INCREASING INTEGRATION OF PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES TO THE HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE RISK MANAGEMENT IN SLOVAKIA

The changes of the entrepreneurial environment worldwide but also in Slovakia, the consequences of the global financial crisis as well as various legislative measures result in increasing requirements of the owners on effective management of the entrepreneurial risks. The new approaches of the managerial way of thinking and control emphasise the need of implementing the risk management in the enterprises. This brings new problems and requirements on their solution in the management theory and practice. At the same time they are bringing new requests on the managers´ education. Therefore it is necessary to extend the general education of the managers by a summary of the knowledge, skills and experience necessary for identifying and analysing the possible risks and crises in the company.

The Faculty of Security Engineering of the University of Žilina in Žilina has the right to educate the area of the risk management. It is a management and technical faculty which has been working in the system of the university education for more than sixty years. It provides education with an emphasis on preventing the company crisis in framework of an accredited programme Crisis Management for the Needs of the Entrepreneurial Subjects and Public Administration. In the framework of this profile it links theory and practice; however, there are some shortages in this area.

The link of the theory and practice is in majority of cases mostly very weak at the universities in Slovakia or even there is none. According to the current research there are only 5 % of the university students being satisfied with the situation how the universities ensure practical activities during the educational process for them. The technical faculties in Slovakia regularly cooperate with some companies in the area of research and development but only one third of them is able to ensure practical activities in the real environment of the everyday operation for their students.

Therefore it is inevitable to adjust the current system of the university education in such a way that such students will graduate from the universities who will be interesting for the economic practice and for which they will be a benefit. This assumes realising several changes in the university education, especially to harmonise the requirements of practice and the specialisations of the universities, cooperation in the area of defining the graduate´s profile, during creating the core of the study specialisation and individual study plans.

The article responds to the current state of an insufficient link of the economic practice with the universities in Slovakia. It shows approaches in foreign countries to this area. Based on the research the authors justify the need and inevitability of better cooperation of the companies and universities in Slovakia. The goal of the article is to design a concept aimed at improving the integration of practical activities into the higher education in the area of the risk management at the Faculty of Security Engineering of the University of Žilina in Slovakia. The designed conception is based on long-year experience and research realised by the authors in the framework of the area being solved and who have particular experience in training and implementing procedures of the risk management in the enterprises.