Keywords

Introduction

After the breakup of socialism and the foundation of an independent Slovakia in 1993, Slovak economic growth was fundamentally healthy, especially in the 1998–2008 period. Driven by foreign direct investment, Slovakia was on a convergent path with the more advanced European nations. However, this growth rate slowed down after the financial crisis of 2008–2009. Currently, Slovak growth rates are level with the more advanced European countries. Namely, the country’s convergence with the core of Europe has slowed down significantly.

Similar to other former socialist countries such as Hungary and Poland which have been facing a middle-income trap for a more extended historical period, Slovakia has been unable to become a part of the more prosperous Western Europe. Slovakia has a comparative advantage in the assembly and production of relatively complex durable goods, skilled labor with knowledge of medium-high-level technology, and labor-intensive export industries, and these advantages do not require an elite high-performing education system, as the innovations typically flow through foreign transnational enterprises. Apart from the path-dependent factors, this is one of the reasons why an absence of substantial higher education investment has been observed. Even in the space of the European Union Slovakia is not expected to become a high-quality education provider. Consequently, one can expect a continuation of a brain drain of the elite and spirited students of Slovakia.

After the breakup of socialism, Slovakia became a part of the Western European economic sphere. However, having policymakers define and support the country’s comparative advantage, which would speed up the convergence to the core countries, has appeared quite difficult. Many domestic and foreign observers consider improving the level of education (i.e., increasing the quality of the domestic human capital) as a possible way to guarantee the country’s ability to escape the middle-income trap and converge with Western economies. This paper investigates the role education, especially higher education, has in this process.

We begin with a short presentation of the higher educational institutions in the territory of today’s Slovakia and followed this with a short review of educational development after Slovakia appeared on the European education map, which occurred after 1918 with the emergence of the Czechoslovak state. We continue with a general description and analytical remarks concerning the Slovak higher educational system, showing how the character of education had changed after the emergence of the independent Slovak Republic. For example, over the last 30+ years, the number of students in Slovak higher educational institutions has significantly increased, as well as the number of universities providing tertiary education. This has had several positive consequences but negatively affected the quality of higher education. Consequently, many Slovak students have opted to study outside of Slovakia in the neighboring countries’ higher educational institutions. In 2018, almost 32,000 Slovak citizens were studying in foreign countries, while around 12,000 international students were studying in Slovakia (Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic [MŠVVŠ], 2020, p. 7).

Another significant change in Slovakia’s post-1993 higher education was a substantial increase in student interest in social science, business, and humanities, especially in management, economics, political science, public policy, and social work. Consequently, one observes a decrease in the interest in the studies that used to be provided at a higher level of quality under the socialist government in the natural sciences (e.g., mathematics, physics), as well as the disciplines that are required by the needs of heavy industry. This has created a mismatch between what the universities provided and what was required in Slovakia’s domestic and international industries in particular.

In addition, we attempt to map the responses of the Slovak authorities to these developments and provide more analytical insights into the Slovak higher education system. In the last section, we discuss the development of the spirit of Slovak universities’ identity. Primarily, we concentrate on the period after 1993 when the new country’s development principles were laid. In the early period after the collapse of socialism, the new post-socialist leaders had a critical opinion about human capital being concentrated in academia and universities. Also, the new process of decentralization in education had begun. “What was meant as an attempt at decentralization resulted in a confusing distribution of powers and responsibilities that can render a democratic and effective governing of academic institutions today very difficult” (Jarab, 1993, as cited in Lehman, 1997, p. 7).

To compensate for the limited resources being provided to the higher education sector, the state guaranteed universities excessive freedoms concerning academics and governance. The state remained the primary provider of funds for higher education, and this dependence on the state has created an unhealthy situation. Private sector contributions are minimal, as affluent local citizens rarely invest in higher education. Too much liberty at the level of higher education institutions has led to the preservation of the status quo and a rule of vested interests that are under weak societal control and that rebel against any changes by posing as the protectors of academic liberties. Overall, we observe and analyze various tensions in this paper, underscoring the impact higher education has had on the general development in Slovakia.

