D0I:10.24193/tras.SI2022.7
Published First Online: 12/17/2022
THE LOW DEMAND FOR PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMS
IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA:
WHAT MAY BE BEHIND IT?*
Abstract
The importance of public administration (PA) education
and training is obvious, any effective public
administration system needs an influx of a new and
well-educated workforce. Compared to the (relatively)
better situation in other Central and Eastern European
countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia
represent a very specific case - the falling number
of students in PA programs threatens the existence
of the only programs with international accreditation
(those at Masaryk University Brno and Matej
Bel University in Banska Bystrica). The aim of this
paper was to investigate the reasons why so few
students apply and enroll in these EAPAA-accredited
programs. Qualitative research is used to achieve
this goal. In the opinion of the program chairs and
our secondary analysis, there are multiple factors
behind the very low level of demand which critically
threatens the existence of the best master programs
in the countries studied. A very specific issue that
appears to be unique for both countries is free public
university education with unregulated demand.
Such an environment, combined with the performance-based
funding of public universities and
other higher education institutions, where the number
of students is a decisive factor in the amount
of the public grant to the university, generates an
oversupply of places offered to secondary school
graduates. The role of other potential barriers for the
interest to study public administration is catalyzed
by the 'oversupply' conditions. The questionnaire,
the statements of program chairs, and our secondary
analysis confirm that there is a role to be played
by monitoring other potential barriers - the fact that
programs are run in economics faculties, limited
trust in politicians, government and public administration,
the system of access to the civil service and
salary levels in the public sector.
Keywords: public administration program, demand,
enrolled, Czech Republic, Slovakia.
Robert JAHODA
Ivan MALY
Juraj NEMEC
David SPACEK
Robert JAHODA
Associate professor, Faculty of Economics and Administration,
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
E-mail: robert.jahoda@econ.muni.cz
Ivan MALY
Associate professor, Faculty of Economics and Administration,
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
E-mail: ivan.maly@econ.muni.cz
Juraj NEMEC
Professor, Faculty of Economics and Administration,
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
E-mail: juraj.nemec@umb.sk
David SPACEK
Associate professor, Faculty of Economics and Administration,
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
E-mail: david.spacek@econ.muni.cz
;
Acknowledgement. The preparation of the paper was
co-supported by the National Recovery Plan project
'Systemic Risk Institute' (LX22NPO5101).
ap Transylvanian Review
of Administrative Sciences,
Special Issue 2022, pp. 99-117
1. Introduction
In response to major global challenges and for the imperative of sustainable development,
the Member States of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development in 2015. At its core are the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), which call for the implementation of strategies that fight poverty, improve health
and education, reduce inequality, and promote economic growth. Goal 16 states the role
of building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels (United Nations,
2015). This applies, of course, to all levels of government, from central administration
to local authorities. For example, according to the U.S. National Academy of Public
Administration (NAPA), in recent decades the public sector and its constituents have often
struggled to adapt to a rapidly evolving international, economic, social, technological,
and cultural environment. To function effectively and move forward, governments must
become action-oriented, enabling them to address new challenges and earn the public's
trust. NAPA's list of'Grand Challenges in Public Administration' — the 12 most pressing
issues in public administration today (NAPA, 2018) is fully relevant to many other
countries. It also well documents that the need to cultivate national public administration
and increase its competence, efficiency, accountability and responsiveness is not limited to
countries that have recently undergone major transformations (such as the Czech Republic
or Slovakia).
Only loyal, motivated, and skilled public administration servants, administrators and
other public sector employees can successfully work on solutions. The importance of
public administration education and training is evident even though empirical research
provides only limited evidence on the social returns to education in this area (e.g., Botev
et al, 2019; Psacharopoulos, 1994; Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 2004). In terms of specific
education and training programs in the broader field of public administration and
management, we know much more about their institutional set-up, curricular content
and development, as well as their teaching philosophy (e.g., Reichard and Schröter, 2017;
Hajnal, 2003; Nemec et al., 2012) than their measurable impact on improving public ad-
ministration.
However, there are still ample practical reasons to pay attention to these programs and
seek to develop them. One of them is the natural age turnover of public administration
employees. In the Czech Republic, for example, which is the focus of this paper, about
1/4-1/3 of the current public administration staff will retire in the next ten years. The current
share of employees under 31 years of age is on average less than 10%, but the share of
those over 55 years of age is about 21% (Eurostat, 2021). As the rules require a minimum
university degree for most positions in public administration, this represents a demand
for roughly 15-20 thousand university graduates. The situation in Slovakia, which is the
second country in this paper, looks almost the same in relative terms.
