Improving the Quality of Higher Education in Central Europe: Approach Based On GAP Analysis


  •  Miroslav Hrnciar    
  •  Peter Madzík    

Abstract

A growing social pressure on addressing the issues of quality in administration of educational institutions has resulted in various national and international initiatives focused on development of recommendations and procedures for assurance of quality of education. The topic is getting more urgent in the period of global recession when the impacts of the crisis are experienced even by school graduates who have difficulties to find their place on the labor market. The issue of quality and connection of education with practical requirements ranks among the central topics of a broad discussion in Europe and worldwide. The submitted paper presents results of an investigation of a potential use of a system approach, based on individual gaps identified in a GAP analysis and summarizes recommendations concerning assurance of the lowest possible differences between individual components of the methodology. It is based on decomposition of individual gaps - in the relations between educational facilities, practice and students - into three areas, specifically key questions, interpretation that can be used for university environment and a set of suitable tools for elimination of differences in the given gap. The approach has been adapted for the conditions of university education and the descriptions and explanations of the individual gaps were adapted to increase the potential of improvements based on the application of the GAP analysis.


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