Higher education plays a crucial role in countries around the world. It equips learners with the skills to lead productive working lives and sparks the knowledge creation and innovation that fosters economic growth and social progress. Moreover, long-term trends such as globalisation, digitalisation and demographic change, as well as shocks such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, transform economies and societies, putting pressure on higher education systems to evolve and respond to emerging needs.

The Slovak higher education system experienced rapid enrolment growth between 1990 and 2009, and by 2019 about 39% of Slovaks aged 25‑34 had obtained a higher education qualification, which was more than double that of 2009. Since 2009, the country has seen a steady decline in student enrolment. While this is due, in part, to falling school-age cohorts, there are serious concerns that the quality of Slovak higher education, in both teaching and research, is insufficient to attract young Slovaks.

This chapter first outlines the purpose, scope and working methods of the project. It then provides an overview of the analytical approach used in the project, including a description of the context and focus of the action plan to improve higher education in the Slovak Republic. The chapter closes with an outline of the report’s structure.

This chapter provides context for the OECD-European Commission-Slovak Republic Project’s action plan to improve higher education in the Slovak Republic. It starts with a brief overview of the Slovak economic context, describes key features of the Slovak higher education system and presents the Slovak Republic’s higher education performance from an international perspective.

This chapter presents the OECD-European Commission-Slovak Republic Project’s action plan to improve higher education in the Slovak Republic. The chapter first outlines the structure of the action plan. It then reviews the action plan’s three areas of recommendation: 1) developing and implementing a co-ordinated higher education strategy; 2) using funding to support and reward higher education performance; and 3) enabling responsive institutional governance and management. The chapter closes with a table summarising the recommended policy actions and key implementation considerations.