Higher education institution provides its students with free-of-charge counselling. Free-of-charge counselling is also provided by a consortium of higher education institutions to students of higher education institutions who are members of the consortium.
Counselling is provided to improve students' mental health and motivation to study, to assist with problems that could jeopardize the successful completion of their studies, and to help them enter the job market. Selected departments and faculties of higher education institutions provide professional and methodological assistance in counselling.
Counselling and support centres are established at half of the public higher education institutions. Some of these HEIs also have various specialised centres (e.g., anti-drug centres, psychological counselling centres, etc.), including centres for supporting students with special needs. If a higher educational institution does not have a support centre, it is required to appoint a coordinator who will provide counselling or facilitate support services (e.g., sign language interpretation) for students with special needs.
Academic guidance
Each higher education institution provides to their applicants, students and other persons, information and counselling services related to their study and with a possibility to find employment of study programmes graduates.
There are study advisors at higher education institutions to provide counselling services for students in the process of study plan preparation. Study advisors are appointed from higher education institutions teachers and dismissed by the rector or dean, in case study advisor works at faculty. To implement student mobilities, the rector or dean typically appoints a coordinator from among higher education teachers. The coordinator's main responsibilities include:
- Participating in the preparation and implementation of international cooperation programmes in the education sector,
- Handling tasks related to sending and receiving students,
- Providing advisory services to students regarding study opportunities at other higher education institutions in Slovakia and abroad.
Psychological counselling
Some higher education institutions provide psychological counselling in combination with career, study and religious counselling.
Separate psychological counselling is provided in several public schools.
Psychological counselling and crisis intervention can be provided to students in higher education by professional employees – psychologists from counselling and prevention centres.
More information on the centres’ activities and services is available in chapter 12.4 Guidance and counselling in early childhood and school education.
Career guidance
Counselling services are provided regardless of whether students come from Slovakia or abroad or attend formal, non-formal or informal education. Higher education institutions are legally obliged to provide study and career guidance services. Career guidance is provided in many different ways. It is provided by a study counsellor at some higher education institutions and by separate career centres at others.
Individual workplaces or counsellors provide both individual and group counselling. Group programmes usually focus on the development of meta-competencies, transversal skills, and self-awareness, but they can also include professional skills for helping professions, conducted by counsellors with the appropriate professional competencies. Traditionally, many universities provide also mass counselling, which takes place during Career Days (for graduating students).
Outside the system of counselling service facilities for higher education students there also exists the Association of Information and Counselling Services of Young People (ZIPCeM) (Združenie Informačných a poradenských centier mladých) in the Slovak Republic, which is a representative of the network of organisations actively participating in the area of information-counselling services for young people, expressed by the common name Information centres for young people.
They concentrate mainly on the age group of young people till 30 years. ZIPCeM is a direct provider of information-counselling services via its innovative activities. Their main aim is to secure free access for young people to information and counselling from the different areas of life via easily accessible, thematically oriented information materials published by ZIPCeM.