Czech Business Today
Technical and Professional Education at High Schools
Czech industry employs nearly 40 % of the population and generates almost two-fifths of the country’s GDP. However two years ago, students at universities in the field of technical science, production and civil construction represented only 15 % of the total number of high school students.
How to ensure that businesses have enough qualified candidates for a job? Companies believe that the key is the cooperation with the universities and students should attend mandatory vocational internships. Mismatch between high education and requirements of the labour market and in this regard amendment to the Czech Higher Education Act were the topics of the debate in the European House in Prague on April 27, 2015. „Vocational education programs and training in the Czech Republic do not fully provide the skills required by the market. It is because it largely lacks a system that would correctly identify the needs of the labour market“, opened the discussion Pavlína Žáková of the European Commission Representation in the Czech Republic. Speakers agreed on the need to encourage systematic discussion between universities and employers’ representatives at the level of individual schools and businesses to ensure practical training and create a network of graduates, and at the central level to involve employers in the definition of curricula.
Universities in the Czech Republic enjoy a great autonomy, though the role of the state should strive to implement the government strategy to the development of higher education via proper financing and fiscal incentives.
