Otázniky nad vysokoškolským štúdiom histórie
Questionmarks over the university study of history

Summary/Abstract: A lively public discussion has developed in the last year about the poor state and bad direction of education in Slovakia. This paper endeavours to identify the problems of higher education, especially from the point of view of study of history, and present proposals to solve them, which existing discussion has not noticed or appreciated. According to the author the quality of university education is limited by the inappropriately high number of institutions, low number of staff in each and therefore the closedness and limitation of research possibilities. A further problem is the low flexibility of the staff of the universities. For example, institutions have only a few possibilities to provide jobs for people finishing doctorates and almost no possibilities to use post-doctoral scholars. This could be changed if small institutions merged into larger units, doctoral study was improved, and, above all, the grant system could be radically reformed. The development of higher education is also complicated and put in doubt by the accreditation approach. Its criteria absolutize the quantitative indicators of research and the formal signs of study, rather than tracing their real quality. The author also points to the need to improve the preparation of teachers, especially history teachers, pointing to the harmfulness of rational formalism and the marginal weight of moral principles and psychological skills, as well as the lack of continual education of teachers. The author thinks that only early and deep reforms can enable the universities of Slovakia to begin to fulfil the tasks required by present day demands and become internationally competitive.

• Details
• Contents