HR

requirements. We have the National

Qualification System, which has worked

with employers for almost fifteen

years now. Furthermore, the law on

the recognition of educational results

allows applications to be tested by

an authorised figure and gain certification

for professional qualifications without

the need for them to prove where they

gained the necessary knowledge or

skills. In fact, that is the essence of adult

education: letting people learn gradually

on their own.

What is the Industry Union’s role

in the field of education?

We recognize the need for maintaining

a relationship with scientific and technical

fields at all levels of education. We support

the idea of a more generalised high

school education so that students can

more readily adapt and specialise through

something like the aforementioned

National Qualification System (NQS). This

system would simplify education for adults

in terms of professional requalification.

Another tested approach is that of ‘dual

principles’ in vocational training. Simply

said, this method outsources part of

the student’s education to companies, or

field-experience providers, on the basis of

a mutual contract. In 2017, we launched

a pilot project making use of dualeducation principles in collaboration

with the Development Association of

the Moravian-Silesian Region. Currently,

thirty-three companies and schools from

all around the Moravian-Silesian, Zlín,

Central Bohemian and Ustí regions have

joined the project.

The theme of today’s conference

was ‘Future of education - future

of companies.’ What changes need to be

made to the current education system?

Our education system needs to be

flexible and open-ended, somewhat

reminiscent of an online store, where

anyone interested can drop by, gain

the knowledge and skills they desire or

need for their employment or business.

Needless to say, everyone needs

to have a solid foundation, a sort of

general ‘highschool overview’. Online

courses would then offer no age

limitations and would be a crossroads

for all age groups. Furthermore, I also

believe that employing experts to

pass their experience on in online

courses, workshops or workplaces

would make professional transitions

more effective.

You are one of the 2nd Economic

Transformation Initiative’s leaders. How

would you describe its main goals?

First, I would like to mention something

about the 1st Economic Transformation.

It lasted from 1989 to 2021, when the

pandemic started. It was relatively

successful, however, as it was conceived

in the 90s, it was based on a cheap

workforce, advantageous localisation and

quality infrastructure, which nowadays

have become obsolete. This initiative

allowed us to catch up to southern Europe,

including Greece, Portugal, and partially

even Spain and Italy. Now we need to

focus on final production and motivate

‘our’ foreign companies to invest part of

their profits locally so that we do not lose

300bn crowns in dividends each year. We

need to increase our productivity through

digitization, automation and robotization.

Those are our main goals for the next

couple decades, and they will allow us to

finally catch up to Scandinavia, Benelux,

Germany and Austria. We definitely have

a chance to accomplish this, especially

if we do not fall to extreme actions such

as leaving the European Union. We are

resourceful and capable; we just need time.

“

We are resourceful and

capable; we just need time.

”

At your talk today, you said that we should

remember your motto: creativity and

original solutions are bred from diversity.

How should we understand this?

In this day and age, having your own unique

and innovative product is very valuable. It

is what keeps you a step ahead of your

competition. That is what we should

all strive for. The crux of creating such

a product is aiming to attract the widest

possible sample of customers. The key

to doing this successfully is considering

the points of view and aesthetics of

different customer groups during the preproduction process.

If, for example, you have an automotive

company that plans to sell globally, your

design team needs to consist of more than

just six white, thirty-year-old men with

the same nationality. This team would

definitely be able to easily and quickly

design a car that would be attractive to

customers such as themselves, from their

country or region. This same car, however,

will likely be unable to meet the needs of

someone on the other side of the world.

This illustrates the necessity of including

foreigners in your team, as they will be

able to tell you that, for example, Chinese

customers prefer their cars to have

aluminium wherever possible. Women

are another important asset to include in

design teams. Women make car purchases

more often than they used to in the past

so it is essential to include aesthetics that

would appeal to them in the final product.

Additionally, including older employees

in your team can highlight issues that

young people would ignore or might

not experience. In summary, building

a diverse team maximises creativity which

is then reflected in the product, allowing

it to attract the widest possible spectrum

of customers.

I made three notes during your talk:

1) A relationship with technology begins

with proper polytechnical education in

primary schools; 2) high schools need

to start turning towards dual education;

3) the connection between tertiary

education, universities and companies

is key. Are these the paths that lead to

a successful future?

Improving our education system will

allow us to push our industry to the

capability of producing products with

a high added value. Education needs

to be more centred around guiding

students depending on their talents and

expectations. Kindergartens and the first

year of primary school should already give

children knowledge of technology and

the workings of the real world. We need

to show our children the joy of creating.

The second year of primary school

should then supplement the expansion of

polytechnical knowledge with practical

workshops.

We have been seeking the expansion of

dual education at highschools for a while

now. Students better understand and

grow relationships in different fields if they

are able to gain real work experience in

companies or work with experts. This is

applicable to universities as well, where

students should have the opportunity to

take part in joint applied research with

companies. In addition to that, however,

technical and scientific education

should be systematically promoted

among the public and supported by

extracurricular activities.

Mr Špicar, thank you for the interview.

Text: redakce

Foto: MSID, archiv Radek Špicar

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