SUMMER SCHOOLS AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS – CROATIAN PRACTICE

Unatoč svojoj dugoj tradiciji te kao predmet zanimanja polaznika, ljetne škole kao oblik ulaganja u ljudski kapital izdvajanjem slobodnog vremena za unapređenje znanja i vještina koje imaju ekonomsku vrijednost i koje doprinose povećanoj produktivnosti, tek u novije vrijeme počinju privlačiti i pozornost istraživača. Polazeći od suvremenih procesa globalizacije i europeizacije te posebice u kontekstu internacionalizacije visokog obrazovanja, u radu se obrađuje problematika ljetnih škola. Osim njihovih temeljnih obilježja te doprinosa ekonomskom razvoju, čime se može objasniti njihov sve značajniji rast u razvijenim zemljama, u radu se izlažu rezultati istraživanja koji ukazuju na znatna odstupanja hrvatske obrazovne prakse od one svjetske. Unatoč stanovitim pomacima, primjenom metode istraživanja za stolom – pretraživanjem tematskih baza podataka i internet stranica obrazovnih ustanova, uočava se kako ljetne škole namijenjene studentskoj populaciji u Hrvatskoj nisu raširena pojava, osobito na veleučilišnoj razini. Temeljem svega iznesenog, rad završava utvrđivanjem mogućnosti aktivnog sudjelovanja veleučilišta u ponudi programa ljetnih škola.In spite of their long tradition and as an object of interest of their attendants, summer schools have only recently started to draw attention of researchers, especially when viewed as a form of investment in human capital whereby leisure time is dedicated to the improvement of knowledge and skills that have economic value and contribute to increased productivity. Starting from modern processes of globalisation and Europeanisation and especially in the context of internalisation in higher education, this paper deals with the issue of summer schools. Besides the key features of summer schools and their contribution to economic development that can be used to explain their increasing importance in developed countries, this paper presents the results of research that indicate a significant discrepancy between Croatian and world educational practice. Despite certain shifts, desk research – research of thematic databases and Internet sites of higher education institutions, reveals that international summer schools in Croatia aimed at student population are not a widespread phenomenon, especially at the level of colleges of applied sciences. Based on this, the paper concludes by determining the opportunities for the active participation of colleges of applied sciences in the summer schools’ programmes offer