Short Historical Overview

Here we provide some introductory words on the history of higher learning in the territory of today’s Slovakia and present a short sketch of university development from 1918 to the present. During Matthias Corvinus’ rule in Pressburg (Bratislava), the university Universitas Istropolitana was founded, which existed from 1465 to 1490. This university achieved a status comparable to other European universities with its four faculties (i.e., humanities, law, medicine, and theology; Császár, 1914, pp. 47–49). In the sixteenth century, Jesuits founded some smaller colleges, with Cardinal Péter Pázmány influencing the Jesuits’ decision to settle in Trnava, the seat of the archbishops during the Ottoman occupation of Esztergom. The Society proceeded with the University of Trnava’s foundation in 1635 with the faculties of theology, philosophy, and law (Mihalik, 2016). Later on, Hungarian aristocrats supported moving the university to Buda (Fináczy, 1899). In 1665 in Prešov, a Lutheran collegium was founded to compensate for the power of Jesuit institutions in Košice and Trnava. The Bishop of Eger founded a studium generale in Košice in 1657. Since around 1763 in Banská Štiavnica, the Banská akadémia [Mining Academy] was in operation, which moved to Hungary after World War I (Kirschbaum, 2007, pp. 26, 59). In 1763 the Collegium Oeconomicum in Szempcz (Senec) opened and focused on state economic and administration issues. The Catholic Legal Academies that had been in Trnava later moved to Pozsony and Košice, while the Evangelic Academy remained in Prešov. The Czechoslovak government closed these Legal Academies in 1922. In 1912, the Elisabeth University in Bratislava was finally founded and had four colleges: The Law, Medicine, and Liberal Arts Colleges, as well as the College of Legal and State Sciences. The new Czechoslovak authorities terminated this university’s activity, with the university moving from Bratislava to Pécs in 1919–1921.

After 1918, the situation regarding Slovak higher education fundamentally changed, as education at all levels in the Slovak language emerged. Comenius University was founded in 1919 and developed into three faculties (i.e., law, philosophy, and medicine), with the faculty of natural sciences founded in 1940. In June 1937, the Czechoslovak National Assembly approved the establishment of a technical university in Košice. However, once Košice became part of Hungary in the fall of 1938, this school moved to other locations and finally to Bratislava, where it emerged in 1939 as Slovenská vysoká škola technická [Slovak University of Technology]. In October 1940, the Vysoká obchodná škola [High School of Business] was founded in Bratislava (Ekonomická Univerzita, 2011, p. 13). In September 1945, Vysoká obchodná škola was renamed Slovenská vysoká škola obchodná [Slovak High School of Business] and nationalized.

A massive change in education emerged after the communist coup d’état. After 1948, the Communists nationalized private universities. Various faculty and student purges occurred in the early years of socialism, especially in the social sciences and humanities, with the intent being to replace the old-style faculty with new socialist cadres. The situation was significantly healthier in the natural sciences and technology disciplines, where “islands of quality” emerged around scholars with international reputations, albeit not often (Pišút, 1993, p. 422).

Starting in the 1960s, a large number of new research institutes were founded. In this period, the Czechoslovak state invested significant funds into building various sectoral research institutes and sector-oriented universities such as the Slovak University of Agriculture and the University of Veterinary Medicine. In addition, the new University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik was founded in Košice, with a medical faculty also in Košice and a philosophy faculty in Prešov.

The establishment of new universities continued after the breakup of the socialist order, with new private universities also emerging. Altogether, more than 30 universities and institutions of higher education currently exist in Slovakia.

Some Observations of the Economics of Education in Slovakia

Tertiary education under communism was relatively elite (i.e., only a small percentage of high-school graduates could continue their education). Naturally, educational administration in the socialist system was heavily controlled and manipulated by the centralized structure of society. After the breakup of socialism, many secondary school graduates and their families preferred to enter higher educational institutions. These demand-side changes were not initially matched by educational supply. Gradually, several new higher education institutions were founded, and the number of university students significantly increased. From a historical perspective, higher education in Slovakia had transformed from a privilege during the interwar and socialist periods to a right to study.

