Higher Education in Slovakia
Organisation of study
HEIs provide higher education only in the framework of accredited study programmes. The main teaching language is Slovak, however, there are programmes delivered also in foreign languages (mainly in English), mostly for international students.
Academic Year
The academic year begins on 1 September of the current year and ends on 31 August of the following year. It is composed of 2 semesters (the winter semester lasts from September to January and the summer semester lasts from February to June) or three trimesters. The organisation of the academic year is set by the statute of the faculty or statute of the HEI.
Teaching Process and ECTS
The teaching process includes lectures, seminars, exercises, laboratory work, projects, practical training, consultations, etc. For the assessment of students' achievements, the credit system following the rules of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is used; it was introduced in 2002 for all levels and forms of higher education studies. Student's standard workload is expressed by the number of credits: 60 credits per academic year, 30 credits per semester and 20 credits per trimester. Every HEI determines the total number of credits required for the due completion of the study in its respective stages. Grading is based on the ECTS grading scale:
Levels of Study and Degrees Awarded in the Slovak Republic
Study programmes are usually offered in one of the three levels of higher education, but an HEI may join the first two levels of higher education into a single whole.
The first level of higher education are bachelor study programmes.
Study programmes of the second level of higher education and those of the first two levels of higher education joined into a single whole are:
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master study programmes,
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engineer study programmes,
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doctor study programmes.
Study programmes of the third level of higher education are doctoral (PhD) study programmes.
All study programmes must be accredited following the law.