Trends in the number of foreign students at Slovak universities and Slovak students at foreign universities

Just as students from abroad come to Slovakia to study, Slovak students go to study at foreign colleges and universities. In our article we analyze trends in the number of foreign students studying at Slovak universities and Slovak students leaving mainly for the Czech Republic in 10 years from 2010 to 2019. In Slovakia, but also in the Czech Republic, we observe a decrease in the total number of students studying at universities. We are also following this trend among Slovaks studying in the Czech Republic. In contrast, in Slovakia we are seeing an increase in the number of foreign students studying at our colleges and universities. Czechs and Ukrainians study the most in our country, and the ratio between them has been changing since 2017 in favor of Ukrainian students. The share of Slovak students among all foreign students at Czech colleges and universities was almost 64% in 2010, in 2019 it is only less than 45%.


INTRODUCTION
As of 31 December 2021, there are 41 universities in the Slovak Republic, of which 20 are public, 3 state, 10 private and 8 foreign universities. A total of 133,558 students study at them, of which 18,243 are foreigners (MINEDU, 2022), which represents 13.66%. As of the same date, there are 79 universities in the Czech Republic, of which 26 are public, 2 state, 33 private and 18 foreign universities. 304,054 students study at these schools, of which 52,109 are foreigners (MEYS, 2022), which is 17.14%. In both republics, we are seeing a decline in the total number of students studying at universities. In contrast to these trends, the numbers of foreign students in both republics are gradually increasing. Therefore, we decided to examine trends in the number of students from 2010 to 2019, whether Slovaks and foreign students studying at Slovak universities, but also Czechs and foreign students, with an emphasis on Slovaks studying in the Czech Republic. Antalíková (2020) and Blanár (2020) dealt with similar topics. We also stated these trends in the contribution of Pechočiak and Drábeková (2020), although since 2018 we have observed that the decline of Slovak students studying in the Slovak Republic has stopped or increased slightly.
One of the most important factors in achieving a country´s prosperous socioeconomic environment is education. As Országhová et al. states (2018) investments in human capital, including education, skills upgrading, the development of education and science, are nowadays a significant prerequisite for the further development of society and its economic growth. Tholen (2014) in his work says that Policymakers has argued as well as assumed that the share of degree holders within the workforce is a direct measure of national competitiveness and economic strength within the global era. However, if the structure of graduates does not meet the expectations and needs of the labor market the growth of the number of university graduates won't produce the desired effect.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
In this article, we follow the trends in the number of Slovak and foreign students studying at Slovak and foreign universities for 10 years from 2010 to 2019. In 2020 and 2021, a pandemic of covid virus spread to the world, so we assumed that it would affect the numbers of these students. Therefore, we did not include them in the examined sample. We obtained data from databases of Slovak Center of Scientific and Technical Information (SCSTI), Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic (SOSR), The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic (MINEDU) and Ministry of Education, Youth and sports in Czech (MEYS).
We used methods of mathematical descriptive statistics to evaluate them. In Excel, we created spreadsheets in which we calculated Percentages. From this data, we drew graphs, which we transferred with tables to Word in our article. Table 1 shows the numbers of enrolled and in Table 2 the numbers of enrolled Slovak and foreign students at Slovak universities in the years 2010 to 2019. We see that the differences between enrolled and enrolled students are many times large. For Slovak students it is two to three times, for foreign students almost double. Therefore, we took the data on enrolled students as more representative. We assume that some students applied to more universities, or some did not get to the university.  If we notice from which countries most students come to us, then we find that they are mainly 2 countries, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. Data on the number of students from these countries, the total number of foreign students and the share in% between the sums of the numbers of Czechs and Ukrainians to the total number of foreign students studying in our country are given in Table 3. In terms of Slovak students studying abroad, we find that most of them study in the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Austria and Germany. At the same time, up to 70% of these students study in the Czech Republic. That is why we focused our work on Slovaks studying at Czech universities. Table 4 shows the total numbers of students and Slovaks studying at universities in the Czech Republic.  Table 5 shows the total numbers of foreign students and Slovaks studying at Czech universities and the ratio of Slovaks to the total number of foreign students. This table, as well as Figure 4, shows that the total number of foreign students at Czech universities is growing and the number of Slovaks is declining, which is also reflected in the ratio of the number of Slovaks to all foreign students. While in 2010 this ratio was 63.82%, in 2019 it is only 44.53%.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In Table 2, in addition to the numbers of enrolled Slovak and foreign students studying at Slovak universities, we also stated the percentage share between the numbers of foreign students and all students studying at Slovak universities. While in 2010 this share was 4.23 %, in 2019 it was already 13.14 %. As we can also see in Figure 1, the trend in the number of Slovak students over the period under review is declining compared to the number of foreign students, which is why this ratio is growing. Most foreign students at our universities come from the Czech Republic and Ukraine. Data on the number of students from these countries are given in Table 3. The table shows that in 2010 1548 Czechs and only 44 Ukrainians studied here. Gradually, these numbers are "turning" in favor of Ukrainians, and we see that in 2019, 822 Czechs and 1,830 Ukrainians studied in our country, and the trend in the sum of these numbers is growing. In Table 3, we also stated the share in% between the sums of the numbers of Czechs and Ukrainians to the total number of foreign students studying in our country. This ratio decreased from 72.4 % in 2010 to 55.39 % in 2019. Trends in the numbers of Czechs, Ukrainians and the total number of foreign students can be seen in Figure 2. Trends in the total numbers of foreign students and Ukrainians are almost identical, growing, we observe in the Czechs decline. As we presented in Table 4 and we see this in Figure 3, which shows the trends in the numbers of these students, the total number of students and the number of Slovaks studying at universities in the Czech Republic has a declining trend, as we observe in Slovakia. In the total number, this decrease is 1.37-fold, for Slovaks I observe "only" 1.16-fold decrease. Table 5 shows the total numbers of foreign students and Slovaks studying at Czech universities and the ratio of Slovaks to the total number of foreign students. This table, as well as Figure 4, shows that the total number of foreign students at Czech universities is growing and the number of Slovaks is declining, which is also reflected in the ratio of the number of Slovaks to all foreign students. While in 2010 this ratio was 63.82%, in 2019 it is only 44.53%.

CONCLUSIONS
Hundreds of students choose to study abroad every year, as they can obtain quality study in a foreign language and on favorable terms. This applies not only to foreign students studying in Slovakia, but also to Slovaks studying at foreign universities. By studying abroad, students often improve their prospects for their future profession, have the opportunity to complete an internship after or during their studies, improve their language skills, get to know a new culture and people, and learn independence. The new way of education will not all foreign students Slovak students only broaden their horizons, but will also support their personal and intellectual development.
It is no coincidence that Slovak students decide to study in the neighboring Czech Republic. We are united by a common history and culture, it is close, so it is very accessible and it is very important that students can study there for free. The greatest interest is in the study of technical fields and informatics, economics, management, medicine and pharmacy.
Although we observe growing trends in the number of foreign students studying in Slovakia, but also in the Czech Republic, the number of Slovaks studying in our country and in the Czech Republic is declining. One of the factors is the decline of the population in a given age range, but certainly also the realization that skillful students can find employment without graduating from college.