Marginson (2016, p. 415) pointed to the fact that a widespread universal desire was found for social betterment, one which transformed higher education into a universal requirement. Also, the expectations of families and communities in Slovakia are that young people should for the most part graduate from college. In the initial years after gaining independence, in particular, such a situation had helped social problems such as unemployment and youth criminality. However, higher student enrollment rates neither led to higher wages nor improved the social status of the teachers, rather quite the opposite occurred. Educators remained with modest salaries and low social status.

After receiving independence, Slovak education underwent different stages adjusting to the new conditions. From 1993 to around the end of the last century, the situation was initially quite unhealthy: What prevailed was a lack of financial resources, unresolved issues of identity, and problems regarding the effectiveness of faculty and students. Lehman (1997, p. 6) wrote that higher education reflected the conditions in society. Even data for 2000 indicated that, among all OECD countries, the Slovak Republic had spent the least on higher education relative to the GDP (Barr, 2004, p. 277). In other words, public expenditures on education and research were not a priority of policymakers and the political elite.

After the breakup of socialism, most of the student intake increase was in disciplines that represented the demand of the new societal structures, such as business education, political science, and social work, while expansion in the technical and natural sciences happened to a much lesser degree. A large and growing number of university graduates intensified the mismatch between the ability of higher education institutions to generate university graduates and the economy’s ability to create jobs for these graduates. This apparent mismatch has been typical for the country, as many graduates work in a field different from their educational background. This mismatch also potentially negatively impacts the possibilities for growth.

The accumulated economic analysis of education in the Western world suggests that the provision of schooling is largely inefficient. This has held more under the Slovak conditions. Standard inputs such as class size, teacher research, and teacher education bear a small systematic relationship to student outcomes, implying that improving the input policies is unlikely to expand achievements. At all levels of education in Slovakia, one observes no systematic relationship between resources and student outcomes. In other words, a substantial increase of resources in education does not necessarily lead to a clear improvement in the quality of education nor to improvements in students’ educational results. Slovakia is above the income per capita threshold, above which in contrast to developing countries, a closer relationship between resources and results becomes less clear. In other words, as a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Slovakia shows increased spending on students; however, this has not led to any noteworthy improvement in terms of student achievement.

As Heckman (2006) showed for more developed countries, one also observes a considerable difference in the educational preparation of children and teenagers in Slovakia, one which endures into tertiary education. The formation of cognitive as well as socioemotional skills begins very early in a child’s life. Children from poorer and less educated families are much less likely to complete high school and college than children from better-off families, even if the requirements for completion are lowered considerably. Today, inequalities in Slovak society also allow students from top-income families to acquire a broader and more accessible linguistic competence, which is needed for citizens of a small country, as well as cultural knowledge of the particularly dominant Western culture.

However, the difficulty is in stating that higher education in Slovakia generally reproduces and petrifies social inequality. One of the reasons is that no clear ranking exists for Slovak universities. While some new universities have obtained relatively low academic respect, developing a sustainable ranking among the older state schools is very difficult. The petrification of inequality would require a more distinct ranking to confirm that students from more affluent families graduate from better-ranked schools. Accreditation committees do not rank the universities, and the market has been unable to resolve the issue. Privately formed ranking agencies founded by eminent research professors have shown that ranking in such a small country is very volatile, with the faculty ranking high one year and then ranking differently the next year.

The difficulty is had in telling which are the elite Slovak institutions, as no concentration of elite education is found in the capital or other bigger cities. Undoubtedly, the higher education institutions in larger towns provide better networking and job opportunities for graduates. Still, even these institutions are not distinguished in the European academic rankings. The universities are not open to international faculty, as most professors are Slovak nationals. The governing boards, deans, and rectors are mostly elected from the local scientific community. In some disciplines such as economics, many Slovak nationals work outside their home country in research-intensive universities once they leave the domestic universities (Horváth, 2022).

