A leader in the Education of the Future

HR a leader in the Education of the Future Doc. Ing. Pavel Mertlík, CSc., is the rector of ŠKODa aUTO University, the only private university founded by a multinational company. The school offers applicants unique study programs combining economic and technical focus with extensive experience during their studies, teaching experts, an individual approach, a wide range of scholarship and motivational programs, travel during the study to more than sixty partner universities and many other benefits. You are one of the private universities operating in the Czech Republic. Please introduce it to us and tell us what makes it unique? We are the only Czech university founded by a large international industrial company. Our study programmes combine economic and technical education offering students a unique system of internships with extensive, intensive language training that will allow all students after two years of Bachelor‘s studies to complete an internship or study abroad. As the only such school in the Czech Republic, ŠAVŠ offers students a dual-system of study in cooperation with partner companies— students enrolled in this program together with full-time study complete extensive continuous business practice throughout their studies. The result of all this is 100% employment of graduates, usually in very interesting jobs in the Czech Republic and abroad. How is your cooperation between the school and the company? ŠAVŠ has partnership agreements with about forty companies in the Czech Republic, in addition to which it has over thirty foreign partners which are mainly, but not only, companies from the Volkswagen Group. Internships take place in partner companies, which is mandatory for students in the 5th term of bachelor‘s studies; it is pedagogically managed and during this internship the student obtains the assignment of their bachelor‘s thesis, on which they usually cooperate with experts from the relevant company. Students of the follow-up Master‘s study can choose internship as an optional subject in academically oriented study programs; in professionally oriented programs, practice is a similarly integral part of study as in bachelor‘s programs. However, cooperation with companies is much broader; the essential part is contract research, applied projects of various scope and focus, as well as ‘tailor-made’ educational activities. Your school has become a member of Autoklastr. What do you promise from this membership? We are a member of the Association of the Automotive Industry-AutoSAP, so we have contacts with a number of companies in the automotive industry. However, membership in Autoklastr will certainly enable us to expand and deepen our contacts with member companies, among other ideas in the area of joint projects. Where are you heading in terms of your further development? Three key development directions represent strengthening the technical components of study programmes, including topics in the field of electromobility and ICT, institutional accreditation in the field of education economics, accreditation of the doctoral study program and transformation into a university-type college. Rector, thank you for the interview. POSITIV 4/2021 ǀ 83