However, the authors of this paper see (in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia) a visible
trend of declining student interest to enroll in quality public administration programs,
which should be the core source for future public administration experts. Theirfirstidea
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was to check whether this is the common trend for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)
and to provide a broad comparative study covering the whole region. They contacted all
programs registered in the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in
Central and Eastern Europe (NISPAcee) database with a request to participate in a survey
and provide data and expert insights on trends related to enrollment numbers. Unfortunately,
we received only a modest response and data on only a few programs. For this reason,
we directly contacted programs from the CEE region (namely the Czech Republic,
Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Estonia, Poland and Slovakia), which have been awarded
accreditation/certification from the European Association for Public Administration
Accreditation (EAPAA) and these programs eventually participated in our survey. Their
responses indicate that in most of their countries, demand for PA programs is not a critical
issue, and enrollments are mainly determined by national regulations and the internal
capacities of higher education institutions.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia represent a very different case — the falling number
of students in PA programs threatens the existence of both EAPAA-accredited programs
at Masaryk University and the existence of the program at Matej Bel University, which
received accreditation in the past. The contradiction between the undoubted potential
demand for quality graduates for the Czech and Slovak public administration and the low
interest of students in studying quality public administration programs in these countries
appears to be a topic worthy of investigation. The aim of this paper is to find out the
reasons why so few students apply and enroll in EAPAA-accredited programs at Masaryk
University in Brno and Matej Bel University Banska Bystrica. The paper is based on a qualitative
approach, data were collected from secondary sources through our own questionnaire
and also through structured interviews with representatives of both programs under
study.
The structure of this paper is as follows — in the next section we outline what is known
about the demand for PA programs in the CEE region in the available literature; this is
followed by a brief outline of our methodology and an introduction to the programs; in
the final section we present the mainfindingsfrom the interviews with representatives of
the programs; this is followed by conclusions.
2. Determinants of demand for PA programs in the CEE region
- what can be found in literature?
PA programs are important in supporting public sector development and in providing
oxygen to organizations to introduce new ways of working, processes and service delivery
(Proeller and Reichard, 2013; Broucker, 2015). They can also determine the professionalism
and quality of civil and public service (Broucker, 2015).
In Central Europe, the establishment of a properly functioning civil service was one
of the indirect entry conditions for the first accession wave (Nemec and de Vries, 2017).
Already in 1999, Connaughton and Verheijen noted that PA programs in CEE states were
developing rapidly. Available studies (see, for example, Staronová and Gajduschek, 2016)
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suggest that PA programs and education have been mainly researched in the context of
developed countries, and less attention has been paid to the context of Central and Eastern
European (CEE) and specificities of approaches in the individual countries. Some literature
on PA programs in CEE countries has been published in international journals (and
are available in English and not only in the national languages), especially after 2010 (with
some exceptions — e.g., Hajnal, 2003).
Pevčin et al. (2019) summarized that research on PA programs in CEE countries focused
on individual CEE countries (e.g., Gellén, 2013; Hajnal, 2015; Hajnal et al., 2018),
or presented a comparative analysis of the situation in selected CEE countries (e.g. Marčetič
et al, 2013), or focused on specific CEE sub-regions (for example, Koprič (2013) focused
on South Eastern European countries), or compared the situation of CEE programs with
those based on U.S. university programs (Staronová and Gajduschek, 2016), or focused
on a larger group of programs consisting of public administration, public policy and public
management programs (e.g., Staronová and Gajduschek, 2016; Verheijen and Nemec,
2000), or public management programs (e.g., Nemec etal, 2012).
Pevčin et al. (2019) also pointed out that existing research on PA education in CEE
countries is usually based on content analysis of existing study programs; the basic unit of
the analysis is the individual program offered (Staronová and Gajduschek, 2016). Starting
from the assumption that PA education can reveal a lot about the identity of the field as
perceived by scholars and practitioners (Staronová and Gajduschek, 2016; Hajnal and Gajduschek,
2022), the available literature usually focuses mainly on the institutionalization
of public administration or public management as a discipline and maps the content of
existing PA programs. Staronová and Gajduschek (2016), for example, conclude that there
has been a growing number of public affairs programs in CEE countries over the last 27
years. Pevčin etal. (2019) suggest this.
According to Staronová and Gajduschek (2016), public administration programs have
traditionally focused primarily on the legal and formal institutional aspects of governance,
while public policy and management programs have been completely absent and are relatively
new. Their research suggests that master level PA (MPA) programs are offered by
several branches of study (political science, economics, law, sociology) and can be both
stand-alone programs taught in the faculties of social sciences, economics, or law, and/
or in newly created and more specialized faculties of public administration, public policy
or governance, as well as specializations which typically form part of general economics,
social science, political science or law programs. They also point out that the late 20th
and
early 21st
centuries saw a boom in private MPA programs, but only in the Czech Republic
and Slovakia. Such developments and the heterogeneity of PA programs raise questions
about competition among programs; this issue may be particularly relevant for countries
where there are a high number of such programs.
