance enables to provide additional financial support to students who are in a poor socioeconomic situation. It is important to consider for needs-based special benefit that granting the support is primarily guided by the need to support persons whose economic condition has suddenly worsened and in whose case the educational institution is able to assess the actual need for support. In connection with the establishment of the needs-based special benefit, the Social Welfare Act has also been amended, pursuant to which the needs-based special benefit is not counted as income of a person living alone or a family when calculating subsistence benefits, in addition to needs-based study allowance.
- Pursuant to the law which was in force until now, the student had the right to receive study allowance if he or she studies full-time and has by the starting semester cumulatively completed 100% of the study load subject to completion under the curriculum in the previous semesters or if he or she is studying full-time in the first semester. Starting from this year, the percentage rate of completing the curriculum is lowered to 75%.
- amendments to the Universities Act, Institutions of Professional Higher Education Act and Research and Development Organisation Act, pursuant to which employment contracts are now generally entered into for an unspecified term with academic staff and research workers. If the work is for a specified term by nature, the opportunity of entering into employment contracts for a specified term also remains. Until now, employment contracts were concluded for a specified term with academic staff and research workers for up to five years. The employment contracts of directors of research institutions will also be entered into for a specified term in the future.
- Employment contracts entered into for a specified term before 1 January 2015 will remain valid until their date of expiry. If a lecturer or research worker is selected again in competition, his or her employment contract is deemed entered into for an unspecified term from the beginning.
- The procedure for evaluating lecturers is specified and the duty of evaluating research workers is established for research institutions with the amendments. Ordinary teacher staff and research workers must be evaluated at least once during each five years of employment. If the person does not pass evaluation, then his or her employment contract may be extraordinarily cancelled pursuant to the Employment Contracts Act. The specific terms and conditions and the procedure of evaluation are established by the higher education institution or research institution. Evaluation of research workers in a research institution must begin as of 1 January 2016.
- The amendment of the Research and Development Organisation Act grants research institutions more liberty in selecting research workers. Namely, the terms and conditions and procedure for the competition for selecting research workers are established by the research council of a research institution as of 1 January 2015. The procedures for competitions for research workers currently established by the regulation of the Minister will be revoked.
- In addition, the amendments of the Institutions of Professional Higher Education Act grant more freedom to institutions of professional higher education in planning their directions of development. Namely, the council of an institution of professional higher education is granted the right to adopt the development plan of an institution of professional higher education, approving it previously with the ministry of the area of government. Until now, the minister, in whose area of government the institution of professional higher education belongs to, had to additionally approve the development plan. New full texts of statues of institutions of professional higher education are also established as regulations of the Minister of Education and Research. The regulations enter into force in January 2015 pursuant to the general procedure.