The job expectations and requirements of the information age bring with them a need for a change in teaching and studying. A quantitative approach to working with information and a frontal style of teaching, still a wide practice in many institutions, no longer seem to be suitable preparation for current students’ needs. One of the areas affected by these changes are the foreign language competences necessary to efficiently deal with study and job related practices and, correspondingly, to succeed in the job market. Along with the change in student needs comes the demand for change in the organization of language classrooms and instruction. Young people, facing a deluge of information and unlimited access to resources, are challenged by the changing needs in processing the material. A qualitative approach to information is required with a growing focus on information processing, analysis, critical evaluation and implementation in practice. Similarly, the need for efficient communication skills such as negotiation, argumentation or presenting seem to be more in demand than grammatical precision or encyclopedic knowledge. From this perspective, language instruction accentuating activities focused on memorizing and drills needs to be restructured so the students can develop targeted key competences for the current times. This paper focuses on the research of student needs and how they are perceived from the perspective of students and their study or internship experience, as well as from the perspective of teacher practitioners. The purpose of the study is to identify the key competences students need to succeed in the job market as a resource for restructuring university language instruction.

The twenty-first century is a time of unprecedented social and technological development. Defining the period is an internationally interconnected world pregnant with information, dynamic events, and individual choice. These attributes create a highly complex, unpredictable, ambiguous and volatile environment that places new demands on every adult individual to continue in their efforts to educate, requalify and upskill during the course of their whole life. Based on both national and international educational strategies, a willingness to pursue life-long learning and an ability for it represent the main objectives for the curricula and educational programs. The current study presents a language teaching model that aims at student autonomy in language learning. The model, specifically focused on business English, was based on student needs analysis studies conducted and replicated in 2006, 2013 and 2016 at ŠKODA AUTO University, and as part of an international HEI cooperation research between 2017 and 2020. The Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach is adopted to combine course topics and outlines. In-class and self-study activities aim at language competences proportionally distributed between reading, writing, listening, and speaking tasks. Teaching methods cover both individual work and peer cooperation. Course requirements provide students with a high degree of freedom when making decisions about the content of their projects. As such, this concept helps students find the area of their self-realization, which boosts their motivation, willingness and ability both to continue and self-direct their further learning.

Research background: Although the world is still in a coronavirus crisis, it also sees hope in vaccines being developed, government measures taken to revive the economy and borders reopening. At the same time, the globalized world has learned a lot. Knowledge management and knowledge sharing in a globalized world now have even higher mission than before, since work regimes have completely changed and the necessary requirements for the protection of employees´ health and safety are being adopted. Purpose of the article: Knowledge management is a multidisciplinary activity; its individual disciplines will be described, characterized and researched. Research surveys will map the activities of knowledge management in new work regimes with the protection of employee health and safety in order to optimize knowledge management of businesses in a globalised world with existing threats. Methods: After the questionnaire survey is completed, the respondents’ answers will be encoded in Microsoft Excel. The encoded data will be exported to the SPSS statistical software. The objective of the statistical evaluation is to extract relationships and linkages that could contribute to optimising the knowledge management of enterprises in a globalised world. To detect basic relationships and linkages, Pearson’s chi-square test of independence will be used at the level of descriptive statistics, using contingency tables. Findings & Value added: Based on the conducted research, it diagnoses existing knowledge management barriers and knowledge sharing in globalized enterprises.