Most
of the work related to the amendment of the legislation of faculties was
completed and a new vision for the activities of the Academic Senate had to be
found and defined. The work of the Academic Senate in 2000 may be summarized as
follows:
1.
Co-operation between the AS Board and the MU management
was good. I believe that mutual trust was established and now we try to inform
each other about issues regarded as important for MU development as well as
maintain a mutual understanding of what each party is doing. We assume that the
Senate can do more to be perceived as more pro-active by the university
management and, on the other hand, the members of the management may try to
improve its methods of informing the academic community of its objectives and
activities. A major obstacle is the still insufficient attention given to the
systematic and targeted distribution (and reading) of information on what is
happening. Similarly narrow is, however, the transfer of information between the
university AS and the Senates of individual faculties. Following a request from
the Board of the MU AS, the Rector assigned an office and a part-time secretary
to the Senate to facilitate and improve its activities.
2.
AS activities
In the period following the election of the new board on
March 8, 2000, the Academic Senate met at regular monthly intervals (except
holidays). Traditionally, the Faculty of Law had the smallest representation.
The number of absent AS members has not, so far, endangered the quorum.
We
try to restrict the duration of the plenary meetings to two hours. Therefore,
the main workload is transferred to committees that
are to inform the plenum on its recommendations prior to voting.
Perception
of the AS role - not only to perform as a "Parliament" of MU with
a control function, but also to represent a discussion forum and be a pro-active
partner for the management in issues related to university development (in
line with the policy statement of the AS Board). With that in mind, an
announcement was published in the University News called "Homework for
Summer 2000", two proposals for resolutions were discussed (neither,
however, were put to vote in the end): one related to the faltering co-operation
between faculties and the university management in dealing with the budget,
and the other on the proposal to organize "Senate hearings" of
representatives of individual disciplines regarding issues of further
development (replaced by a letter and questionnaire in November 2000). Also,
a number of articles were published in the University News on university
organisation culture (the so-called "coffee reading" for the
university management) and the AS Chairman attended meetings of the AS of
various faculties (FE, FI, FS, SchSS)
New
AS committees were established (for university development, didactics for
schools of higher education, social issues).
On
account of my function as the AS Chairman, I established contacts with AS
Chairmen of other Brno Schools of Higher Education and the Military Academy
in Vyškov to get to know them and to find out what academic senates of
those schools have in common and what could be done jointly. Meetings of
chairmen took place at the University of Technology, MZLU and MU, with the
presence of members of the management of the schools involved. The Brno
schools of higher education started exchanging their journals, and the above
articles were distributed.
Council
of Schools of Higher Education - both Deputy Chairmen and other delegates
from Faculties participate in the meetings. The board of the MU AS strives
to inter-link discussions of various issues at the level of the Council and
AS in a more profound and efficient manner. In November 2000, the substitute
delegate of the Students Chamber to the Council, Luděk Václavek (FL) was
replaced by the AS Deputy Chairman, Jiří Nantl (SchSS).
3.
Committees
Committee
for Didactics established on June 4 with the participation of 5 individuals
has not, however started to work yet.
Committee
for Development – also established on June 4 with the participation of 6
individuals. So far, only one person has been actively involved in its work.
A letter was sent to professors, associate professors and senior lecturers
with a request to answer questions on to the development of their
disciplines. The results will be summarized, compared with the long-term
plans of individual faculties and MU and published as a result of the work
of already the entire committee.
At
the end of the spring semester, the Committee for Social Issues met with
Vice-Rector Gregorová to address the issues faced in the process of
introducing the new system of allocation of places in student residences.
The meeting contributed to a better understanding of the operation of the
new system from the students' point of view. In many respects, however, the
committee’s work is seriously hampered by a lack of interest in its
activities from the academic staff. This has resulted in an overlap of
issues dealt with by the committee and those addressed by the Students
Chamber.
The
Committee for Legislation continuously processes materials submitted by
individual faculties, particularly thanks to the hard work of its Chairwoman,
Dr. Hrabcová, and Dr. Stár-ková, J.
Nantl.
The
Economic Committee led by Associate Professor Janyška met twice, i.e. in
March and May. Its members regularly communicate by e-mail. The committee
discussed a proposal for the MU budget for 2000 and initiated an analysis of
effective management of centralized funds. It also addressed issues related
to inter-faculty classes. The representative of the AS of the Faculty of Law
did not participate in the activities of the committee. Only the
representatives of the Faculties of Medicine, Arts and Natural Sciences
attended both the committee's meetings.
4.
Students Chamber
For the new election period, the Students Chamber elected
J. Nantl the Deputy Chairman of the MU AS and the Chairman of the Students
Chamber.
The SC meets
regularly before the meetings of the Academic Senate. Several extraordinary
meetings were also held as well as a meeting at Cikháj on December 10-12 (thanks
to a contribution from the Rector’s fund) where mainly strategic and
conceptual issues were addressed (the stand on the amended Schools of Higher
Education Act, the reform of MU study regulations, the policy of MU student
representation in relation to the Board of Schools of Higher Education, the
status and activities of student societies and clubs at Masaryk University, as
well as the improvement of MU AS
performance). In line with the conclusions of the Cikháj meeting, the Students
Chamber intends to be more pro-active in terms of university legislation. The
chairman, supported by the SC, submitted a proposal for direct elections to the
MU AS at all faculties, which was approved by the MU AS in November.
The SC wishes to establish co-operation with other student
representative bodies of other Brno schools of higher education. Some contacts
have already been established with JAMU and the Military Academy.
5.
Major tasks for 2001
Committee
for Legislation:
In
the next calendar year, the committee will submit a proposal for the
Legislation Rules of MU AS to enhance the quality of development of
university standards.
Economic
Committee of the AS:
to
participate in the preparation and approval of a balanced university budget
for 2001
to
further discuss the issue of what should be left in centralized university
funds
to
further discuss the depreciations of research plans together with the
management of faculties and their authors.
Committee
for Development:
to
evaluate questionnaires on the development of disciplines at MU
to
strive to change MU organisation culture to a more open and pro-active one
to
enforce modernisation of faculties through their AS, to publish the
principles and criteria of the nation-wide assessment of universities
to
mobilize forces to clarify and explain the MU vision, and to secure a
transfer to the planned Bohunice campus.
Committee
for Didactics:
Find
a leader willing to start up the committee’s activities.