Five universities under threat of losing accreditation

Five universities under threat of losing accreditation

Education Minister Juraj Draxler along with the chair of the Accreditation Commission (AK) Lubor Fišera presented the results of the commission's comprehensive inquiry according to which five universities are under the threat of losing their accreditation. The five universities concerned are the Catholic University in Ružomberok (Žilina Region), Alexander Dubček University in Trenčin, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, and the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice. "If they don't improve their performances and comply with the criteria within one year, the education minister will be obliged to file a proposal for revocating the title of university", said Draxler. Jozef Habánik the Rector of the ), Alexander Dubček University in Trenčin reacted by saying that he hopes his schoool will improve its performance during the new academic year. The School of Management/City University in Trenčin also failed to comply with the criteria but was not mentioned among the universities under threat, while the University of Economics in Bratislava met them by only a small margin. Conversely, among the universities that fared the best were Comenius University in Bratislava, the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice and the Technical University in Košice. Next in order came the University of Žilina, the Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra and the Technical University in Zvolen ( Banská Bystrica, Region).

According to the head of the Accreditation Commission, the brightest side of the accreditation process is that the number of university branches in other towns has decreased from 110 to 20. One downside is the high number of so-called 'flying lecturers' who teach at more than one university. The number and language of works published is also a problematic area at Slovak universities. "The biggest weakness among all Slovak universities is the low number of publications by PhD students", stated Fišera. A total of 4,891 study programmes and 438 applications for habilitation and inauguration procedures for senior academic titles have been reviewed by the Accreditation Commission. Another round of accreditation for five other universities will start this year and further two in 2016.


Anca Dragu, Photo: TASR

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