Faculty of Humanities Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary

Two of the greatest works ever written in the genre of string quartet, the String Quartet No. 2 in G major, and the String Quartet No. 16 in F major by Ludwig van Beethoven, performed by the Wihan Quartet, set the mood for the celebration of the 10^th anniversary of Charles University’s youngest faculty – the Faculty of Humanities.

It was founded on August 1, 2000, when the Institute of Liberal Arts, itself founded in 1990, was transformed into a full-fledged faculty. Professor Jan Sokol was the Faculty’s first dean, followed in 2007 by Dr. Ladislav Benyovszky. As of now, the Faculty of Humanities has 150 employees and 3,000 students in Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees. It is taking part one government-funded Research Plan and 27 grant projects. Its premises are spread between three buildings in Prague: the main one in Jinonice (U Kříže 8, Praha 5), the one in Hůrka (Husníkova 2075, Praha 13) and the one in Máchova street (Máchova 7, Praha 2).

Main building of the Faculty of Humanities in the Prague neighbourhood of Jinonice

The faculty offers Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees in on-site, distance and combined versions and also launched a system of individual curricula. Lifelong learning is also an important part of the faculty’s educational activities. Both in education and research, the faculty aims to develop the scholarly investigation of Humankind and various applications of its findings. In the last 3 years, the faculty published over 50 monographs and 25 significant papers in impact journals.

The focal point of all programmes and disciplines undertaken at the faculty is Man and the society, the foundation field being general anthropology. It offers its students a variety of programmes, runs many research projects in humanities and socials sciences and supports international exchange of students, teachers and researchers. Collaboration with over 40 universities in the Czech Republic and abroad affirms the faculty’s growing credit both in the national and international context.

The speakers at the gathering celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the Faculty of Humanities included Rector of Charles University, Professor Václav Hampl and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Dr. Ladislav Benyovszky.

Marie Kohoutová

Translation: Jaroslav Švelch