As in most countries, people with higher education in Slovakia, especially with competitive foreign degrees, achieve higher remuneration. In other words, the microeconomic evidence supports the positive wage impact of education. However, the overall effect on the economy’s growth is much less clear. As Hausmann (2015) documented, the increased number of graduates in higher education institutions does not necessarily transform into an increased national income growth rate. In the Slovak case, schooling quality is relatively low, at least in around half of the colleges, which could be why schooling quality has not helped raise economic productivity. An additional factor that has not supported economic growth is the already mentioned mismatch, as the labor supply often does not react to the demands of the industry (Horváth, 2018).

Slovakia has an administrative structure that is difficult to understand. The country of five million inhabitants is divided into 10 regions and almost 80 counties. One of the prominent roles of these administrative units is to employ those who have graduated, primarily those from Slovak universities. The government responds to political pressure from potentially unemployed educated job seekers and becomes their last resort employer. The large bureaucratization of the Slovak state has also led to a variety of unproductive activities, which could have been remunerative for the involved individuals. However, these could also be socially less important jobs with minimal consequences for growth. For thousands of civil servants in the counties, regions, and ministries, difficulty is had in differentiating between productive and rent-seeking activities.

For most administrative jobs in Slovakia these days, young employees are expected to have a bachelor’s and even a master’s degree. The students, especially those in the social sciences and humanities, know the working requirements at state institutions. Being aware of the future job requirements in the state sector has led to limited learning being prevalent at Slovak colleges. Working station hubs are typically found in Bratislava, where the elite students from foreign colleges and the more spirited domestic students form a different work atmosphere.

The idea of creating competition with the large state universities led to the creation of private universities. For example, one law in Slovakia allows the establishment of a private university if it achieves accreditation for one bachelor's program. However, the system of private-for-profit universities could have delivered more satisfactory results. They are primarily non-endowed universities, which influences their vision regarding the quality of university education. In addition, private universities were often established in small cities, typically without academic traditions, and often focused only on vocational training for students who already worked or could not afford to study at more prominent universities. Furthermore, the state heavily subsidizes education in Slovakia. Tuition at private higher education institutions is low and almost nil at state institutions.

The Identity and Place of Universities in the Face of Recent Challenges

Socially Relevant Universities as a Theoretical Framework

The current turbulent situation poses a number of challenges for universities and has been fundamental to how universities have been able to deal with the often ambivalent expectations of different societal actors while maintaining their identity as a distinct type of institution. On the one hand, universities should produce original research results at an excellent level. On the other hand, they are required to immediately transfer the acquired knowledge into industrial, social, and economic practice to have an entrepreneurial spirit and to establish start-up and spin-off companies. With regard to education, universities are to respond flexibly to the changing and often unpredictable demands of potential employers as well as form intellectual elites who will be able to respond creatively, wisely, and with the appropriate ethos to future challenges. At the same time, universities should provide an engaging and vibrant environment and teaching and learning experiences that comply with the needs, interests, and expectations of the current generation of students. One cannot forget the third mission of universities, which is mainly their social responsibility for developing and enhancing the quality of life in communities within their spatial influence. Does the question arise as to whether all these requirements can be met in one place under the institutional umbrella of the university? Should universities be managed by academicians based on elections within the academic community or by professional managers appointed by the external environment? What can serve as an indicator of a university’s success (Matlovič, 2014)? In the end, universities are likely to undergo major changes (Barber et al., 2013).

When seeking an adequate answer to the above questions and formulating a basis for outlining an adequate identity for universities in the twenty-first century, one must move away from orthodox approaches that favor a pure academic identity for a university while at the same time not compromise regarding the key attributes that are the pillars of the identity of universities as a distinct type of institution. The starting point is a move toward heterodox approaches that allow for a hybrid organization based on an appropriate balance between applying traditional academic principles and the entrepreneurial principles of a business organization. One possible starting point is the theoretical concept of the socially relevant university, which we will outline later in the paper (Matlovič, 2014).

