Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has quietly earned around 1 million crowns (€40,000) from his part-time post at Masaryk University in Brno since taking office in October 2021, raising eyebrows over when and how he finds time to balance academia with leading the country.
The revelation, published Tuesday by investigative outlet Page Not Found, has reignited debate over dual roles in public service, particularly as Fiala continues to receive pay for academic work—despite the round-the-clock demands of running the Czech government.
Initially employed full-time at Masaryk University, Fiala scaled back to a reduced contract once his cabinet was sworn in by then-President Miloš Zeman in December 2021. The revised agreement requires him to commit roughly eight hours a week to university duties.
According to government spokesperson Lucie Michut Ješátková, Fiala still contributes meaningfully to the university’s Department of International Relations and European Studies. His responsibilities, she said, include supervising doctoral candidates and providing strategic input, though she stopped short of confirming whether he still teaches classes.
“The prime minister is no stranger to long hours,” Ješátková said. “He often carries out his academic responsibilities during evenings and weekends.” Still, neither the university nor the Prime Minister’s Office has provided clear details about how this schedule fits with his full-time obligations as head of government.
Faculty officials have defended the arrangement. Veronika Velička Zapletalová, Vice-Dean for Communication at the university’s Faculty of Social Studies, confirmed that Fiala remains involved in faculty councils, doctoral supervision, and publishing — all within the scope of his part-time contract.
Fiala’s ties to Masaryk University run deep. He helped launch the Faculty of Social Studies and briefly served as its dean in 2004 before rising to rector, a post he held until 2011.
Interestingly, Fiala isn’t the only high-ranking official in his cabinet to maintain academic links. In 2022, Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported that Minister of Culture Mikuláš Bek (formerly Minister for European Affairs) and Health Minister Vlastimil Válek also kept one foot in academia after joining the government.
While government spokesperson Václav Smolka acknowledged that Fiala’s academic role holds symbolic value and personal meaning, he conceded that traditional teaching duties would be “virtually impossible” to juggle alongside the prime minister’s workload.
So far, there’s been no word from either Masaryk University or the Prime Minister’s Office on revisiting or suspending the dual-role arrangement — leaving critics and supporters alike to wonder whether leading a country leaves any room for grading papers.
