21th International Scientific Conference SM2016 Strategic Management and Decision Support Systems in Strategic Management Topic Strategic management – determinants of development and business efficiency Norbert Sipos University of Pécs Pécs, Hungary Gabriella Kuráth University of Pécs Pécs, Hungary sipos.norbert@ktk.pte.hu kurath.gabriella@pte.hu 005.963/.966:81'27 THE I MPACT OF LANGUAGE COMPETENCI ES AND FOREI GN EXPERI ENCES I N HUNGARY ON WORKI NG ABROAD AND THE SALARI ES I N CASE OF UNI VERSI TY OF PÉCS GRADUATES Abstract: In this study we want to emphasize the importance and opportunities of the Hungarian higher education (HE) in developing the language competencies of the tertiary students. This kind of openness is essential in meeting the requirements of internationalization which is a new challenge for the institutions after the several big changes they faced already in the past two decades. These facts reshaped the whole HE system and the institutions are competing with each other in the smaller domestic and at the same time in the bigger global market. We used binary logistic regression and linear regression to reveal the connection on the one hand between the probability of working abroad and foreign language competences, foreign experiences; on the other hand their impact on the level of salaries. We ran these methods on the database of Graduate Career Tracking System having been conducted at the University of Pécs since 2010. This institution is traditionally one of the biggest universities in Hungary, located in the Southern Transdanubia, which is a depressed region from several aspects. The services and suggestions related to the competence development can help the University of Pécs and the other institutions to get out of the negative spiral. Keywords: Graduate Career Tracking System, foreign language competence, foreign experience, integration, University of Pécs 1. THE ROLE OF COMPETENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION The notions of competence, knowledge, skill and ability are blurred in our everyday language and used as synonyms, nonetheless they are quite different regarding the concept of development or procedural based approach. Knowledge and competence can be obtained through learning and with a lot of practice, it can be developed into a skill. Ability is more likely an inherited or genetically coded „aptitude” to perform an action, which means that ability cannot be improved into a higher performance level. There is a longstanding conflict about these concepts, some researchers argue the distinction of the two major direction. In this study our intention is not to take a stand on the models that are built on genetics or based on the possibilities of development (Csíkszetnmihályi, Rathunde & Whalen, 2010; Mönks & Peters, 1994; Renzulli, 1978; Terman, 1986). English dictionaries list multiple different approach, how to determine the words of ‘competence’ and