Definition of the target groups
All students have a right to apply for services of social support system as long as they meet the prescribed conditions.
Higher education institutions create appropriate study conditions for disabled students with regard to their special study needs, however, without lowering the study performance criteria.
Foreigners have the same conditions for guidance and methodical support in higher education as Slovak students - citizens.
Specific support measures
System of social support of students
Social support of students is provided directly and indirectly.
Direct form of social support is provided by scholarships.
Indirect form of social support is provided by the following services:
- meals and accommodation with allowance for expenses connected with meals and accommodation,
- financial and organizational support of sport and cultural activities.
The system of social support also includes provision of soft loans to students.
If demand is higher than supply, service is provided according to criteria predefined by higher education institution, which take into account applicant’s social background and study results in particular.
Scholarships
Higher education institution provides student with scholarships
- from the resources allocated from the state budget
- from its own resources by means of a scholarship fund.
More detailed information in chapter Funding in Education: Higher Education Funding.
Support of students with disabilities
A higher education institution creates a fund for support of disabled students.
This fund can be used to provide appropriate study conditions for disabled students with respect to their special needs. Students have to submit an application supplemented by a medical report on the state of their health, which is subsequently evaluated by a commission.
Appropriate study conditions include
- a possibility of studying according to an individual study plan,
- extension of study time while remitting the study fees if justified, and
- provision of conditions connected with school attendance of disabled students.
Higher education applicants have a right to have the form and manner of taking the admission examination adapted to their disability.
There are coordinators at higher education institutions and their faculties who specialise in problems of disabled students.
The law on personal data protection does not allow higher education institutions to acquire or process information on students’ disabilities without students’ consent.
Legislative references
National Council of the Slovak Republic, 2002. Act No. 131/2002 on higher education and on the change and supplement to some acts (Zákon č. 131/2002 Z.z. o vysokých školách a zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov) (last accessed 07/01/2020).
National Council of the Slovak Republic, 2009. Act No. 184/2009 on vocational education and training and on the change and supplement to some acts (Zákon č. 184/2009 Z.z. o odbornom vzdelávaní a príprave a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov v znení neskorších predpisov) (last accessed 03/06/2019).
National Council of the Slovak Republic, 2009. Act No. 18/2018 on protection of personal data (Zákon č. 18/2018 o ochrane osobných údajov a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov) (last accessed 20/11/2019).
Ministry of Education, Research, Development, and Youth of the Slovak Republic, 2006. Decree No. 102/2006 on granting social scholarship to students of higher education institutions as amended by subsequent provision (Vyhláška č. 102/2006 o priznávaní sociálneho štipendia študentom vysokých škôl v znení neskorších predpisov) (last accessed 03/06/2019).