Academic senate OF MASARYK UNIVERSITY

 

The work of the Academic Senate in 2001 can be characterized as follows:

 

1.    Cooperation between the AS and the MU management was very good; the exchange of information and opinions took place in and open and informal atmosphere.

 

2.   Activities of the AS

The Academic Senate met regularly to discuss its planned agenda. The most important event of the year was the election of the Rector of MU on 4 May 2001. Of the two candidates, Prof. Jiří Zlatuška and Prof. Jiří Vácha (FoM), the former was elected form his second term in office. The Academic Senate approved the proposal for the establishment of a Faculty of Sports Studies. On 14 November, the Academic Senate organized a meeting of the academic community. The reason for the meeting was the nervous atmosphere caused by problems with the financing of schools of higher education in the CR. In autumn, we joined several factual but emphatically worded declarations written by, e.g., the Schools of Higher Education Council, and we initiated a joint resolution of chairmen of the Academic Senates of the other Brno institutions of higher learning. After summer vacations, Šarka Karmazínová (Ms) was appointed the Secretary of the AS MU, replacing JUDr. Marta Stárková who served in that capacity for many years. The AS thanked Ms. Stárková for her excellent services over the years. In December, an informal meeting of the AS was held, to which the former chairmen of AS MU were invited. The Chairman of the AS maintains regular contacts with the chairmen of the other Brno institutions of higher education.

 

3.   Committees:

The Committee for Legislation: JUDr. Irena Píchová replaced JUDr. Dana Hrabcová as chairperson of the committee. At the end of the year, the committee submitted a draft of the Legislative Rules of AS MU. The AS approved the rules. The rules will improved the quality of new university norms.

The Economic Committee took an active part in the preparation and approval of a balanced MU budget for 2002. In cooperation with faculty managements and research project teams it also analyzed problems of what should be included in centralized MU expenses, and how research projects should be depreciated.

Efforts to establish the Committee for Development this year were again unsuccessful, and its tasks were, at least partially, performed by the Chairman of the AS. The survey on the development of disciplines cultivated at MU was evaluated, and a book describing successful management activities of Jack Welch was sent to the faculty deans, and an agreement was made with the MU management to organize informal evening meetings on issues on the University management in 2002. Other topics with university-wide implications were discussed, e.g., in articles published in Univerzintní noviny papers: "The University as a Learning and Information-producing Organization", UN 1/2001, "Masaryk University's Code of Ethics", UN 2/2001, "What Does Dies Academicus Mean to Me?", UN 5/2001, "What Are We? – Results of a Survey on the Present and Future of Masaryk University, UN 9/2001, "Report from the Reception at Prague Castle", UN 9/2001, and "Introductory Comments on the meeting of the academic community of MU on 14/20/01", UN 11/2001.

The efforts to find a leader for the planned Didactics Committee personality to start things going were unsuccessful.

 

4. Student Chamber

The Chamber regularly prepared its opinions AS meetings and consulted with MU management. The Chairman of the SC AS Jiří Nantl was elected Vice-Chairman of the Student Chamber of the Council of Schools of Higher Education.