The Demand for Tertiary Education in Slovakia: Interests and fields of Study

Investor logo
Authors

GUZI Martin

Year of publication 2015
Type Article in Proceedings
Conference CIHES Working Paper No.12.
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Economics and Administration

Citation
Web Central European Higher Education Cooperation Conference Proceedings
Field Economy
Keywords higher education institutions - enrollment - tertiary education
Description The Slovak higher education system has undergone fundamental changes since the fall of the Iron Curtain, through a series of reforms primarily focused on quantitative development. This enormous effort to increase participation in higher education has, however, not been accompanied by adequate emphasis on the quality of educational and research activities. Slovak universities occupy low positions in international rankings and attract only a small share of international students. The number of new students enrolled each year is falling due to unfavorable demographic development. Slovakia is one of the OECD countries in which the 19-year-old cohort is projected to shrink the most over the coming decade. We show that the drop in enrollment rates is accelerated by the outflow of students who choose to study abroad. Czech universities are the most popular foreign institutions among Slovak students, as they offer better quality and a closely related study language. The only sustainable strategy for the Slovak institutions is to enhance their academic environment.
Related projects:

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.