tel. 41 512 111 , fax. 41 212 568
Prof. RNDr Jiří Zlatuška, CSc.
Dean
Vice-deans:
Doc. RNDr. Renata Ochranová, CSc.
Doc. Ing. Jan Staudek, CSc.
Chairman of the Academic Senate:
RNDr. Luděk Matyska, CSc.
Secretary:
Ing. Jana Foukalová
The year 1996 was started with moving the Faculty to new premises and since the end of January 1996 the Faculty has been located in a new building at Botanická 68a..The Faculty began its work in provisional classrooms and lecture rooms so that redevelopment might start when funds are acquired. In the autumn the erection of new large lecture rooms started in the courtyard and the date of completion should be autumn 1997. This will greatly expand the capacity and it will no longer be necessary to hire auditoriums from other institutions.
The number of computers in the possession of the Faculty increased (8 students per computer). They mostly operate under the Unix system linked to a network, The internal network was enhanced to ATM switch expanding the capacity of some critical spots of the network and at the end of the year the computer Sun Enterprise became the main server which should eliminate weak points of the present computing capacity.
Study of informatics is designed as a university study which lays a great emphasis on scientific education and theory of the discipline. The result is that the graduates of the Faculty are not only oriented to practical management of tools and techniques which are used nowadays but they are able to understand the principle of tools and systems, to use them and to keep up with what is going in the computer technology (new sophisticated systems). The present results obtained in this country or abroad have indicated that a good theoretical knowledge is essential for good students' adaptability to rapid changes in their working environments. Practical education is of a limited value because it becomes obsolete very quickly. The universal character of studies guarantees that the graduates are well prepared for the labour market and can creatively respond to great changes which are characteristic of computer development.
The concept of university studies is based on integration of subjects of optional specialisations. The education provided by the Faculty of Informatics is an open system allowing students to choose specialisation according to their interests. Starting from the school year 1995/96 the Faculty has been using a credit system which is a combination of compulsory courses, specialised courses and option courses chosen on the basis of individual preferences. The system has proved satisfactory and only slight modifications of some limits have been made. For more effective application of the credit system, administration based on Internet was put into practice. The administration system makes all activities related to studies and their management easier for students and their teachers in an environment of diversified studies.
The Faculty of Informatics derives its policy from the complex concept of informatics as a discipline which brings together pure theory with practical systems. The objective is to develop a modern open system of studies for a wide range of careers.
The Faculty provides courses leading to three possible qualifications, a bachelor's degree, a master's degree and a postgraduate diploma. The teaching of a number of subjects is organised jointly with the Faculty of Science, e.g. mathematics and subjects of core courses. Another programme offers interfaculty studies (for teacher careers).
The staff of the Faculty is involved in research, which is a continuation of successful grant projects supported at the local level by the Grant Agency of the CR, IBM Initiative and in international projects (Esprit BRA, Copernicus, Tempus, Comenius), etc. Other projects of international collaboration are Copernicus, COST, Esprit. The Faculty of Informatics was the supervisor of 8 grants supported by a total sum of 3.9 million CZK. In collaboration with the Institute of Computer Technology MU the Faculty participated in the project sponsored by the Fund of Universities Development called Supercomputer centres. Other collaborating organisations were another five universities. The total budget is 30 million CZK and the benefit in the form of new equipment was more than 6 million. The main objectives were that the project created an infrastructure of universities and that the performance of the computers already installed increased more than four times compared with the situation in 1995.
Seventeen staff are active in committees of international conferences, international societies and editorial boards. Nine staff were invited for secondments and to give lectures abroad and two lecturers from abroad were welcomed at the Faculty. In 1996 the Faculty organised two international conferences: SOFSEM'96 was devoted to theory and Goedel'96 focused on logic. A group of students successfully participated in the international event "The ACM Professional Programmers Contest".
One worker of the Faculty is a member of the editorial board of AXIS journal (The UCISA Journal of Academic Computing and Information System). Other workers are members of programme committees of international conferences: Goedel'96, SOFSEM'96, DATASEM'96, MFCS'96, ICDT'97, MFCS'97. Some of the staff are also members of committees of international societies ERCIM, IEEE Computer Society and TUG and working groups TWMGLC and ISO/IEC JTC1 SC27 - Security Techniques subcommittee.
The publication activity of the Faculty covered 116 studies in the CR and 31 abroad, 68 of them were published in review bulletins or journals with an impact factor. Other publications were popularisation books, teaching materials, textbooks, etc.
