Slovakia

As noted, the Constitution gives the president of the Slovak Republic the power to appoint professors and rectors, which means that the Austro-German university system of the past serves as the primary model. As evident by their titles, a number of institutions are organized according to discipline and specialization. The idea of the Gesamthochschule (comprehensive university) has not yet arrived. The disappearance of the heavy centralizing pressure of Soviet communism has encouraged Slovakia to look to its past. The state finances higher education, but the Constitution gives enough latitude so that the state may or may not subsidize students. With the disappearance of the requirements of communist party membership and a Marxist philosophy, admission to study is more democratic. For Slovakian universities to be competitive with western European and North American universities in terms of research will require greater Slovakian prosperity. In 1994 the total expenditure on education constituted approximately 5 percent of the GNP (Turner 2000).