Illustrative stock photo (source: TASR)
Universities in Slovakia will undergo several changes, regarding the powers of the university management boards and academic senates, the election of their rector and the length of external studies.
This stems from an amendment to the Higher Education Act, passed by the parliament on March 23. The amendment was supported by 86 MPs out of 133 present. The MPs approved several amending proposals as well.
The Education Ministry claims that the aim is a systemic changing of the management of public universities, in order to modernise them. The ministry also wants to make decision-making processes at schools more flexible. The changes will come into force on April 25.
By adopting the amendment, Slovakia took one step closer to receiving money from the first EU recovery fund package, amounting to €458 million.
“We passed another milestone in Slovakia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan,” PM Eduard Heger (OĽaNO) wrote on Facebook, stressing the importance of education.
He went on to say that the higher education sector has been stagnating for years, which resulted in brain drain. He believes that the reform will help increase the performance and quality of universities.
Not everybody welcomes the changes.
What will change?
One adopted change concerns the election of rectors. The person will be elected for four years, and will be able to run for the post for no more than two consecutive terms.
