Competitiveness Evaluation of Slovenian Economy

Evaluation of competitiveness became an important instrument for balancing the development process of the economy. For Slovenia it is important tool for policy creation. Benchmarking with more developed countries shows us the right directions of development process. Competitiveness can be analysed from different sides. Existed studies have focused on several different analytical levels: product, firm, industry cluster, region and nation. The most successful economies are raising the skill content of their labour force. By reducing transportation and communication costs, it links economies and societies into closer, tighter webs. It facilitates the integration of production under common ownership (transnational companies), allowing access to capital flows, world markets, skills, and technology. Competitiveness evaluation of Slovenian economy shows us that the problems remain the same during the enlargement process of the European Union. Competitiveness is defined as the quality of the economic and institutional environment for the sustainable development of private productive activities and the increise in productivity. Today we focuse more on policies and strategies on institutional and also on business level that mainatain the long-term competitiveness. Competitiveness can be seen as the collection of factors, policies and institutions which determine the level of productivity of a country and that, therefore, determine the level of prosperity that can be attained by an economy. In the paper I will evaluate the Slovenian competitiveness by SWOT analysis. After European enlargement we can see that some CEE countries have benefited more than other countries. Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia have increased the locational attractiveness for business sector and also improved the institutional competitiveness. Harmonization with EU legislation and adoption of “Acquis Communautaire” have improved the institutions and the legal system. On the other side, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria have problems connected with the enlargement process. Because these latter countries stayed outside the first enlargement process, they have, in addition to their originally less competitive, position lower competitiveness possibilities. The integration process increased the possibilities for benchmarking. Today is more common to benchmark different countries and compare the main determinants of competitiveness. Evaluation of competitiveness is an important tool for economic policy. Slovenia as a small country can be analysed from the view of regional competitiveness. Improving competitiveness is not about driving down living standards. It is about creating a high skills, high productivity and therefore high wage economy where enterprise can flourish and where we can find opportunities rather than threats in changes we cannot avoid. Many governments seriously peruse national competitiveness rankings produced by WEF or IMD. The study of competitiveness strategy is now a very important obligation of government. All new member countries have high-level official committees to deal with competitiveness, reaching across ministerial divisions to devise international, national or regional policy.productivity and competitiveness; benchmarking; development strategy; national development

Literacy in Slovenia. Country Report. Children and adolescents

European Literacy Policy Network (ELINET

Do librarians have a shared set of values? A comparative study of 36 codes of ethics based on Gorman's Enduring Values

Thirty-six ethical codes from national professional associations were studied, the aim to test whether librarians have global shared values or if political and cultural contexts have significantly influenced the codes' content. Gorman's eight core values of stewardship, service, intellectual freedom, rationalism, literacy and learning, equity of access to recorded knowledge and information, privacy and democracy were used as a benchmark. A quantitative analysis was carried out of which values each code contained. The codes were further qualitatively analysed, to examine how each value was expressed. It was found that on average codes featured five of Gorman's eight values. The most popular values were: service, privacy, equity of access, stewardship and intellectual freedom. The least popular value was rationalism, across all codes. Some codes omitted certain values because of their specific focus, such as the Native American code. Codes varied in how values were expressed, for example some codes limited principles by law, while some did not. Expression of stewardship and democracy was found to be stronger in countries which have recently experienced conflict or colonialism. The relationship between the profession and the state was another area of variation. Countries in the Asia-Pacific put more emphasis on the power of the State

Conceptual Key Competency Model for Smart Factories in Production Processes

AbstractBackground and Purpose: The aim of the study is to develop a conceptual key competency model for smart factories in production processes, focused on the automotive industry, as innovation and continuous development in this industry are at the forefront and represent the key to its long-term success.Methodology: For the purpose of the research, we used a semi-structured interview as a method of data collection. Participants were segmented into three homogeneous groups, which are industry experts, university professors and secondary education teachers, and government experts. In order to analyse the qualitative data, we used the method of content analysis.Results: Based on the analysis of the data collected by structured interviews, we identified the key competencies that workers in smart factories in the automotive industry will need. The key competencies are technical skills, ICT skills, innovation and creativity, openness to learning, ability to accept and adapt to change, and various soft skills.Conclusion: Our research provides insights for managers working in organisations that are transformed by Industry 4.0. For instance, human resource managers can use our results to study what competencies potential candidates need to perform well on the job, particularly in regards to planning future job profiles in regards related to production processes. Moreover, they can design competency models in a way that is coherent with the trends of Industry 4.0. Educational policy makers should design curricula that develop mentioned competencies. In the future, the results presented here can be compared and contrasted with findings obtained by applying other empirical methods

Educational Technology at the Study Program of Educational Physics at the University of Maribor in Slovenia

Physics is an experimental scientific discipline and needs to be introduced as such in schools. However, in recent decades, we witnessed intensive advancement in the field of computers, sensors, and measurement devices and also educational technologies, animations, and simulations, which one can use in teaching Physics. With ICT integration in education, we can supplement, but not substitute, different teaching methods, which include experiments. The modern teacher of Physics needs to be well trained in the use of all kinds of educational technologies, in particular in the field of experimental work. In this contribution, we analyze the study program of educational Physics at the University of Maribor in Slovenia, where we focus on achieving adequate competences for appropriate use of ICT in teaching theoretical topics as well as executing experiments

Current and future lis competencies: Perceptions of Slovenian practitioners

Objective. The study provides a report on the perceptions of the Slovenian library practitioners of the competencies needed for their work today and those that will be needed in the future. Two groups of competencies were considered: generic and professional, the latter in four groups: library management and library operations, library materials and information resources, work with users, organization of knowledge and information. Approach/Methodology/Design. An online survey was used. To cover practitioners in all types and sizes of libraries, random sampling of libraries was used and snowball sampling from there on (N = 132). We discuss the general overview of the results through descriptive statistics, and the differences in the perception of competency importance between the current and the future situation, using paired samples T-test. Results. The results have shown that competencies, in all groups, were rated high, for both today and future work, no criticism was detected over the choice of the competencies, only certain suggestions, the practitioners believe that nearly all competencies will gain importance in the future, and none will become less important. The highest valued area is work with users, followed by the areas of work with library materials and resources, and library management, while organization of knowledge and information was, surprisingly, rated the lowest. Practical implications. The results will be used in the formation of at least a draft competency model or models and to inform further work on the reformed study programme at the Department of LIS & BS at the University of Ljubljana. Originality/value. This study offers the first comprehensive insight into the opinions and perceptions of the practitioners in all types of libraries in Slovenia of the competencies needed for their work today and those that will be needed in the future

The Role of the Education System and On-the-Job Training in Innovation: Evidence from the Slovenian Manufacturing and Service Sector

This paper contributes to the debate on the importance of education for sustainable economic growth. Following a recent contribution by Aghion (2009), we focus on the role of tertiary education in innovation at the company level using patent applications as a proxy. Rather than examining tertiary education spending or the share of the population with tertiary education, we make use of the Aghion Index, which measures the quality of tertiary education. Moreover, as innovation is only the first step in the value chain at the company level, we complement dana on the quality of tertiary education with company-level data on human capital spending in large and medium-sized Slovenian firms. We report that not only a sound education system, but also on-the-job training is important for increased company-level invention and innovation. Firms with more on-the-job training reported a significantly higher number of patents in the period of 2007-2009

Students' Attitudes Towards Craft and Technology in the Context of Finnish and Slovenian Comprehensive Schools

Peer reviewe