During second half of 20th century alongside with classical universities, many countries in Europe established second level of higher education based on practice-oriented education. In Croatia this type of education is held on University of applied sciences (Veleuciliste) and higher schools. Croatia is a member of European Union and also, by signing Bologna treaty it has become member of European Higher Education Area. That is why high education in Croatia cannot be observed outside of high education in Europe and Bologna treaty. One of basic values of European Union is mobility of work, capital, goods and services, and through Erasmus+ program EU foster mobility of students. All of mentioned resulted with necessity of harmonization of criteria and courses programs in most of EU member states; and that is why it is impossible to observe high education outside of wider region. Modern economy already went deeply into area of service oriented economy and labour market demands for highly educated workers. Every profession, for which higher education is necessary, do not require classical university tuition, rather requires vocationally trained student/worker. This doctoral thesis aims to, through historical context and modern economy circumstances, understand concept of practice-oriented education, and subsequently, after determination of pros and cons of practice-oriented education, to see whether university of applied sciences and other institutions of practice-oriented education, have built their market position, and are they competitive enough on higher education market.