Continuing education in Slovakia – a short review G.M. Timčák, Technical university, Košice 2002

Historical background of HE in Slovakia The higher education system in Slovakia is historically linked to the educational system in the former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, 1 st and 2 nd Czechoslovakia, The Slovak State and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

First universities on Slovakian territory  Academia Istropolitana, Posonium ( ),  Jesuit University in Trnava ( )  Mining Academy of Banská Štiavnica (Schemnitz) ( )  University in Košice (Cassovia) (1660 – 1675)

HEIs in Slovakia today In Slovakia, at present, there are:  22 state run HEIs;  One private university (in Trenčín)

Continuing education history  Between 1960 and 1966 continuing, in- house training could lead to secondary and even tertiary degree  The "Project for development of educational- training system" of 1976 divided further education into 3 fields: in-school, out of school and in-house education.  In the period, three levels of carrying out continuing education were identified: 1. central (government, ministry) 2. second level (industry sector, branch, county) 3. basic level (enterprise).

Continuing education history In the above mentioned period, CE was provided by:  „Houses of culture", „Houses of technology“, „Academies“ – in cooperation with enterprises and HEIs  Universities provided graduate, „Distance education“ of earlier type  Conitnuing education and lifelong education as a term came to life only after 1990

CE after 1990  Many small and medium companies emerged, that provided non-degree, CE courses.  Universities started (through TEMPUS and other EWU projects) establishing Centres for CE, LLE or other forms of further education  Professional organizations started providing non- degree, or post diploma studies.  In cooperation with Labour Offices, „Requalification“ courses could be provided by any of the above organizations  In year 2000, 291 institutions were active in further education in Slovakia.

Note Certain professions like humane and veterinary medicine had special provisions for professional further education within state run Institutes of further education. This holds true also today.

Accreditation of CE courses Though not on a compulsory basis, CE courses can be accredited at the Ministry of Education, which has a number of accreditation committees. Accredited courses have a greater weight/impact for the employer, though at present there is no legislative norm according to which the employer should acknowledge further education achievements. During during its 10 years of existence, the Accreditation committee accredited approx to 8000 courses.

Act on further education In 1997, the Act No. 386/1997 Col. on further education was passed. It defined and classified further education institutions, forms, levels, certificates and accreditation levels (accredited, non-accredited, concession).

CE and HEIs Though sometimes through loopholes in the legislation, distance education and CE courses gave HEIs a possibility to get "real money„ and to become market oriented. Students were donating fees to universities on the base of individual contracts. Ministry of education monitored the situation from 1998 and included this issue as a major issue during the discussion about new Act on HEIs. The new Act No. 131/2002 on HEIs came to effect on April 1 st There, on-campus and off-campus study (under- and graduate as well as postgraduate study; the first degree) is defined as free of charge. This decision will certainly decrease the enthusiasm of HEIs to provide certain forms of DE and CE.

Example - CE at TU Košice  Local Centre for Distance Education established in 1992 („PHARE“ funding)  Institution of Lifelong Education established in 1996  Centre for Continuing Education established in 1996 (TEMPUS „DECENT“ funding)  At present most of the Slovakian HEIs have units that provide CE courses  No statistics is available as to the numbers of students or their age/position structure.

Financial resources for further education (Source UIPS Bratislava 2000) Year1997 % 1998 % 1999 % Participants25,1235,6837,10 State budget17,5018,4819,18 Sending organisation (juridical body)29,7720,5315,97 Profits from other activities of educational organisation8,854,5215,76 Other sources (not from the state budget)1,645,623,77 Labor Office8,905,700,54 Gifts0,671,410,14 Total100% Total in thousands of SK (=1/42 EUR)

Target groups of CE As at present, the UCE in SK is oriented mainly to the professional area and the target groups are professionals usually possessing some university degree. Language, IT and communication skills courses are among the most popular CE courses. The universities run Senior Citizens´ University system that provides courses for people in 3rd age. The non-university sector provides all types of non- degree courses.

UCE target groups  HEIs are now trying to make outreach programmes for the general public, but the expressed need for more demanding courses is insufficient at present.  With the increasing student to teacher ratio (now typically 10:1), the workload of the teachers is high and the hiring of independent experts makes the courses expensive.

Future of CE in SK  History shows that laws and regulations create a frame, which then sets-up organisational and financial provisions. In the situation, where 99% of students are in state managed schools, the state should create a more free entrepreneurial environment for distance and lifelong education.  The present Act on HE does not support the development of distance education as without a financial impetus there is no way, how to motivate the underpaid university staff and heavily underresourced HEIs.

The future of CE in SK In SK, the Ministry of Education of SR is responsible for the whole area of further education. It should propose how to finance its various forms and should introduce greater freedom to HEIs in generating and collecting resources. The quality of CE programs should be monitored by the Ministry. A policy of HRD should be conceived that would include the acknowledgement of mastering CE courses by employers. Employees should be motivated to learn in a lifelong manner.

Future of CE in SK  The overall CE legal environment is quite volatile (the interpretation of the legal norms is far from stable)  This makes it difficult to engage in strategic issues vital for a healthy CE supply  The society does not demand at present too much of CE, but this is slowly changing  The individual cutomer is usually unable to pay realistic prices for CE courses  Corporate clients tend to have have in-house training facilities, but they often run them in coopewration with HEIs  SMEs usually have no time to spare for CE.

Future of CE in SK  The high unemployment rate (more than 20%) makes requalification courses a nice niche for HEIs, but there is heavy competition for such contracts  The shortage of funds are compensated by HEIs through grant oriented CE course development and provision.

Popularity of CE in SK The number of CE participants is estimated to be about a 1/10th of the number of full time students. There are more than undergraduate and graduate students in Slovakia now. This should change during the EU accession process as every adult should participate in some form of CE.

References  Babinsky M. 2001: Trends in the development of UCE, manuscript  