COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GRANT SUBSIDIARY MECHANISMS AND SUCCESS OF UNIVERSITIES IN THE SLOVAK AND CZECH REPUBLIC

Abstrakt

The article deals with a comparative analysis of the systems of financing science and research at universities in the Slovak and Czech Republics since 1993. The aim of the work is to identify the causes of the divergence of both systems and to analyze the impact of different subsidy mechanisms on the scientific success and international competitiveness of universities.
Methods: The research uses the method of comparative analysis of national grant agencies (APVV, VEGA, KEGA in the Slovak Republic vs. GAČR, TAČR in the Czech Republic) and evaluation frameworks (VER 2022 in the Slovak Republic vs. Metodika 17+ in the Czech Republic). The data are drawn from annual reports of ministries, statistics of the Horizon Europe program, international rankings (QS) and economic indicators of institutional budgets.
Results: The analysis shows that the Czech model shows a higher level of stability and financial robustness, which is documented by the budget of Charles University in Prague, which is more than three times higher than that of Comenius University in Bratislava. While Slovak universities have a relatively high success rate of submitted projects in the Horizon Europe program, their financial volume and share in project coordination is low compared to Czech elite universities. The Slovak system suffers from resource fragmentation and administrative rigidity.
Discussion: The results indicate the need for systemic changes in Slovakia, especially in the area of concentration of resources into excellent clusters, reduction of administrative burden and implementation of independent management of grant calls (the "arm's length" principle). The article suggests strengthening schemes to support young researchers as a key tool against brain drain abroad.