A Supporting Policy Framework for Diversification

Achieving a successfully diversified system will require more than creating this new college sector within universities; it will also require a set supporting changes to accreditation, human resource management, and governance structures and policies for these colleges that reflect their distinct mission. Here we briefly note some characteristics of this framework; the chapters that follow develop these at greater length.

Human Resource Management

The Humboldtian-style career system with habilitation and long and strenuous career requirements is increasingly out of line with the needs of a developing highly diversified system. In the Czech Republic one reaches the position of full professor, on average, by the age of 55, while the average full professor is 63 years old. In other European countries where similar models exist there is increasing discussion about whether this career structure is appropriate any longer to the needs of the modern research university, and changes to the career system are being considered.

Setting aside whether this career model is fit for the purpose of developing and sustaining world-class research institutions, it is surely not

21 Integrating schools into universities does not necessarily imply the closure of their facilities – the advantages and viability of distributed teaching sites need to be considered on a case by case basis.

suited to a tertiary system that is more strongly diversified, with a major emphasis on professionally-oriented bachelor degree, shorter-cycle vocational programmes and life-long learning. The existing career system does not encourage a strong engagement in bachelor degree education, the cultivation of professional skills in young students, or towards working and professional life. The Country Background Report notes that there have been attempts to bridge the gap between professional practice and higher education. However, external professionals who teach at public higher education institutions remain indefinitely in the position of assistants.

This stringent career system - when combined with the restriction that only some faculties at public universities have the right of habilitation - has the effect of placing sharp limits on the supply of available professors and associate professors. This sharply limited supply when coupled with an accreditation system that places great emphasis on the number of full and associate professors results in a structural imbalance between supply and demand and fuels the phenomenon of “flying professors.” This practice of holding multiple appointments may have many deleterious effects - one of which is to retard the development of a professoriate that is fully engaged in and committed to the development of professionally-oriented bachelor degree education.

The review team recommends that a more diverse academic career structure be developed for Czech tertiary education where persons with appointments in the proposed university colleges and non-university HEIs (public and private) who are holders of PhDs²² are able to advance to the rank of associate and full professor on the basis of a tenure system, rather than the existing system of habilitation; and where business/industry/public professionals who teach in such institutions are granted appropriate compensation, advancement, and status.

The review team further recommends that a commission be established to assess the continued suitability of the existing habilitation system for Czech public research universities, including studying reform initiatives under consideration in other countries that have followed this career system.

Such a commission should include university leaders, employers, graduates, international academics, and others.

22 The review team recommends that a PhD should be the standard academic pre-requisite but that provision should be made for exceptions to this rule where persons have demonstrated equivalent standing.

Quality Assurance

As we indicate in Chapter 9, the tertiary system of the Czech Republic has a set of accreditation institutions and policies that have served capably to ensure an acceptable level of provision in new programmes and higher education institutions. However, they have hampered the development of a diversified system by bringing a single set of evaluative criteria to bear, rather than developing a system of accreditation that is oriented towards fitness for purpose, and distinctive criteria of quality and expert participants appropriate to education that is oriented toward working life.

Qualifications Framework

The Ministry should develop clear articulation paths between all types of qualifications to be included on the new National Qualifications Framework. This is of crucial importance to the area of short-cycle pre-Bachelors programmes, life-long learning programmes (where the current restrictions on using these credits towards degrees need to be reviewed) and the transfer from professional Bachelors degrees to Masters degrees, particularly after a period of employment.

The review team was struck by the negative public perception of Bachelors programmes. In retrospect it is unfortunate that the 1990 Act gave rise to the view of a Bachelors degree as an unfinished Masters degree. The transformation from the long Masters programmes to a two-cycle structure in most fields of study, if done conscientiously with a focus on learning outcomes and employability, is an enormous curriculum reform. It is imperative that this effort is not undermined by negative perceptions – especially when there is no factual basis for these perceptions. The Ministry and the representative bodies need to take decisive action to ensure that Bachelors degrees are given the status they deserve. This is both a “change management” challenge (identify and publicise success stories) and an area where the public sector should take the lead in its employment practices.