Quality of higher education and using the potential of higher education to increase competitiveness Compared internationally, the quality of universities is very low compared to countries of a similar size (e.g. the Netherlands, Austria), and this situation is not visibly improving31. The quality of university graduates is perceived as a serious problem by employers32. It can be summed up that university education suffers from the following problems that are mutually interlinked: There is no specialisation according to the strengths of the different universities. The offer of study programmes, that would be linked to the labour market, is limited. This results in a higher number of graduates with a master´s degree33 and a small number of graduates with a comprehensive bachelor´s degree coming to the labour market. The long average time of university studies and a high level of premature termination of studies. Insufficient innovative methods of teaching including interactive teaching. No cooperation with specialists from the field and no emphasis on related soft competencies. No system of quality evaluation has been introduced – closely connected with the issue of effective financing of universities that is pointed out by Country-Specific Recommendation 2014 No 5. Low level of international cooperation and internationalisation of Czech universities including insufficient use of the potential offered by cross-border cooperation between universities, and between universities and the application sphere. Unsatisfactory school equipment that does not meet the standards of modern research and educating trends. Unsatisfactory appliances and software equipment, and the premises for practical training. This situation is particularly serious at Prague universities. Insufficiently developed top-class teaching combined with research that would generate highly qualified human resources – the main driving force of knowledge-intensive fields and innovations. The problem is also a shortage of talented technically oriented individuals and individuals interested in natural sciences. This problem is further augmented by the construction of a number of new research centres and their need for top human resources (see the section on Research and Innovation System). Development needs: 31 QS Word university Ranking: xxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/ 2012; Times higher education; xxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx/world-university-rankings/2012- 13/wor...
