Joint degrees - a competitive advantage of Czech higher education institutions (?)

Abstract

Universities nowadays engage in fierce competitive battles, both for students and funding. Among the competitive advantages addressing both people and money counts potent internationalization, opening possibilities to study abroad or work with foreign specialists. Providing joint degrees with foreign partner universities has emerged as a viable path to a higher attractiveness of university study options. Nevertheless, after almost two decades of joint degree offers in the European higher education area, the joint degree popularity seems to be stagnating at best. Based on an overview of Czech universities, this study seeks to answer whether universities providing joint degrees rank better in international assessments and whether individual faculties running joint degrees at Czech universities rank better in the national Czech Universities Ranking. As a mixed-method study, it applies the methods of content and correlation analyses to analyze and compare the national and international quality ranking of higher education institutions in the Czech Republic in relation to providing joint or double degree programmes. While no statistically significant relationship has been found between the Czech national ranking of individual faculties and their offer of double degrees, the findings suggest a statistically significant relationship between the joint degree offer and international university ranking. Nevertheless, the direction of the relationship remains obscure.