Staronová and Gajduschek (2016) suggest that master PA (MPA) programs in the CEE
region do not fit the so-called mainstream model. Their analysis of curricula found a low
number of practice-oriented and analytical core courses and gaps in internships and suggested
that MPA programs typically focus on economic theory, and typical courses are mi-
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croeconomics, macroeconomics, economics of various subfields, accounting, and public
finance. Where human resource management and strategic management could be found,
they were usually among the electives and were relatively rare. Nemec et al. (2012) also
concluded that the public management component in MPA programs in CEE countries
(they focused on the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland) is rare.
This raises questions about the extent to which PA programs differ from other programs
offered by higher educational institutions, e.g., the extent to which PA programs differ
from programs such as economics or business administration. According to Hajnal and
Gajduschek (2022), the attractiveness of business management programs may determine
the demand of prospective students. And, as they say, more attractive programs attract
more and probably more capable students. This was also discussed by Malý (2014), who
compared and discussed the willingness to enroll in the Business Administration, Finance
and Public Administration program at Masaryk University between 2004 and 2012. Malý
(2014) concluded that not only were there fewer applicants for the PA program, but their
average ability also to study well (according to the LPT results!) was somewhat lower and
seemed to decline over the time period. This was partly due to the admissions criteria (e.g.,
in 2011/2012, PA required 67th
percentile vs. 88th
in Finance, and that 88th
percentile represented
1.7 times more students than PA at the 67th
percentile).
The role of ownership (private vs. public) of universities offering PA programs was also
discussed. According to Hajnal and Gajduschek (2022), this has only occasionally been
scrutinized and mixedfindingscan be found in the literature. Staronová and Gajduschek
(2016), for example, report that privately run universities may have a lower quality of education
because they lack adequate staff. Institutions also seek to increase their revenues
rather than provide quality education (Hajnal and Gajduschek, 2022).
In many CEE countries (see, e.g., country reports published by the PAQUALITYproject),
the demand for PA programs is also incorporated into the data and structures (bodies)
required in the internal quality assurance systems of higher education institutions.
These quality assurance systems typically require programs to respond to feedback from
program stakeholders. In the Czech Republic, for example, representatives of employers
and graduates as well as students are to be included in the so-called 'Programme Councils',
which have to meet on a regular basis to discuss the functioning and changes needed in
the programs; representatives of employers, graduates and students are also members of
other bodies set up within the quality assurance and management system of public universities,
etc. But still, almost at the close of 2022, we have not found literature that is more
concerned with the demand for PA programs by higher education institutions in the CEE
region, which can also shape the content and quality of PA programs.
As Nemec et al. (2017) suggest, PA education without any strict national educational
standards can be effectively provided in countries with high demand, functional labor
markers and well-developed professional standards, but they also highlight that the lack of
national educational standards can lead to a chaotic and inefficient state in less developed
countries where the production of supply-based curricula in the field of PA education
is a reality. Hajnal and Gajduschek (2022) consider the demand for PA programs as an
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important external factor shaping PA curricula in CEE countries. They point out that
while universities may be prepared to provide more comprehensive, interdisciplinary education,
practice (specifically employer organizations and potential future civil/public servants)
favors established, law-based curricula (Romania being the only exception). They
also highlight that the gap between PA practice and PA education is greater in the case
of more prestigious universities — lecturers at such universities are expected and/or eager
to publish in leading, predominantly Anglo-American journals, and they argue that
this situation motivates professors to find research topics and approaches that are more
internationally accepted and legitimate, despite their relative lack of relevance in the CEE
environment. Pevčin etal. (2021) also point to gaps in the practical orientation of PA programs
and suggest that by creating and introducing new contemporary teaching methods,
PA programs in the CEE region can increase job opportunities for the participants, which
may help boost enrollment figures.
Gajduschek and Hajnal (2022) conclude that the attractiveness of PA programs everywhere
depends mostly on the relative position of civil service employment in the labor
market. Similarly, according to Malý (2014), the declining demand for PA study programs
was determined by two main factors: the growing public distrust in government and public
administration in general (compounded by corruption cases) and the fact that a public
officer has been a low-prestige job for several decades.
According to Staronová and Gajduschek (2016), it is evident that institutional settings
and the way MPA programs are designed are much more important in the design of core
curricula than the country context. The institutional setting can also determine the extent
to which professionals are involved in PA education (Neely et al, 2018). Nevertheless, as
Pevčin et al. (2019) suggest, the lack of uniformity of PA education in CEE countries is
also determined by the country specific context, as it appears to shape the structure and
content of PA programs. PA programs tend to be inward-looking, focusing on local, regional,
and national administrative systems (Toonen, Verheijen and Bousekom, 1999;
Randma-Liiv and Connaughton, 2005), they are also developed within a specific national
quality assurance/assessment framework (Nemec and de Vries, 2017; Nemec etal., 2017).