The aim is to find a concept that provides an appropriate theoretical framework for the strategic governance of universities in the current context. The concept of the social relevance of a university has this potential. For example, this was pointed out by Martin (2011, p. 615), according to whom universities have come under increasing pressure to demonstrate their economic and social relevance. When conceptualizing the social relevance of a university, one needs to remember that it is a relative concept (i.e., what makes a university relevant is shaped by the social context). The social relevance of a university is thus understood as the degree to which it successfully copes with the various challenges and demands placed on it by the external environment and the internal needs of the university community. The stimuli from the external environment of the university can be broken down as follows:

  1. a.

    Stimuli from outside the academic system: These are natural, environmental, political, social, economic, technological, cultural, and ethical stimuli that are scaled along a global-local continuum,

  2. b.

    Stimuli within the academic system: These involve its norms, values, priorities, and evaluation criteria.

Such a broadly defined concept requires refinement of its dimensions to identify the target segments to which the relevance will relate. Studies that have addressed the social relevance of scientific disciplines can be used as inspiration (e.g., Dear, 1999; Matlovič & Matlovičová, 2012; Staeheli & Mitchell, 2005). One valuable impetus is the special report by Boyer (1990, p. xii), who distinguished four perspectives of academic and creative activity (i.e., discovering, integrating, applying, and learning). Based on these studies, four dimensions of the social relevance of a university can be identified: the heuristic, application, educational, and ethical dimensions. An authentic university must achieve social relevance in all four of these dimensions. Having any dimensions are absent means it is a different type of higher education institution (e.g., vocational college). Being aware of the relationship these dimensions have to academic (classical) and entrepreneurial principles is essential (Matlovič, 2014).

The heuristic dimension is closely related to a university’s mission as a blue-skies research institution. It is the sphere of the dominance of academic principles. A university must be a bearer of heuristic potential in the synergy of the efforts of its staff and students, and thus be able to produce and bring new knowledge and enrich general scientific and human knowledge. Indicators of a university’s success in this dimension are discoveries; blue-skies research outputs; high-quality publications in reputable journals and publishing houses; publications in scientific journals and other publications, lectures, posters, and papers at international congresses, conferences, and symposia; citations and responses; success in obtaining grant projects; the amount of funding received from various grant schemes supporting blue-skies research; the availability of quality and certified research infrastructure; the reputation of the university; recognition; and awards of staff and students in the academic environment for their contribution to the field of science. In a small country, however, peer review by an international panel of experts should play the most critical role rather than evidencing scientometric indicators in assessing heuristic relevance (Matlovič, 2014).

The application dimension relates to a university’s mission as an applied research and development institution. This dimension involves the sphere of the dominance of entrepreneurial principles. A university should be able through the synergy of the efforts of its staff and students to transfer the acquired knowledge into a usable form in the relevant sectors of production and social practice. Indicators of success are patents, utility models, new methodologies, technologies and products, practice-based orders, success in obtaining an inflow of funds from business entities and other non-academic actors and various grant schemes supporting applied research, the development and strengthening of science and technology incubators and parks, the establishment of start-up and spin-off companies, the reputation of the university, and the recognition and appreciation of staff and students by the business and social environment and the wider public. In this case, a pragmatic approach is required (Matlovič, 2014).

