Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra
The Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra is a public higher education institution of the university type. The history of this leading educational and research institution began in 1946. It started operating as an independent higher education institution in 1952 and has borne its current name since 1996. It was the first Slovak university to hold the ECTS Label quality mark. Its main mission is to provide higher education at all levels and in all forms. The teaching process is built on scientific knowledge, primarily in the field of agriculture, but also in the broader thematic contexts of the social sciences.
Starting situation
In the agrobiological sciences, obtaining new scientific results is usually associated with the use of field and laboratory experiments. At the university in Nitra, extensive publication activity is regularly produced in the fields of agrobiology, biotechnology, food science, and others, the basis of which is above all data analysis. At the Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, until the recent period, data analysis was carried out — with only minor exceptions — predominantly in MS Excel, which, however, is now proving absolutely inadequate for evaluating and publishing research results.
The university's requirements
The primary objective was to support the scientific and research work of the teaching and technical specialist staff. Given the ever-increasing demands on the quality of publication activity, a need arose to procure more suitable software, which was achieved mainly thanks to obtaining funding from an EU Structural Funds project.
Implementation goals
The project's proposers were looking for a more advanced tool that would make it possible to process and analyze experimental data at a higher level. At the same time, the software had to fulfil the role of a suitable tool for academic research and a standard tool for study. Among the important factors in selecting the software were an appropriately simple and pleasant user environment in Slovak or Czech and, of course, its purchase price. The university's representatives chose the STATISTICA software.
Implementation process
The software installation went very smoothly, in the course of a single day, carried out in-house.
Cooperation with the supplier
The cooperation with the supplier was professional in all phases — the initial commercial phase, the consulting phase, and the subsequent implementation phase. We particularly welcomed the opportunity for initial training, as we had no prior experience with the STATISTICA statistical software. This course was conducted at a high level, both the general introductory part and the follow-up part, which was already devoted to our specific requirements.
Ing. Ján Gažo, PhD., from the Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources
All the manuals provided were well and clearly prepared, and the supplier made great efforts to adapt the implementation process and the materials as much as possible to our needs.
Ing. Ján Gažo, PhD.
Final situation
The „STATISTICA“ software was purchased under Activity 2.4, “Enhancing expertise in the preparation and evaluation of scientific experiments“, for the delivery of training courses focused on model and, subsequently, problem-based solutions for the analytical part of research activities. Forty participants from four faculties of the university took part in the project. After the courses conclude, the software is to be distributed to selected departments of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, so that the seminar participants (especially young researchers) can use the knowledge they gained in their professional work even after the project ends, thereby achieving better competitiveness within the pan-European academic sphere. The university's goal is to fully deploy the use of the statistical software in teaching at the third (doctoral) level of education and thus raise the level of doctoral students' scientific work. The software helps students carry out statistical analysis of experimental data. Overall, the STATISTICA software can contribute to better employment prospects for the university's graduates, both within their field and beyond, in Slovakia, within the EU, and around the world. The university is considering purchasing a multi-license, which would be more useful for their purposes.