University Teachers – Their Careers and Education

The issue of higher education quality echoes across numerous universities. This quality is contingent on – among other things – the competencies of university teachers. How do they, as graduates of engineering degrees, shape these competencies from the beginning of their career at the university? This question is partially answered by the enclosed analysis of qualitative research results conducted among the teachers of the University of Žilina. Research participants have provided a retrospective commentary on the early stages of their careers, regarding three specific spheres. The first is the sphere of expertise and its utilization in education, then the pedagogical aspect of the teaching process, and lastly the sphere of the student-teacher relationship. The research results allowed for a better understanding of the educational needs of university teachers with technical and economic orientation regarding the improvement of their pedagogical activities. Based on these results, the portfolio of topics in the engineering pedagogy course for novice university teachers at the University of Žilina has been broadened and the additional questions for further interviews have been created.