Since its establishment, VŠEMvs has been putting great emphasis on the development of R&D activities. The basis for a dynamic development of R&D is contained in the conviction of all teachers, that both the teaching process and a high-quality internationally competitive R&D are essential characteristics of a top-notch higher education institution. VŠEMvs R&D program has been implemented on the basis of two-year Programs of R&D activities adopted by the Academic Council of the school, which have been modified according to the needs of the theory of public administration and economic practice, as well as to the input of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic and of foreign schools.
In the first 5 years of its existence, VŠEMvs has focused on the following research areas
A. research oriented on designing textbooks, aimed at updating the contents of the teaching process,
B. research into solving current theoretical and practical issues in public administration and regions, particularly the following:
- comparative analysis of the social and economic niveau of marginalized regions of the Slovak Republic, and the regional development policy,
- SME development as the source of reviving the economy and spurring the economic growth of regions,
- HR development as the decisive condition of establishing a knowledge-based economy,
- decentralization of the public administration and public finance of the Slovak Republic,
- optimizing the distribution of the competence of performance of public services among diverse subjects in public administration.
Current research topics and goals
The contents of research are drafted according to the “Concept of R&D activities for 2008-2012”, which formulates and prefers attention to the following topics:
- the limits, borders, tasks and meaning of public administration in a civil and democratic society,
- distribution of labor between state administration and self-government, public administration reforms as a continuous process, budgetary decentralization of public administration, communal reform,
- increasing the efficiency of self-government performance in division into higher regional units, municipalities and public service institutions within the sphere of action of self-governing regions (education, healthcare, social sphere, safety, transportation, regional development, environment, sport, immigration),
- regional development (regional development instruments, sources and perspectives of specific regions/municipalities, opportunities for growth in lieu of the introduction of Schengen regulations),
- SMEs as a factor in regional development (conditions of establishment of SMEs, regionally oriented SMEs, contribution of SMEs to the development of regions),
- completion of shared research projects with external academic and research institutions, mainly with the Faculty of Economics and Administration, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic; Communal Research and Consulting Center in Piešťany; and ARC School of Political and Social Sciences, Kolín.
Focus areas of R&D activities in 2013-2014:
- self-government and regional development,
- decentralization in public administration,
- increasing efficiency of public administration by optimizing of taxation in compliance with UNITAS tax reform,
- project management in public administration institutions,
- European social systems with regards to fulfilling strategies of sustainable, inclusive and intelligent development,
- innovation in designing European social and economic policy,
- key functions of personal management in the context of development of organizations working in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic,
- comparative analysis of marketing sub-concepts in services, tourism and place.