A journey into the world of knowledge ****************************************************************************************** * A journey into the world of knowledge ****************************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************************** * The events of November 1989 brought about a number of changes at Charles University ****************************************************************************************** The foundations of a free and proud university, upon which Prague’s education stands to th built in just a few months. During the November strikes, the leadership of the faculties behaved in different ways tow The dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics supported the students, the dean of the stood against them and the dean of the Faculty of Education even issued a ban on “posting Faculty premises, including the access path in front of the Faculty”. University rector Zdeněk Češka decided to resign at the beginning of December under pressu student and civic movements. At the faculties, a preparatory academic council was created students, teachers and employees; they sent four representatives – two students and two te select a new rector. The election took place on 19 January 1990 between two candidates – Z professor of pathological anatomy at the Faculty of General Medicine, and Associate Profes – and Palouš was chosen as rector. Following his proposal, on 26 January the Academic Coun vice-rectors. The university gets back on its feet A number of difficult tasks awaited Charles University’s new leadership. A free academic l created from scratch and a sense of belonging began to be built. The role of the universit was quite negligible because before 1989 the faculties had considerable powers. The profes many fields, especially the humanities and social sciences, was poor and research activiti workplaces were largely neglected. Other personnel issues also had to be resolved. The university sought to quickly purge ins teachers tied to the totalitarian regime – it abolished the Institute of Marxism-Leninism unjustly persecuted students, teachers and employees. Prague education also had to regain its position in the international university community accommodating to representatives of the oldest university in Central Europe. “In 1990, a world rectors’ conference was held in Helsinki with more than 500 participants University was honoured with the first place alongside the Finnish rector who organised th recalled Radim Palouš, the first post-November rector 10 years ago, for Forum. The univers viewed positively at dozens of other universities around the world. “It was enough to say, guessed, never dreamed I’d see you face to face’ and I, a representative of a university t recently was cursed behind the Iron Curtain, was immediately welcomed,” he added. Palouš, Technical University Rector Stanislav Hanzl, were at the creation of the Rectors’ Club of later renamed according to international convention to the Conference of Rectors of the Cz A very long and bright history. “We have had this charter drafted and ordered that it be c Hundred and Forty-Eight, in the second year of our rule (King Charles IV.),” states the Fo Property returns to universities From the very beginning, the Prague university owned dormitories and faculty buildings. Bu change came with the Higher Education Act of 1950: university buildings and student club p nationalised and the universities became users only. The property, including real estate, universities after an amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1998. In the 1990s, the university was forced to leave a total of 12 buildings due to restitutio in Prague, buildings on Dlouhá, Řeznická and Černá streets, the Svatava villa, the Lobkovi Neratovice, a building in Hradec Králové – Třebeš and a building of the deanery in Plzeň). hand, it managed to gain the area of the former College of Political Science of the Centra the Czechoslovak Communist Party in Prague 6, the so-called Sorbonne in Vokovice. Today it of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, which until then had previously operated i in Malá Strana. The university acquired other buildings through purchase, such as a building on Černá stre in Jinonice and the deanery of the Faculty of Medicine in Plzeň. The university also cared buildings as well, such as greenhouses in the Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Science a animal facility in the hospital area on Karlovo náměstí and a laboratory on Viničná street sports facilities have also been rebuilt. A reconstruction was also carried out at the Carolinum on the occasion of the university’s anniversary. The modernisation focused on the technical safeguarding of the building and t of barrier-free access to the first floor; in the basement areas a permanent exhibition of history was installed, the new Emperor’s Hall was added to the building’s ground floor, an Carolinum monuments were restored. More varied, open and modern The atmosphere at the university changed significantly and today, with 17 different facult University draws far more international researchers and students. The number of foreign st tenfold over three decades, going from just 913 in 1989 to more than 9‚000 today! They bri a fresh outlook and a cosmopolitan approach that we could only dream of during the turbule the Velvet Revolution. Thanks in large part to investment and EU structural funds, the sch foundation for new infrastructure, including new laboratories, serving not only Charles Un society as a whole. Modern Facilities are attractive for Scientists Charles University prides itself as a research university emphasising excellence in scienc Charles University, together with the Czech Academy of Sciences, is now a leader in basic scientific journals. Now there are 17 faculties 1990 brought a change in the names of the Prague medical faculties resulting from signific the Faculty of General Medicine), the 2nd Faculty of Medicine (formerly the Faculty of Ped The new Higher Education Act of May 1990 confirmed the incorporation of the theological fa 1990 at the Carolinum. After a series of negotiations, the Faculty of Journalism was closed in May 1990, and the The Faculty of Humanities, founded on 1 August 2000 from the Institute of Liberal Arts and In numbers: Number of students in 1989: 21,091 Number of students in 2018: 48,475 Number of foreigners studying at Charles University in 1989: 913 Number of foreigners studying at Charles University in 2019: 9,094