The moral dimension is related to the fulfillment of the so-called third mission of universities, by which we in particular mean their social responsibility, which includes a commitment to their active participation in the promotion of values in order to improve the current state of the world at different scales regarding the global-local continuum. In our view, this should be an effort to achieve economically and environmentally sustainable and socio-spatially inclusive development, underpinned by the preservation of the natural environment, and cultural heritage, and adherence to ethical principles, democracy, humanism, and tolerance. In synergy with the efforts of its staff and students, a university should be able to express itself on socially relevant topics and problems, generate new themes, highlight undesirable developments, and offer intelligent solutions to problems. The fulfillment of this mission requires full autonomy and thus involves the domain of academic principles. The inappropriate subordination of universities to the interests of political power or the economic interest of the commercial sphere severely limits the possibilities for universities to solve societal problems. The current global community needs the kind of institution that can offer solutions with some critical distance and insight that are not beholden to any interest group. Therefore, protecting academic freedoms and autonomy is a priority task for universities. On the other hand, this requires the utmost responsibility on the part of universities regarding how they handle autonomy. University communities must have effective mechanisms for addressing any singular failures, particularly regarding professional rigor, research ethics, and educational activities. Universities must demonstrate credibly that they can address these issues within their own remittance and draw appropriate consequences for failures. Public trust is a crucial prerequisite for maintaining academic autonomy. Universities should be as open as possible to their surroundings and not act as ivory towers. Universities should foster a high culture of interpersonal relations and adherence to academic ethics and etiquette. With these attributes, universities should also provide desirable models of academically refined behavior for other areas of social life. The moral dimension of social relevance also includes universities’ co-responsibility for local and regional development. A prerequisite is the creation of an atmosphere of trust and the establishment of a network of partnerships with public administrations, businesses, non-governmental organizations, churches, and other relevant stakeholders. A very effective tool for building trust is the implementation of internal quality assurance systems that involve all relevant stakeholders, including academic staff, students, and employers (Matlovič, 2014).

Current Challenges to and Changes in Slovakia’s Higher Education Sector

The international context of the functioning of higher education in Slovakia results from its position within the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area. Key stakeholders in Slovakia are aware of the need to reflect on the growing global interaction bringing convergent tendencies to national education policies. The OECD (2021) report “Improving Higher Education in the Slovak Republic” was prepared for this very purpose. The report includes an action plan consisting of 10 actions planned for the 2021–2024 period. Actions are grouped into three key areas: developing and implementing a coordinated higher education strategy, using funding to support and reward higher education performance, and enabling responsive institutional governance and management. The Slovak government has set priorities in its program for the period of 2020–2024 to increase the performance of Slovak universities; promote their diversification; and focus on inclusion, international cooperation, and collaboration with the private sector in order to contribute to reinforcing the quality of human capital, social inclusion, and the innovation potential of the Slovak Republic through increased economic competitiveness, economic growth, and sustainable jobs (Government of the Slovak Republic, 2021a). Another strategic document is the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic (NRRP), which was prepared in 2021 in the framework of the European Commission’s Resilience and Recovery Facility (RRF). The NRRP is a financial instrument for supporting green and digital transformation and repairing the economic and social damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The NRRP has five main areas. Higher education is part of the Education Goal and Component 8 (i.e., improve universities’ performance). Under this component, five reforms are being implemented: (a) reform of university financing including the introduction of performance contracts, (b) introduce a system of periodic evaluation of scientific performance, (c) form a new approach to accrediting higher education, (d) reform university governance, and (e) concentrate on excellent teaching and research capacities (Government of the Slovak Republic, 2021b).

These reforms are carried out through several instruments such as strategic planning, the Legal Framework Amendment, funding system changes, the introduction of a new accreditation system, and external quality assurance for higher education. Strategic planning, the legal framework, and funding arrangements are the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Sport of the Slovak Republic (MERDS). Accreditation and external quality assurance for higher education is the responsibility of the Slovak Accreditation Agency for Higher Education (SAAHE), an independent public institution.

In recent years, several analyses and recommendations have been developed to improve the quality of higher education and research in Slovakia. At the same time, two larger student satisfaction survey projects have been carried out. This signals an increased interest of many actors (e.g., government, non-governmental sector, employers, students) to participate in improving higher education. Implementing the recommendations encounters discontinuities caused by frequent changes of ministers responsible for education management. The lack of coordination among the measures and policies that have been adopted is also a sign of weakness, given that the management of higher education institutions has been influenced by several departments of the MERDS and the Prime Minister’s Office over the last three years.

