Prague - Supreme Public Prosecutor Renata Vesecká filed a complaint against the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň that recognizes university degrees from Transcarpathian State University in Uzhhorod, Ukraine.
"Supreme Administrative Court will address the issue," Vesecká's spokesperson Pavel Foltán said this in an interview for Aktuálně.cz.Ukrainian universities were suspected of issuing fake diplomas in the past. Thus a number of Czech citizens obtained law diplomas from the Transcarpathian State University via a private firm Mezinárodní institut podnikatelství a práva, s. r. o. (International institute of entrepreneurship and law).
"An unknown Ukrainian university"
Vesecká herself was informed about the issue by the Czech Bar Association that rejected people with these diplomas to become their members.
"We do not consider the education provided by Czech Faculties of Law comparable with that provided by a private limited company and an unknown Ukrainian university," the association said in its press release.
However, Rector of the University of West Bohemia Josef Průša does not see the Ukranian diplomas as a problem. "The students study in Prague, instructed by professors from Czech law faculties. I do not have a reason not to recognize their degrees," he said.
This is law, not medicine
Spokesman of the Czech Bar Association Iva Chaloupková said that rules applied in law education differ from other fields. "For example, the curricula for medicine studies are always the same. However, law and legal system are different in every country," Chaloupková said.
But Průša says that the students in question study Czech law, adding that the association has already lost two suits with the Transcarpathian State University graduates who wanted to become members of the Association.
That's why the Association in cooperation with the Justice Ministry prepared an amendment to the bill on advocacy that will require knowledge of the Czech legal system to become a member of the Czech Bar Association.
The bill would also make foreign diplomas recognizable only on the basis of international treaties or special legal regulations. The amendment is to be discussed in the Lower Chamber.
