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A former member of the senior management team of a Czech university has claimed he is?owed thousands of euros by the cash-strapped institution.

Staff at Prague City University (PCU), a private provider offering courses accredited by foreign universities including the UK¡¯s Teesside University, wrote an open letter alleging that ¡°a long period of poor management¡± had left many staff unpaid for months.

The university¡¯s former chancellor and head of the rector¡¯s office, Marek Merhaut, told?51³Ô¹Ï?that he is owed around ?18,000 by the institution, and said he feels ¡°malice [and] resentment¡± towards his former employer.

Merhaut, who resigned from his role in June, explained he is taking legal action?following the university¡¯s financial crisis, and said he no longer wants to be associated with the university. He noted that many of the staff listed on the institution¡¯s website, including himself, ¡°no longer work there¡± but have not been removed.

He said when he joined the university in 2022, he asked that control mechanisms be introduced to better protect PCU¡¯s finances, but said these requests went unaddressed.

¡°This is a huge embarrassment not only for PCU, but it also reflects badly on Teesside University, which has so far done nothing about it,¡± he said.

While the Czech Education Ministry said it could not comment on ¡°ongoing administrative proceedings¡±, it said it was ¡°aware of the current problems of the university in question and is taking certain measures¡± to address the issue.

Veronika Luck¨¢ Loosov¨¢, a spokesperson for the ministry,?added that concerns related to lost tuition fees should be resolved between the courts and students.

Teesside stressed that PCU ¡°is an entirely separate entity¡±, but added it was ¡°aware of many individuals who have, unfortunately, been adversely affected by their financial position¡±.

¡°Teesside University is also one of PCU¡¯s creditors and we have worked hard to ensure there has been minimal disruption to our students in Prague throughout this period,¡± a spokesperson said.

Jonah Kirabo, a student from Uganda who was due to start a master¡¯s course at PCU in international management this academic year, said he paid €4,900 (?4,235) as a deposit to the university earlier this year, but never received a refund after his visa was rejected.

The university¡¯s policy states students should receive 75 per cent of this deposit back within 90 days, but when the money was not returned to him by the July deadline, he started to panic.

¡°Communication from PCU has been extremely limited,¡± he said, and has often been ¡°generic replies with no clarity about whether we will ever see our money again¡±.

Kirabo worked for a year-and-a-half to raise the money, he said, and fears he will never get it back. ¡°My dream was to go for my master¡¯s abroad. To see that you¡¯ve worked this hard, you¡¯ve finally got the money, and then it disappears in thin air¡­It¡¯s devastating.¡±

Teesside University has been granted temporary permission to provide higher education in Czechia under the name TU Prague City ¡°while we complete our formal application with the ministry¡±. A university spokesperson said they were ¡°confident that this will be approved in due course¡±. The new study centre will operate out of PCU¡¯s former campus.

¡°We look forward to welcoming new and returning students to TU Prague City later this month,¡± they said.

But some former staff have indicated that they would not be prepared to work for the institution.

One former lecturer said that ¡°official communication has ceased completely¡± from PCU, adding that they would consider taking legal action against the university.

The Anglo-American University in Prague has offered to take on PCU students and waive their fees. As a private institution that mainly teaches foreign students in Prague, the institution¡¯s president, Ji?¨ª Schwarz, said in a??there is a ¡°moral duty to take care of students from another private university that has found itself in existential difficulties¡±.

Loosov¨¢, the ministry spokesperson, added that any continuation of studies at another university is subject to mutual agreement between the institutions.

¡°The ministry has no formal authority in this matter, but can informally support the search for a solution,¡± she continued. ¡°It should be stressed that the question of continuation of studies would only be addressed if the school in question lost its accreditation or state approval to operate as a higher education institution.¡±

PCU was approached for comment.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com