The most profound reform of the higher education system that has been implemented in Slovakia in recent years has been the reform of accreditation and quality assurance for higher education. These resulted from the conclusions of the strategic document “Učiace sa Slovensko” [Slovakia Learns], which was prepared in 2017 by a team of experts commissioned by MERDS. This document pointed to the improper setup of the accreditation system, which the Slovak Accreditation Commission had provided as an advisory body to the government and which had resulted in the final accreditation decisions being taken not by the Commission but by the minister. This setup resulted in the Accreditation Commission failing to obtain full membership in the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). For these reasons, a particular Act on Quality Assurance in Higher Education was adopted in 2018, which led to the establishment of the independent Slovak Accreditation Agency for Higher Education in 2019. The reform adopted the ESG 2015 principles (i.e., Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area) as its basis. Primary responsibility for quality assurance in higher education was given to universities and other higher education institutions, and these were required to develop appropriate internal quality assurance systems. The Slovak Accreditation Agency for Higher Education (SAAHE) became responsible for external quality assurance. Its role was to set standards for the internal system and standards for the study programs. The essential elements became student-centered learning and the involvement of internal and external stakeholders in all levels of higher education quality assurance processes. The main aim of the reform is to give universities more flexibility in designing and delivering study programs to meet the needs and expectations of different stakeholders, including students and employers. SAAHE published the new standards in 2020, and higher education institutions were given two years to comply with the new requirements.

SAAHE conducted a large-scale student satisfaction survey titled Academic Quarterly in 2021, in which almost 20,000 respondents participated (i.e., 16% of the students from Slovak’s first and second-cycle study programs). Its results were presented in a comprehensive thematic report (SAAHE, 2022). The survey results have provided valuable input to universities for their internal strategies to optimize how they deliver their curricula. SAAHE also considers the survey findings in its ongoing assessment of internal quality assurance systems for higher education.

Significant changes in the study program offerings have already been registered during this period. Within these changes, emphasis has been placed on the rigorous implementation of the student-centered learning paradigm, the involvement of all stakeholders in curriculum design and approval, and digital and green innovation of curriculum delivery accelerated in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. The main objective has been to innovate study programs by replacing the fragmented structure of narrowly specialized study programs with a new offer of more robust study programs that have the potential to increase their graduates’ flexibility of application to the labor market and to increase the attractiveness of Slovak universities in the international context. Universities have responded by significantly consolidating their study programs and adapting their internal quality assurance systems. Existing study programs have been adapted to ensure the development of their graduates’ vital transversal skills and attitudes (SAAHE, 2021). All universities in Slovakia have requested SAAHE to assess the compliance of internal systems and their implementation in terms of their standards. The results of this assessment are expected in the first quarter of 2024.

SAAHE is continuously paying attention to the emerging challenges facing higher education. At the turn of 2022 and 2023, discussions emerged about the impact of AI-based tools (in particular ChatGPT) on higher education. SAAHE has taken a position and made recommendations on this issue, which it has communicated to universities and the wider public. In this regard, SAAHE sees the new options as an opportunity rather than a threat and has recommended that universities adopt an open attitude toward them and focus on their meaningful integration into educational and other creative activities. SAAHE does not recommend banning the use of these tools across the board. Colleges should make appropriate adjustments to validate learning outcomes (i.e., on examinations and defending independent work so that they reliably test students’ knowledge, skills, and professional competencies). According to SAAHE (2023), AI-based tools should be used judiciously with an awareness of their limitations and potential negative impacts.

SAAHE has also urged colleges to put in place internal quality assurance systems to regulate the use of AI, with an emphasis on maintaining academic integrity. According to SAAHE, AI and its use are an impetus for innovation in the context of higher education. Higher education institutions should be able to prepare students for the future use of these new technological tools appropriately in all fields of study (SAAHE, 2023).

