Perspectives of teaching the humanities and social sciences at technical universities

Abstract

Teaching social sciences and humanities is fully established at technical universities, which was endorsed by the adoption of the Bologna Declaration in 1999. Most technical higher education institutions have managed to incorporate at least 10 % of economic and humanities courses in the instruction, but some of them transferred the form of teaching these subjects from compulsory optional to optional, therefore, they are attended by lower number of students than the desired proportion. Currently, there is also a significant decline in the number of students as a result of unfavourable demographic development, which brings a drop in funding of universities. This condition is also adversely affecting the teaching of social sciences. The article analyses the situation at the VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava and considers the future of teaching humanities. It finds the solution in making the offered courses more attractive, and in their more practical focus.