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SLOVAKIA |
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SLOVAKIA |
CONCLUSIONS
Public administration is a young discipline in Slovakia, developed mostly on the basis of existing programmes of other disciplines. There are only three accredited academic degree programmes in PA/PM, several decentralised short- and medium-term training programmes of varying quality and few real experts in the field.
The lack of experience hinders efforts to increase the quality and quantity of PA programmes. This is apparent in the cases of two new universities (Trnava and Trencin), established in 1997, that intended to launch new PA programmes but have not been accredited due to a lack of sufficient expertise.
There is an important gap in the system in terms of education and in-service training for senior civil servants. Most do not have adequate education in public administration or public management and do not participate in regular re-training activities, which would enable them to understand new PA, including the private management and globalisation (Europeanisation) dimensions. Academia Istropolitana had a PA programme that addressed these issues, but the programme was closed as the result of a lack of support from the central government. Although there are indications of the government’s intention to re-create this kind of education and training, there has been little concrete progress to date.
The comparative and European dimension is rarely represented in PA/PM programmes and research in Slovakia. There are some initiatives in Bratislava, as the centre and capital, but none were identified in other PA centres, most likely due to a lack of staff.
The new Slovak government has expressed its intention to join the European Union as soon as possible, and this has served as an impetus to reform the public administration system in the country, especially with regards to establishing a civil service code. As a result of these reform efforts, public administration programs and research gradually should become more Europeanised and interdisciplinary.
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