The most recent legislative amendments in 2022 have aimed to strengthen the external elements’ position in the governance of higher education institutions. The powers of the Board of Trustees have been strengthened, which, among other things, has been allowed to participate in the election of the Rector together with the Academic Senate. The position of faculties has been weakened, and they have lost the self-governing status guaranteed by law. As a result, higher education institutions have been given greater freedom to regulate their internal governance systems. The conditions for filling the posts of professors and associate professors have also been changed. They have been separated from the state administrative awarding of titles, which had been retained out of respect for the Central European academic heritage but without any real practical implication. The aim is to open up universities more significantly in relation to the recruitment of teachers from abroad or from practice.

A persistent challenge in Slovakia has been the need to support the diversification of universities according to their mission, specialization, and study program offerings. Short tertiary programs and micro-credentials still need to be delivered in Slovakia. The Slovak higher education system is also characterized by a higher proportion of second-cycle graduates compared to other countries (OECD, 2021). Therefore, MERDS has announced several strategic plans in support of the emphasis on the missions and profiles of higher education institutions. In research-oriented universities, MERDS intends to promote quality research and the comprehensive delivery of study programs at all three levels. In particular, MERDS envisages promoting the concentration of currently dispersed capacities and encouraging strategic internationalization activities. MERDS also intends to support extending the offer to include vocationally oriented study programs, micro-credentials, and short cycles. These should be the domain of regionally rooted higher education institutions that deliver professionally oriented study programs, applied research, and third missions relevant to the sector and region (MERDS, 2023).

The strategic objectives for the near future consider changes in the system of financing public universities. The uniform performance-based model applied so far has stimulated universities to behave uniformly and has not allowed for diversifying strategic goals or emphasis on their governance and mission. This has led to a drive for similar approaches to scientific and research activities and curriculum profiling. Therefore, universities do not have the opportunity to choose a strategic line appropriate for them to demonstrate excellence. Less consideration was given to the contributions of universities regarding their third mission. Strategic thinking is therefore directed toward adjusting the methodology for financing universities to respect the strategic emphases in their profiling. Performance contracts will become an important instrument that include measurable indicators of the specific performances to which universities will commit themselves (MERDS, 2023).

Another identified challenge for the Slovak higher education sector is the overly fragmented institutional network, a relatively high degree of dispersion of research capacity, and the provision of doctoral study programs. This problem is addressed in Slovakia’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Slovakia has committed to supporting merging universities into larger entities or consortia that will withstand international competition while creating a competitive and diversified internal environment (Ministry of Finance, 2021).

Last but not least, promoting inclusive approaches regarding the delivery of higher education as well as promoting open science and open education are also seen as essential objectives in the current strategic thinking of the responsible stakeholders in Slovakia (MERDS, 2023).

Conclusion

This paper has provided a description and analysis of higher educational issues concerning Slovakia. Slovakia faces a middle-income trap and a brain drain of elite and spirited students. One observes a general societal appeal not only to carry the economic development to higher standards (i.e., converge with the Western European economic level) but also to increase the standards for higher education. This paper reflects these issues from the angle of higher education.

The paper began with a short historical presentation of higher educational institutions. We continued with a general description and analytical remarks concerning the prevailing situation in the Slovak higher educational system. We have shown how the character of education changed after the breakup of socialism and the emergence of an independent Slovak Republic. For example, the number of students, universities, and other higher education institutions significantly increased over the last 30 years. Higher education had lost its elite character once it became more widespread. This had several positive consequences but negatively affected the quality of higher education. Consequently, many Slovak students opted to study outside Slovakia in neighboring countries’ higher educational institutions.

Another significant change in higher education after 1993 was the substantial increase in students being interested in subjects not offered under the socialist regime, such as management, economics, political science, public policy, and social work, However, most of these disciplines were offered at low levels of quality. On the other hand, students’ interest in natural and technical sciences decreased relatively. This created a mismatch between what the universities provided and what Slovakia’s domestic and international industries required.

The next section attempted to map the Slovak authorities’ responses to these developments and provided greater analytical insights into the Slovak higher education system. The last section discussed universities’ place and identity in modern Slovakia. We have presented a theoretical framework for a socially relevant university and followed this with a presentation of the current challenges and recent changes in the higher education sector in Slovakia.