SLOVAKIA

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IN-SERVICE TRAINING AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT

In-service training in public administration is highly decentralised in Slovakia, as a result of the current system of personnel management in the public sector. Many institutions participate in some form of in-service training. Perhaps the most important according to a number of trained civil servants is the Institute for Public Administration in Bratislava, under the Ministry of the Interior. The Institute of Public Administration is in the process of opening an independent branch in Košice. Cooperation with the Faculty of Public Administration on training and teaching activities is under discussion.

The institute is responsible for training employees of local state administration according to governmental ordinance no. 157/1997 on specific qualifications needed for executing activities in regional and district offices. Other training courses offered by the institute include:

• three-year training for public administration officials focused on legal issues;
• three-year training for public administration officials focused on socio-legal issues;
• two-year training in archiving;
• a specialised programme for city-managers;
• a course on basic auditing principles.

In addition, the institute offers a wide variety of short-term training programmes. Because of the decentralised personnel management in Slovak public administration, there are a number of state-owned training centres, mostly related to each respective ministry. The two most active are the Institute for Training and Services of the Ministry of Building and Public Works and the Ministry of the Economy’s Institute for Foreign Trade and Education. The first offers five-day pre-service training courses for selected professionals within state administration offices, focusing on public procurement, housing and regional development. The Institute for Foreign Trade and Education organises twelve-day training courses for public administration managers.

Other organisations operation training programs for civil servants include:

1. Secondary School of Fire Brigades, Ministry of Interior
2. Institute for Education and Technique, Department of Training in Civil protection, Civil Protection Branch
3. Agroinstitute, Ministry of Agriculture
4. Institute for Education and Training in Forestry and Water Economy, Ministry of Agriculture
5. Institute for Education and Training of Veterinary Doctors, Ministry of Agriculture
6. Slovak Agency for Environment, Ministry of the Environment
7. Training Centre of the Ministry of Labour, Social Issues and Family
8. Centre for Education of the National Labour Office
9. Training Centre for Employees of the Ministry of Finance
10. Institute for Further Education of Health Care Employees, Ministry of Health
11. Slovak Institute for Technical Norms
12. Institute for Further Education of Employees of the Justice Branch, Ministry of Justice
13. Research Institute of Geodezy, Kartography and Cataster
14. State Pedagogical Institute, Ministry of Education

Private, semi-private for profit and non-profit bodies provide training courses for specific groups, including public servants. One particularly active organisation is the Foundation for Self-Government Training, founded by the Association of Towns and Municipalities of Slovakia.

In principle, there has been no regular training centre providing pre- or in-service training for senior civil servants (after Academia Istropolitana’s programme was closed as a result of the central government’s refusal to recognises its graduates, which resulted in declining enrollment).

European and comparative topics are not very common, and tend to be organised on an ad-hoc basis in connection with the possibility of attracting a guest speaker. This is expected to change as a result of the new government’s policies, which underscore the necessity to join the EU as soon as possible. The government’s legislative programme related to preparing for EU membership calls for the creation of a uniform institutional system that would include, for example, establishing working committees and departments of EU integration in each ministry and body of central state administration. This might also increase the attention paid to EU issues in training and research activities.

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