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Košice: Technical University of Košice AI Competence Centre — €12M Investment, New AI Study Programme, and DiTEdu Digital Education Project (2026)

RegionKošice Region
DateMay 5, 2026
StatusActive — funded and operational from 2026
Sourcehttps://ai.iedu.sk/en/ai-competence-centers-slovakia-universities-12-million-investment/
educationliteracyethicsteacher-traininggood-practice

The Technical University of Košice (TUKE) is home to one of two national AI Competence Centres funded under Slovakia’s €12 million Ministry of Education initiative (alongside STU in Bratislava). The Košice centre gives students and staff access to modern AI technologies, infrastructure, and international expertise regardless of geographic location — explicitly designed to prevent a capital-city concentration of AI capacity.

AI study programme: TUKE and STU will jointly launch a new international study programme in AI in 2026 covering data science, digital technologies, and the ethical and societal dimensions of AI. The programme responds directly to Europe-wide shortages of AI specialists.

DiTEdu project: Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (UPJŠ) also participates in the DiTEdu (Support for the Digital Transformation of Education) project, which is developing innovative AI-integrated teaching methodologies for Slovak schools, building on the National IT Academy framework. This brings school-level AI education development activity to the Košice region beyond higher education.

Who it affects: University students at TUKE and UPJŠ in Košice, and indirectly school teachers across Slovakia through DiTEdu teacher-methodology tools developed in Košice.

What is notably missing: The Competence Centre and new study programme are for higher education; they operate under the national Responsible Use of AI in Education Plan rather than a Košice-specific mandate. There is no binding requirement specifically on Košice Region schools beyond the national framework.