Abstract
University education is more often regarded as one of the main tools of the career success (gaining a good job) and one of the best life investments. Based on the EU Survey of Income and 26 Living Conditions (EU SILC, 2006), in the Czech Republic the university education is reached only by 9 % of the youngest age group under 26 years whose father was a manual worker.
The expert material applied to the reform of the Czech tertiary education (Bílá kniha terciárního vzdělávání, 2009) was submitted to the public expert and political discussions. The submitted study is based on this material.
This study includes the Czech system of tertiary education in the international context, and reflects the European and world trends of recent years. In the first part, it describes the role of the tertiary education in the Czech Republic.
In the second part, it elaborates the question of the implementation of a newly developing collaboration of universities with the application sphere, with the world of work.