Abstract The structure of higher education system in the Czech Republic has changed over the past ten years. Gradual expansion of private universities was the main cause of this change. The importace of investment in human capital, forms of state regulation in higher education and the dangers that the regulatory authority of the Accreditation Committee faced are described in the theoretical part of Diploma thesis. The analytical parts is focused on the number of applicants and the number of gradutes in accordance with educational programs and their emplacement at the labour market. The fuction of Accreditation Committee, as the main regulator of higher education in the Czech Republic, concludes the analytic part of the thesis. My taskis to find out, how did the structure of higher education system change due to its regulation and wether the further development of educational system is efficient enough.

In the thesis, the main focus is concentrated on the regulation of tertiary education sector by means of the accreditation. According to The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), there are chosen the countries with the highest representation of universities in Top20-Top500. Especially in the point of view of their regulation, the systems of tertiary education of those countries are analyzed and divided into two groups: (1) In the first group, there are systems running liberally (or on more liberal base); and (2) In the second one, there are the systems considered as behaving more regulative to tertiary sector. The comparison of those two groups is trying to answer the question if the regulation might be the reason of successfulness or unsuccessfulness of the given group. In comparison of world's best practice, special attention is dedicated to the Czech Accreditation Committee and accreditation process transparency in the Czech Republic. Due to the lucidity, there is to found the illustration of the systems according to each analyzed country at the end of the thesis.

Change and the management thereof has become an integral part of management. To survive and prosper in the future, organisations have to understand the internal and external forces of the constantly changing world in which they operate. One example of the implications of change is the role of the communication practitioner that evolved from that of a technician to a strategist during recent decades. The communication practitioner has to realise that research is an effective tool to prove the value of the communication function. This study explores the use of environmental scanning as a strategic tool for an organisation to obtain a competitive edge. Knowledge management and the measurement of relationships in communication are closely related to environmental scanning. Environmental scanning is a process by which an organisation learns about events and trends in the internal and external environment. It helps establishes relationships between these trends and considers the main implications for problem identification and decision making. Any scientific research should be done against a theoretical framework. The systems theory and the information gap theory provide the theoretical framework for this study. Empirical research was conducted amongst the principals, marketing directors; information technology directors and scenario planners of all universities, technikons and registered private universities in South Africa. A total response rate of 58.7% was realised. A major finding was that, although most universities and technikons conduct environmental scanning and rate it as very important, there is no formalised, strategically aligned effort to integrate the findings with the strategic direction of the institution. The impact of environmental scanning on the respondents’ institutions is rated as significant to very significant. A revised model of environmental scanning was subsequently proposed. This model can also serve as a basis for future research and development. In spite of the different ways in which environmental scanning is conducted and applied, it has potential as a strategic tool - specifically to improve the role and contribution of the communication practitioner in the realisation of organisational goals. / Dissertation (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Communication Management / DPhil / Unrestricted

This diploma thesis examines the impact and consequences of the implementation of deferred tuition in the Czech Republic on an quality and a system of financing of universities. The aim is to determine the real impact of tuition fees on improving the quality of university education and make recommendations for an implementation or a rejection of this form of financial participation. The first part of my thesis contains theoretical views on education and its role in the modern economy, it defines the term "education" as a kind of an economic good and describes the current system of university education in the Czech Republic. The empirical research will be comparing the current situation of university education system in the Czech Republic with the situation in the EU and OECD countries. The analysis will be based on statistical data on the number of people with university education, the volume of investment into this kind of education, the ratio of public and private funding system, the number of students enrolling on universities, total expenditures per student, applying of university student and other labor market indicators. Based on this comparison,the strengths and the weaknesses of the Czech university education will be established and its trend in the last 5 years. Within the scope of a planned introduction of direct financial participation of university students, the principle of deferred tuition will be considered as a potential tool not only to increase private funding in the system, but also to achieve a better standards of university education. The possible effects of the introduction of tuition fees in the country will be estimated based on the experience with the implementation of this system abroad (UK and Australia) and meta-analysis of expert opinion on financing university education system. The conclusion of the thesis includes a summary of the extent to which the inflow of private funds into the system changes the strengths and weaknesses of the university education in the Czech Republic and making recommendations for its implementation.