Thus, when examining PA programs, it is necessary to combine a contextual approach
with a focus on the institutional setting and how the program design is developed at the
micro (organizational) level.
In conclusion, very little has been done on the issue of demand for PA programs in
the CEE. This may be related to the fact that for most countries in the region the issue
of demand is marginal. However, as our article suggests, this is not the case for the Czech
Republic and Slovakia.
3. Methodology
This paper is based on data collected through a questionnaire survey that focused on
the number of students in public administration (PA) programs in CEE (and potentially
other) countries, not on the content of the programs. In the survey, we wanted to ask
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representatives of higher education institutions in the CEE region for information and
data on their main Bachelor/Master's public administration (PA) programs. We first sent
the call to participate in our survey to all contacts in the NISPAcee database (we used our
contacts from NISPAcee to distribute information about the survey and the call). The
first call was distributed in mid-June 2022. Due to zero-response, the next call was sent in
mid-August. Since we received only one response, we surveyed representatives of programs
that had received EAPAA accreditation and directly contacted them in late August and
early September 2022. As a result, we received input from EAPAA-accredited programs
implemented in the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Poland, and
Slovakia. Because the survey clearly showed that the Czech Republic and Slovakia appeared
to be the exception in the countries, as the other programs did not struggle with
the demand, we decided to focus only on programs from the Czech Republic and Slovakia
and conducted additional follow-up interviews with representatives of the programs
implemented by Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic (Faculty of Economics and
Administration; ESF MU) and Matej Bel University Banska Bystrica, Slovakia (Faculty of
Economics; EF UMB).
4. Outlining the context - legal framework and the programs
4.1. Master'spublic administration program
Public Economics andAdministration at ESF MU
The legal status of higher education institutions and the framework of their educational
and research activities are regulated in the Czech Republic by the Act on Higher
Education Institutions (Act. 111/1998 as amended). The Act distinguishes between public,
private and state higher education institutions. The Act also distinguishes 'university'
and 'non-university' higher education institutions (HEI). Masaryk University is a public
university. Public universities have the status of a public legal corporation as a specific type
of self-governing entity; universities are separate legal subjects. Public and state HEIs provide
free education for citizens of all nationalities while studying in the Czech language. In
private institutions, students are obliged to pay tuition fees.
As students themselves contribute only a minimum amount to the running of HEIs,
most of the institutions' income comes from a one-off grant from the state budget under
the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) chapter. As additional sources of
funding for HEIs, the Ministry uses two public science support agencies whose funding
is linked to the state budget. These agencies provide project funding for basic and applied
research of science on a competitive basis. Grant funding uses rather complex rules that
follow the priority objectives for higher education by the MoEYS. Institutional funding of
HEIs is derived from the scale and economic intensity of HEIs' performance (measured by
the number of students enrolled and the financial intensity of accredited study programs)
— the fixed part and the outputs of HEIs' activities and their quality — the performance
part. The ratio of the fixed part to the performance part has been set at 82.46% and 17.54%
105
for 2022. Stability of funding is enforced by the principle that no HEI can experience a
year-on-year decrease in its budget (sum of fixed and performance parts) of more than 2%
(all information in this part is derived from the actual MoEYS guidelines — MoEYS, 2022).
The performance part of the budget quantifies the performance of HEIs, focusing on
the results in educational and creative activities, dividing the HEIs into 4 segments. Segment
1 consists of art universities, segment 2 public non-university colleges, and segments
3 and 4 are the remaining universities, divided by size and volume of R&D performance
(segments 3 and 4 differ little in how performance is funded). The individual segments use
uniform quality and performance indicators to determine performance funding, which
varies in weight across the segments. Here we present the weighting of indicators for segments
3 and 4: R&D outputs (30%), international mobility of staff and students (22%),
graduation rates (15%), graduate employment rates (10%), foreigners in HEIs — academics
and students (10%), external (non MoEYS) income (6.5%), other (6.5%).
The Public Economics and Administration program was introduced in Brno in the
early 1990s with the establishment of the Faculty of Economics and Administration. The
faculty was co-founded by professor Streckova, who had worked at the Faculty of Arts
at the end of the communist regime, where she had worked on theories of economics of
non-profit sectors. For simplicity's sake, it can be said that from the beginning of the faculty's
operation, the management decided to offer one bachelor's and several follow-up
master's programs. Even then, the Public Economics and Administration program was
already facing lower demand from applicants than other programs. However, given the
several-fold overhang of demand and the limits on the number of new enrollments, this
was not a problem. As these limits were relaxed, the number of students in the program
grew steadily. In the first decade of the 21st
century, the follow-up master's program was
accepting up to 120 new students per year. Most of the students came from a radius of
about 100 km from Brno. At the same time, a significant proportion of students also came
from more distant regions of the Czech Republic where there was not an adequate offer
of university education. The second significant group of students were Slovaks, for whom
Brno offers ideal conditions for study (distance and total cost of study). Over the past ten
years, the program has seen a gradual decline in demand and, measured by unit costs alone,
with 33 newly enrolled students for this academic year, is one of the most expensive programs
offered by the faculty.
