Publication date: 
2019/07/03
Charles University, Masaryk University, Palacký University in Olomouc, the Czech Technical University in Prague and the University of Chemical Technology in Prague jointly established the Association of Research Universities on 2 July. This is a fundamental step that will lead to the improvement of the position of Czech universities in international competition.

The universities share a vision of increasing quality and international competitiveness in teaching and research. Together, they want to work on organizational, legislative and budgetary measures that will make them one of the best European universities in the coming years.

 

One of the important goals of the new association is also to change how public universities are financed. In recent years, there has been an extraordinary increase in the number of university students in the Czech Republic and considerable investment in the development of Czech public universities. The result is an indisputable increase in the quality of research and teaching. Unfortunately, despite these investments, the difference in quality between the best Czech and the world's best universities is not reducing. Only a few domestic universities achieve a solid position in the international rankings.

"Our goal is to change the current system. Public universities should be funded on the basis of an evaluation of the high quality of scientific and pedagogical activities, which consists in a clear linking of funds to internationally recognized indicators of the quality of science and education, "said the Rector of Charles University prof. Tomas Zima.

"We are convinced that the path to excellence we are determined to take will help not only our universities, but the entire Czech higher education and, as a result, Czech national education, economic development and national culture," says CTU Rector doc. Vojtěch Petráček.

"Together we are stronger, so I am very pleased to create an association that will unite the efforts of five Czech universities to be more successful internationally. It is true that top, internationally competitive universities are a necessary prerequisite not only for economic prosperity, but also for the nation's cultural wealth. Without such universities, the best minds of this country will irreversibly go abroad and the largest "natural resource" that our country has, ie the talent of its citizens, will not be meaningfully used, "added the Rector of Masaryk University doc. Mikuláš Bek.

The member universities of the Association are therefore determined to:

  • promote excellent creative and educational activities with rich international cooperation;
  • promote the system of financing higher education institutions on the basis of evaluation of the quality of scientific and pedagogical activities, which consist in a clear linking of funds to internationally recognized indicators of the quality of science and education;
  • become even more involved in the solution of prestigious international scientific projects, such as the ERC grants;
  • share research infrastructures and state-of-the-art instrumentation with each other and with our foreign partners;
  • create new international research groups and support excellent science in their workplaces on a long-term basis;
  • support the transfer of research results into practice and to share good practice in the field of intellectual property protection and activities leading to the creation of start-up and spin-off companies;
  • carry out regular evaluations of its scientific and creative activities in cooperation with international evaluators;
  • improve the system for assessing ethical issues in research and development and continue the fight against plagiarism and predatory publishing;
  • participate in international university consortia supporting the transfer of good practice in teaching and research;
  • consistently create an environment in favor to the recruitment and retention of foreign researchers, educators and students and increase the international character of its faculties and components;
  • fill academic staff positions through open, usually international, competitions;
  • promote the quality and international dimension of doctoral programs;
  • support systemic changes towards international standards, both within our universities and at the national level in the legislative and budgetary areas.

Photo, source: Charles University

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