DIRECTIONS FOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN THE VISEGRAD COUNTRIES

The international ProSkill project, coordinated by UM, involved students, teachers and business professionals. The aim was to find out what skills are missing in the raw materials sector in the Visegrad countries. Furthermore, the labour market needs of companies in the Visegrad countries were aligned with existing educational practices in universities. This included structured surveys on students' skills.

Tamás Bakó (UM’s Faculty of Economics), the project's technical leader, said that the €640,000 project involved UM working with Slovak, Czech and Polish universities. In the Talent Search and Talent Management project, participants explored what skills businesses expect students to have when they leave university and what competences they should have. Describing the elements of the project, he said that the skills of incoming students were assessed and analysed, and a committee of professors then drew up a strategy on how to reduce the gap by improving teaching methods in the countries studied.

An important finding of the research is that, in addition to technical competences, 95% of companies in the raw materials sector expect business and communication knowledge and skills from students seeking employment. The role of the Faculty of Economics in the development of these competences is also reflected in the fact that they support their students with case studies, situational games, training and problem-solving exercises, said Mr Bakó.

An international mentoring programme, inter-university study trips and international competitions were also on offer in the ProSkill project, coordinated by UM in cooperation with the European Federation of Geologists (EFG), Silesian University of Technology, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU) and VŠB Technical University of Ostrava.