4.2. Master'spublic administration program
Public Economy andManagement at EE UMB
The legal status of higher education institutions and the framework of their educational
and research activities are regulated in the Slovak Republic by the Act on Higher
Education Institutions (Act. 131/2002 as amended). The Act, like the Czech legislation,
distinguishes between public, private and state higher education institutions. Matej Bel
University is a public university. As in the Czech Republic, public universities have the
status of a public legal corporation as a specific type of self-governing entity; the universities
are separate legal subjects. The main income of public universities is a grant from
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the public budget (Ministry of Education, 2022). This grant is performance-based and
includes four subparts: grants for the provision of accredited study programs; grants to
support scientific, development, and artistic activities; developmental grants; and grants to
support socially disadvantaged students.
Most of the revenue is provided by the first sub-program and is allocated on the basis
of a formula. The main elements of the formula are the number of students, the number
of graduates, the educational costs of the program, placement, publications, and scientific
grants received. The number of students determines approx. 60% of the total revenue provided
by this sub-program, which means that a sufficient number of students is a decisive
factor in the implementation of the program.
Grants to support scientific, development, and artistic activities are provided by three
grant agencies linked to the Ministry of Education: Agentúra na podporu vedy a výskumu
(APW: Slovak Research and Development Agency), Vedecká grantová agentúra MS WaS
SR a SAV (VEGA: Scientific GrantAgency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research
and Sport of the Slovak Republic) and Kultúrna a edukačná grantová agentúra MSWaS
SR (KEGA: Cultural and Educative Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science,
Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic) on the basis of a standard grant competition.
The program in Banska Bystrica was established in its original form 40 years ago (at the
same time as the program in Brno) and has undergone many changes throughout its history.
The number of students enrolled in the program has dropped from 250 ten years ago
to the current number of 36 enrolled (data provided by the program). With such a small
number of students, the program is unable to earn enough resources to finance its costs
and the faculty leadership is looking for solutions (now cross-subsidizing it).
5. The views of the program leaders on the reasons
for the limited demand and the analysis of the main arguments
The leaders of both evaluated programs provided a set of views regarding the critically
declining trend in enrollment. In the answers of the EF UMB, the following factors were
mainly highlighted as being responsible for the declining demand: demographics (declining
number of secondary school graduates), low awareness of potential students about public
administration and public economics, and the curriculum (the program is economically
oriented, there are more mathematics and statistics courses, which are not popular among
students). The program leader summarized these problems during the interview as follows:
'In addition to demographic trends, I consideran importantfactorto be the very
limited knowledge of secondary schoolgraduates of what'publicadministration'
means. Our experiencefrom study exhibitions and direct discussion with secondary
school students confirm that these students have zero or very limited knowledge of
public administration, publicpolicy, public economics — and therefore they do not
perceive the importance of relatedprograms. A specificproblemfor our faculty is
the fact that the program is implemented at the Faculty of Economics, and this
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determines the curriculum. Courses like mathematics, statistics are not very appreciated
by the younggeneration. In this respect, programs in Slovakia with a more
legal/politicalsciences background may have a relative advantage.'
The Brno response highlighted a number of factors compared to EF UMB, in particular
the salary level of graduates, competition within and between universities, the fact
that graduates do not have direct 'preferential' access to civil/public service positions, the
regional nature of demand, and limited trust in government, politicians and public admin-
istration.
The program leaders summarized the main factors during the interview as follows:
' We can identify severalfactors behind the decline in demandfromprospective
students. Let us mention thefour most important ones: Firstly, demographics — the
number of prospective students dropped significantly after 2010. This is related to
the large drop in the birth rate after 1990and also to thefact that agroup ofadults
who lacked a highereducation after 1990 havesince obtained it. In recentyears, the
number of applicants has been almost constant, but their results in the admission
process have beenfalling slightly. Second, because of lower demand, PA programs
are admitting applicants with lower admissions scores. However, these students
have a higherdropout rate during theirstudies, which discourages otherprospective
students. Third, there is competition among programs within the facultyfor the
best applicants. Applicants are then more likely to choose aprogram that has a simpler
and catchier name (e.g., Management or Finance). In previousyears, we have
seen changes in the names of existingprograms and the creation of newprograms
to appeal topotentialprospective students. Perhaps thefactor that most discourages
studyingPAprograms is the aspect of lowpublic recognition (bothformal — salary,
and informal). Working in the public administration is not perceived as important
by society, which is confirmed by numerousstatements made bypoliticians (e.g.,
about overemployment in the sector). The often-chaotic management of public administration
bypoliticians is then often attributed to its employees.''
