THE VALUE OF A UNIVERSITY DEGREE IN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT: THE CASE OF PART-TIME STUDENTS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

This paper analyses various aspects of a university education and the value of a university degree. In the first part, the current situation in European tertiary education is briefly described based on Eurostat and OECD data. An increasing number of people with tertiary education often causes a mismatch in the number and structure of graduates needed in the labour market. The next part of the paper points out both educational and job mismatches. Subsequently, an empirical study based on primary data collected at the Faculty of Economics, Technical University of Liberec in 2014 from part-time students is introduced. The data collected in the pilot survey confirmed a relatively high proportion of individuals who become overeducated, which also influences their rate of return from education. These results are unique in the structure of data and confirm the general findings of some previous studies. This paper offers a platform to further discuss the value of a university degree across Europe.