Every year, around 20,000 students come to Czechia to study at one of the country’s universities. Most of them head for Prague, but many also study in other cities such as Brno, Olomouc or Liberec. Finding a place to stay can be a challenge, especially in the capital, where the demand for housing has been steadily rising and so have rental prices.
Foreign students can choose to live in university dormitories, but most prefer private accommodation. Eliot from France, who studies at Charles University’s Medical Faculty, opted for a shared apartment downtown. Jonathan Teufel from Germany, who is completing his bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Tropical Agricultural Sciences at the Agricultural University in Prague, also found a shared flat on Facebook. Hasan Günel, a mechanical engineering student from Aachen, also found private accommodation via Facebook.
However, students from non-EU countries often struggle to find any place to live. Luis Orlando Leon Carpio, a 32-year old student from Cuba, was turned down several times due to his origin. Sandra Abdelbaki, a 22-year old from Lebanon studying her Masters in Journalism here in Prague, faced extra documentation, hefty deposits and was even questioned about her religion by landlords.
Despite the obstacles some foreign students face while looking for accommodation, most of them agree that Czechia is a great place for university studies, offering quality education, a relatively low cost of living and a great location in the heart of Europe. Whether they end up living in dorms or shared apartments, most of the students we spoke to have not regretted their decision to make Czechia their temporary home.