5.1. Analysis of the main arguments
The programs do not mention this, but the first question is to try to guess why the
Czech Republic and Slovakia have such significant 'demand' problems, while similar
trends are not so visible in other CEE countries (all other EAPAA accredited programs
signaling either increasing demand or only very mild demand 'problems', mainly caused by
national or internal regulations).
The authors see the main purpose in the institutional setting. The Czech Republic and
Slovakia are unique in the region, but also in the world, due to 'free' public university
education: students in public universities do not pay any flat fees to cover the cost of their
studies (some fees exist, but these are not associated with standard studies). Not only is
education at public universities 'free', but also the number of places offered is not centrally
regulated. Especially in Slovakia, public universities have complete freedom in deciding
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how many students to admit (and since they receive public grants according to the number
of students and graduates, the incentive to admit and retain students is very high — see
e.g., Nemec, 2007).
SITA (2020) reported that, according to an analysis by the Technical University of
Bratislava (2020), approx. 45 thousand places will be offered by Slovak universities in 2020
for less than 40 thousand secondary school graduates. Moreover, approx. 20% of these
graduates will choose to study abroad — this should mean that the supply is higher than
the maximum demand by more than 10 thousand places. Indeed, in such conditions, many
universities are canceling entrance exams and accepting anyone who applies.
The situation in the Czech Republic is not so visibly critical, but it is not very different
either. Such a high over-supply gives students the opportunity to apply for the most attractive
programs such as IT, finance or law with a high chance of success. The attractiveness
of PA programs is much lower and this limits the possibility to get enough applications
— internal and external competition between programs (ESF M U mentioned above) is
excessive in such conditions.
Bothprograms are offered at thefaculties ofeconomics
In both the Czech Republic and Slovakia, public administration programs are offered
by different faculties/units — mainly law, political sciences, and economics faculties/
units. A significant disadvantage may be the fact that the program is located at a faculty
of economics (in both countries, economics also includes business). The program chair
highlighted two barriers. The 'external' barrier is the need to study subjects such as mathematics,
statistics or accounting, which do not suit many potential applicants — they can
choose a program in political science or law, where mathematics is not part of the curriculum
(this kind of competition even has an 'inter-university' character — Matej Bel
University also offers a master's program in public administration at the Faculty of Political
Sciences and Masaryk University at the Faculty of Law). The 'internal' barrier is the fact
that those who have decided to study at the Faculty of Economics have the opportunity
to choose much more attractive programs at the faculty (finance, business, tourism, etc.).
The fact that the demand for higher education is of a 'regional' nature is also evidenced by
the enrollmentfiguresreported by the ESF M U program (the same applies to the EF UMB
program). There are two other universities in Brno offering programs in 'Economies', and
two more programs in 'Economics' are also within 90 km of Banska Bystrica. With regional
demand, competition for students between these faculties is strong.
Limited trust in politicians, government and public administration
Trust in politicians, government, and public administration, as well as the related prestige
of the professions for which these study programs primarily prepare their graduates,
may possibly influence the attractiveness of the respective study programs.
Data from the standard Eurobarometer survey show some differences between the two
countries. While the Czech Republic showed an average tendency to trust regional and local
authorities between 2017 and 2021 (thefive-yearaverage was 58.8% compared to 57% for
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the EU as a whole, ranking the Czech Republic 11th
), Slovakia was among the below-average
EU countries at the same time (45.6% and 20th
respectively). The same applies to the tendency
to trust public administration. The Czech Republic reported a five-year average level of
54.4% (compared to 52% in the EU in 2021), ranking 13th
. In contrast, Slovakia ranked 17th
with 45.4%. Both countries are below average in trust in government (Czech Republic 17th
,
30%; Slovakia 22nd
, 25%, compared to the EU average of 37% in 2021); moreover, in 2022
Slovakia dropped to last 'place' in the EU with only a 21% level of trust.
These data do not seem to offer a reliable explanation on their own for the regional phenomenon
of declining interest in public administration programs. Within the EU there are
countries with significantly lower levels of trust (Croatia, Greece, Spain, Slovenia). However,
it should be borne in mind that the Eurobarometer surveys the whole population,
not the specific age group ofyoung people from which the majority of applicants come. It
is reasonable to assume that they have less trust in this type of authority and are therefore
reluctant to pursue a career in this field. Moreover, the Czech Republic is a country where
unemployment (including youth unemployment) has long been at the lowest level among
EU countries. This largely eliminates the undeniable comparative advantage of public administration
employment — greater stability and income security. The perception ofpublic
authorities by potential degree candidates may thus further affect the attractiveness of
studying public administration studies.
