Financial literacy of students in chosen universities – research platform for regulatory processes of educational system in Slovakia

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to compare the level of financial literacy among the selected faculties of economics in Slovakia and to elaborate a comparison of financial literacy level at both input and output level, i.e. between the university students at the beginning of their Bachelor study and the university students who are in the final stage of their Master study. In addition, we want to analyze the level of financial literacy by means of practical tasks aimed at confirmation or rejection of the prospect theory principles. Concerning methods we statistically process our primary data which were collected through the survey 2015/2016 from Slovak University of economics in Košice, Prešov and Bratislava. Inter alia, we analyze correlative data dependence of selected variables. The survey is focused also on financial behavior of respondents and their skills in terms of financial literacy concept. Last but not least, we deal with features of respondents’ financial decision making under the conditions of risk and uncertainty. At first, we show that statistically significant dependency of FL level on respondents’ sex does exist. Male respondents reached higher FL than female ones. Hypothesis of better high school education of economy at Business Secondary School was rejected, rate of financially literate respondents who attended Grammar School or Business Secondary School is comparable. Subsequently, students in their last year of studies at EKF TUKE and NHF EUBA have significantly higher level of FL than those students who are at the beginning of their studies. Contrary, at FM PU the rate of financially illiterate first-year students was lower than the rate of financially literate students in their last year of studies. We found out a correlation of FL with decision-making based on prospect theory. The results of the presented research provide important information for policy makers who should reflect on present status of this issue in Slovakia.