Charles University, Masaryk University, Palacký University in Olomouc, the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague were founding members of the Association of Research Universities. Now, three years later, the Brno University of Technology has joined the Association.
All six institutions agreed on a joint statement, called AVU ČR Charter. The member universities are committed, for example, to promoting excellence in creative and educational activities with rich international collaboration, to joining international university consortia promoting the transfer of good practice in teaching and research, to filling academic staff positions through open, usually international, competitions, and to many other goals.
"Top universities are a prerequisite for the economic prosperity and cultural wealth of a state and nation. They are part of the Czech and European higher education and research area. From this position, they contribute to the competitiveness not only of the Czech Republic but of the whole of Europe," says Vojtěch Petráček, Rector of the Czech Technical University in Prague and current President of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He considers it essential that those Czech universities that have tradition, human and financial capacity, sufficient research potential, and above all the ambition to compete with the world's best universities, coordinate their actions and jointly advance on their mission towards international excellence in research and education. "All aspects of university education and research covered by the three broad-spectrum universities and three technical universities are balanced in the newly formed six member universities," specifies Rector Petracek, who was pleased to welcome the Brno University of Technology to the AVU.
"The invitation of the BUT to the Association of Research Universities is a natural step towards completion of partnership of leading Czech universities, which together account for almost three quarters of the university students and generate more than three quarters of the excellent scientific output at universities in the Czech Republic. The linking of research potential within the Association creates an opportunity for the cooperation of top research teams at the associated universities, increases international competitiveness in jointly winning prestigious research grants and raises the visibility of the Czech higher education sector in Europe and worldwide," says the Rector of the BUT Ladislav Janíček.
The universities jointly share a vision of improving quality and international competitiveness in teaching and research activities. They want to work together on organisational, legislative and budgetary measures that will enable them to become one of the best European and world universities in the years to come.
In the latest prestigious global university ranking, the QS Ranking, three AVU members - Charles University, the Institute of Chemical Technology and the Czech Technical University in Prague - are in the top four hundred. ICT and CTU are also the only Czech universities that have improved in the ranking year-on-year.