The Czech Centre for Public Opinion Research (Tucek, 2019) has published a ranking
of the prestige of professions based on a sample survey. Unfortunately, the profession
of a public administration official does not appear in it. The closest profession to public
administration is the 'deputy'. It ranks at the very bottom of the list, behind journalists,
priests, secretaries, and cleaners. The entire ranking, which has been tracked since 2011,
shows little variation, with the exception of the rise in the prestige of the security forces and
the fall of professions related to politics and management.
Civil/publicservice access
There are no direct links between the PA program and the national requirements of the
civil/public service entry systems in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In both countries,
the civil service system is relatively fragmented and decentralized, including the recruitment
procedure (Staronová and Rybár, 2021). Any university graduate can apply for a
civil service position, and the civil service systems in both countries are position based. The
appointment is on the basis of a competitive process, but this does not guarantee an appointment
on merit (Staronová, 2017). In such conditions, academic PA programs are not
the main and predetermined area from where to source civil servants with effective initial
knowledge and skills. Without a clear career perspective, the attractiveness of PA programs
to their graduates is obviously limited.
Moreover, the Czech Republic was a country without a general civil service legislation
and until 2015 had a rather fragmented legislation on public administration employees.
This was despite the fact that the country was criticized by the European Commission and
the OECD for the lack of specific legislation on the rights and obligations of civil servants,
110
which went hand in hand with the absence of a more coordinated civil servant education
system in the pre-accession period.
The Czech Republic only formally responded to the European Commission's criticism
by adopting the State Civil Servants Act (no. 218/2002), as the entry into force of
this Act has been postponed almost every two years since 2003 when it was expected to
come into force. In addition to the State Civil Servants Act, the Act on Civil Servants of
Self-Governing Local Authorities (no. 312/2002) was also passed and came into force in
early 2003. This Act is relatively short and regulates only some specific areas (in particular,
requirements on recruitment, education and training, release of senior civil servants, and
accreditation of institutions providing training for civil servants under the Act). In other
areas, the Act refers to the general Labor Code.
Salary level ofgraduates
Not only is the career ofgraduates in the public administration 'dangerous', but in both
countries, their eventual salary level is also problematic. For example, the Slovak Ministry
of Finance (2020) published a comprehensive report on employment in the public sector,
which also analyzed salary issues. According to this report (pp. 7-8), university graduates
working in the public sector earn only approx. 80% of the salaries of their counterparts in
the private sector.
In most segments of the public sector in both countries, salary levels are regulated and
fixed — the basic salary level is a combination of the grade (job difficulty) and pay band
(length of experience). Bonuses are possible, but the system for allocating them is completely
non-transparent (Staronová and Rybár, 2021). This form ofpay for performance is
not very attractive for many potential candidates.
6. Discussion and conclusions
The current turbulent times have posed a set of critical challenges to the public administration
system. There are a number of studies and papers which attempt to summarize
them. As an example, in 2019, the US National Academy of Public Administration
(Gerton and Mitchell, 2019, p. 436) defined four areas and twelve 'grand-challenges' as
follows:
1. Protecting and advancing democracy
a. Protect electoral integrity and enhance voter participation;
b. Modernize and revitalize the public service;
c. Develop new approaches to public governance and engagement;
d. Advance national interests in a changing global context.
2. Strengthening social and economic development
a. Foster social equity;
b. Connect individuals to meaningful work;
c. Build resilient communities;
d. Advance the long-termfiscalhealth of the nation.
111
3. Ensuring environmental sustainability
a. Steward natural resources and address climate change;
b. Create modern water systems for safe and sustainable use.
4. Managing technological changes
a. Ensure data security and privacy rights of individuals;
b. Make government AI ready.
To support the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations
Committee of Experts on Public Administration formulated the 'Principles of effective
governance for sustainable development', which were endorsed by the United Nations
Economic and Social Council in July 2018 (ECOSOC, 2018). The eleven 'Principles' are
as follows: competence, sound policymaking, collaboration, integrity, transparency, independent
oversight, leaving no one behind, non-discrimination, participation, subsidiarity,
and intergenerational equity. The COVID-19 crisis and the current war in Ukraine have
created new additional challenges which require 'robust governance for turbulent times'
as a response.
