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An international comparison of the quality of academic publication output in the Czech Republic
Jurajda, Štěpán ; Kozubek, Stanislav ; Münich, Daniel ; Škoda, Samuel
In the recent study Jurajda a Münich (2015) we presented a field-by-field comparison of Czech research publication output. This comparison of the relative strength of output by research institutes in each field within the Czech Republic (CR), could not comment on which Czech institutes are working at international level, and which lag behind their foreign counterparts. It is possible, for example, that an institute that is not at the forefront of its field in the CR may nevertheless be performing research at a standard comparable with international competitors, because it is working in a field in which the Czech Republic is performing very high level research. In this study we offer a first step towards comparing the research output of Czech institutes on an international scale: we compare the publication output of each research field, overall, in the Czech Republic with its international equivalent. Our comparison is based on articles published between 2010 and 2014 which are included in the Web of Science (WoS) database. The comparison includes eleven small and medium sized countries, only one of which has English as its native language. Five of the countries are European countries previously within the Soviet bloc, four are Western European countries and two are non-European countries.
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A comparative study of retirement age in the Czech Republic
Bakalová, Jana ; Boháček, Radim ; Münich, Daniel
Our analysis reveals that older generations in the Czech Republic still exhibit\nsome differences from more developed countries in Western and Northern\nEurope. Socio-economic conditions, educational attainment, occupational\nstructure, or health status are still lower due to reasons related to historical\ndevelopment in the 20th century. On the other hand, improvements and\nconvergence of aforementioned characteristics to more economically\ndeveloped countries of the EU during a relatively short period of time has been\nnotable.
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Czech research centres' publication performance in the period 2008-2012, by field of research
Jurajda, Štěpán ; Münich, Daniel
Three years ago, we were the first in the Czech Republic to offer, in IDEA study 3/2012, a comparison of research publication performance (not productivity) based on data about the results of research and development in the period 2006-2010 for the research fields whose ouputs are largely recorded in the Web of Science database run by Thomson Reuters (WoS). For each field of research, we showed which Czech centre has the most results published in journals with a high impact factor (IF). In this study, we bring that comparison up to date for the period 2008-2012. This type of comparison, which is based on the Information Register of R&D Results [Rejstřík informací o výsledcích] (RIV) collated by the government's Council for Research, Development and Innovation (RVVI), identifies the research centres with the most prolific output of excellent results in a given field in the Czech Republic. It also enables us to compare fields in terms of the concentration of their journal publication output in individual research centres, and to look at the relationship between "points-based" RIV assessment and excellence of results.
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Teachers’ pay: consistently low and unattractive
Münich, Daniel ; Perignáthová, M. ; Zapletalová, Lucie ; Smolka, V.
The level and structure of teachers’ salaries significantly affect overall interest in the teaching profession and play a part in determining the structure of those interested in the profession. The quality of new recruits to the teaching profession in turn determines the long term quality of education and educational results in the given country. Salaries for teachers at Czech public primary schools, in a relative comparison with salaries for highly qualified employees, have long been among the lowest in the world’s thirty most developed countries. As far as teachers’ general skills are concerned, these are still relatively good in the Czech Republic compared to many other countries. This is however undoubtedly determined to a large extent on the high numbers of older teachers in the profession, who began their careers decades ago. Interest in the teaching profession among talented younger Czechs is currently very low.
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Learning by torture or learning by play? A comparison of satisfaction with school and mathematics from the perspective of international testing programs
Federičová, Miroslava ; Münich, Daniel
The international survey PISA 2012, which focused on 15-year-old students in OECD countries and many others, showed that almost 80% of students feel happy at school. Among the 64 participating countries, those with the highest proportion of contented students were Indonesia, Albania and Peru (96%, 94% and 94%). However, the countries with the lowest share of such students were South Korea, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (60%, 63% and 64%).
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Preparing for the eight-year gymnasium: the great pupil steeplechase
Federičová, Miroslava ; Münich, Daniel
Nearly 20% of all fifth-year pupils apply for entry to eight-year gymnasium, but fewer than half of them are successful. The vast majority apply on the basis of their own and their parents‘ joint interests. Preparation for the entry exams is a burden both for the children and their parents, whether in the form of lost free time, or in terms of financial outlayings for tutoring, preparatory courses and practice tests. Nearly 85% of those enrolled to take the entry examinations dedicate time weekly to their preparation, and each day sees almost one in two of these pupils busy with preparation. Intensive preparation vastly increases the likelihood of acceptance for the lowerachieving half of candidates. For the higher-achieving half, intensive preparation is rather an insurance measure, to ensure that the very hard-working candidates from the lower half will not overtake them. There are many indications that intensive extra-curricular study in preparation for the entry examinations for eight-year gymnasium significantly improves pupils‘ knowledge and skills. In this, will power, perseverance, ambition, rigour and pressure from the parents play a significant role.
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