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Education is the Key to the Future

Ing. Radúz Mácha, chairman of the POSITIV magazine editorial board, spoke to the vice-president of Czechia’s Industry Radek Špicar and Transport Union at the ‘Future of Education - Future of Companies’ conference.

Lifelong education is an important part of the modern conception of education. What is your view on this?

Our world is currently changing faster than it ever has before, which means that the labour market requires ever-shifting competencies from employees. For example, this means that internal combustion engine designers, a highly prestigious field right now, will eventually stop existing. Therefore, if people working in that field want to continue working in the industry, they will need to be retrained to fit a different specialisation. Lifelong education is also important due to digitalisation and other new technologies and technological processes that are becoming part of all spheres of life and business. In light of these facts, those that believe what they learned in school is all they will need for the rest of their life are mistaken.


Whose responsibility is it to define employee competencies for the labour market’s future?

This responsibility unequivocally lies with employers, their associations and providers of adult education. Only practice can show us what is realistic, what has grown outdated and which skills and knowledge are on the rise. Our Ministries of Education and Labour need to create a  database of profession 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 dual-education 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.

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 pre-production 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. 

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Vzdělávání je klíčem k budoucnosti

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Education is the Key to the Future

Článek pochází z vydání POSITIV Business & Style 2/2022

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