Is the current public administration education system prepared to respond to all the current
challenges to which public administration systems should respond? This question was
already evaluated at the level of Europe, and more specifically Central and Eastern Europe
in 2013 when the Trans-European Dialogue attempted to answer the question 'Is the field
of PA education ready for the future of the public sector in Europe?'. The general answer
was that the strong legalistic heritage of some continental European countries and their educational
systems in particular was a critical barrier. The authors are concerned that not
much has changed after this meeting (for more information on the contents of this meeting,
see the special issue of theJournal of Public Administration and Policy, vol. 6, no. 2).
In the U.S., the NASPAA, as the leading public administration education association,
has responded to the new challenges by adopting its accreditation standards (Gerton and
Mitchel, 2019). For example, the graduate programs in the field are now required to adopt
a set of competencies determined by the department's mission and public service values in
the following five areas:
- Lead and manage in the public interest;
- Participate in and contribute to the policy process;
- Analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems, and make evidence-informed decisions
in a complex and dynamic environment;
- Articulate, apply, and advance a public service perspective;
- Communicate and interact productively and in a culturally responsive way with a
diverse and changing workforce and society at large.
Gerton and Mitchell (2019, p. 440) also articulated the 'current public administration
academy roles' as follows:
1. Inspire action
a. Set a ten-year agenda for the field (practitioners & academics);
b. Develop a baseline understanding;
c. Educate & inform stakeholders.
112
2. Enhance understanding
a. Conduct or support research to determine what works, identify key innovations,
and disseminate effective practices and lessons learned;
b. Convene conferences and seminars on particular grand challenges and focus areas;
c. Develop case libraries and toolkits.
3. Connect stakeholders
a. Interagency;
b. Intergovernmental;
c. Intersectoral;
d. International;
e. Academics and practitioners.
4. Drive change
a. Identify and assess solutions;
b. Highlight successful innovations & promote effective practices;
c. Identify ways to scale up solutions;
d. Develop action plans & issue recommendations;
e. Assess & report on progress.
The issue of the relationship between public administration practice and public administration
education, the level to which programs in Central and Eastern Europe are
increasing their orientation to practical relevance (as one of the issues outlined above) was
mapped by the PAQUALITY project (for more information see https://www.nispa.org/
paquality.php?proj_id=16&sid=1887).
Findings based on employer and graduate perceptions suggest that all programs in the
region need to make extra efforts to increase students' general skills in terms of their analytical
competencies, critical thinking, and ability to independently plan and implement projects
(Špaček, 2019a and 2019b), skills related to data collection and analysis and evaluation
skills (Vitálišová etal., 2019). Further regular screening of competencies (based on employer
and graduate perceptions) was recommended in this project. Methodical guides have
also been published to increase competency-based education that would enable students
to advance their competencies and better prepare them to meet the day-to-day challenges
of public administration (Nemec etal., 2021).
In the era of the above challenges, knowing that the declining demand for public administration
programs is a critical problem in the Czech Republic, the authors of this article
have attempted to obtain comprehensive information on the demand situation in the
whole CEE region. This was not successful, perhaps because demand data is sensitive for
faculties and their programs. Data obtained from 'EAPAA-designated' programs suggest
that critically low demand appears to be a problem specific to only two countries — the
Czech Republic and Slovakia. This article has attempted to identify why, and such an analysis
is critically important, as the combination of limited demand and performance-based
public funding (based on the 'wrong/pervasive' indicators: student numbers and quality
of academic papers) critically limits the ability of programs to respond to current global
and public administration challenges.
113
In the opinion of the program chairs and our secondary analysis, there are more factors
behind the very low level of demand which critically threaten the existence of the best master's
programs in the countries studied — ESF M U and EF UMB programs. A very specific
issue that seems to be unique to both countries is free public university education with unregulated
demand. Such an environment, combined with the performance-based funding
of public HEIs, where the number of students is the determining factor for the amount of
public grants to the university, generates an oversupply of places in HEIs.
The role of potential barriers to interest in studying public administration is catalyzed
under the conditions of'oversupply'. The questionnaire, the statements of program chairs
and our secondary analysis confirm that the following potential barriers would play a role
— the fact that programs are delivered in economics faculties, limited trust in politicians,
government and public administration, the system of access to the civil/public service and
public sector salary levels.
The last positive news is the fact that the programs analyzed are not passively waiting
for their 'end' due to too low demand and the financial infeasibility of running them. Both
program chairs mentioned a number of'standard' marketing measures, but also very specific
activities, implemented to attract more students. In their opinion, the most successful
tactic is the creation of joint bachelor programs with other faculties of the university. Experience
shows that these kinds of programs represent an effective source of applicants for
the analyzed master's in public administration programs. The second option is foreign students,
but this opportunity is not yet yielding results — the number of students enrolled
in the English variants of the analyzed programs is still critically low (perhaps because ESF
MU and EF UMB are not located in the capital city, and in particular the journey to Banska
Bystrica, which is a relatively small city, is still 'somewhat' complicated).
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