FACULTY OF MEDICINE

Děkanát LF Komenského nám. 2 662 43 Brno tel. 42 126 111, fax. 42 126 200

In February 1997 there was a change in management at the Faculty of Medicine which saw the appointment of Prof. MUDr. Jioí Vorlíeek CSc. as the new dean. The priorities of the faculty, however, remained unchanged - the high-quality education of undergraduate and postgraduate students and the support of research work in theoretical and clinical fields.

An ongoing task of the new management is the preparation of vast changes in the form of the relocation of the faculty's institutes owing to the need for the buildings at Komenský Square to be reconstructed. A new site in Bohunice has been handed over to the Faculty of Medicine, to which premises the Institutes of Anatomy, Biochemistry, Pathological Physiology, Languages and certain others will gradually be moved. In connection with these changes, teaching timetables will be prepared in such a way as to cause as little disruption as possible to the educational process.

In postgraduate academic studies, 144 doctors (or graduates of non-medical faculties with the titles Mgr., RNDr. and Ing.) are involved, 23 of whom are internal students.

Studies of clinical and theoretical subjects involve the postgraduate academic preparation of 2 self-paying foreigners or so-called governmental scholarship holders.

Faculty teachers took part in grant projects issued in the framework of RŠ (3), FRVŠ (8), IGA (57) and GAER (12); 2 grant projects were implemented as part of PECO, 2 in other forms (internal projects of MU).

The Faculty of Medicine established close bilateral relationships with foreign institutions in Austria, France, Germany and other countries. A long-term relationship exists between the MU Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Medicine in Dijon involving active cooperation between academics and students in higher years.

In the course of 1997, The Faculty of Medicine expressed its opinion on many of today's problems affecting the sectors of education and medicine. The Faculty issued a commentary on the proposed Higher Education Act which describes - amongst other issues - the status of university hospitals. Members of Faculty management were actively involved in work on supervisory boards of Brno hospitals.

As to the educational process of the Faculty of Medicine, emphasis was placed on Europe-wide trends such as problem-orientated teaching and the introduction of a credit system which, amongst other things, allows students to be mobile within the framework of the Erasmus programme. The Faculty of Medicine started preparation work for a credit system and initiated a meeting in Brno on credits in which deans, vice-deans and representatives of the academic senates of faculties of medicines were in attendance. A proposal on the credit system from the MU Faculty of Medicine was presented to other faculties of medicine in the Czech Republic as a basis for discussion at the end of 1997.

The study of medicine has a very long tradition, hence the reason for no significant changes in the content of the study programme. In 1997 a new system for the organisation of clinical work was introduced, and this allowed improvements in the timetabling of courses.

Since 1993, the Faculty of Medicine has offered a 3-year bachelor's courses, and these have proved very successful and remain in great demand. In the academic year 1997/1998 a new three-year bachelor's course on "medical care" was opened for graduates of medical schools.

The Faculty of Medicine prepared and - at the Dean's Collegium and the meetings of the Academic Senate and the Academic Council of the Faculty of Medicine - approved a proposal to open a two-year master's course in medical sciences intended as a continuation of the three-year bachelor's courses in medical care, nutrition, optics/optometry and physiotherapy. The master's course is to be of an interdisciplinary nature and to include input from the Faculty of Education. The course is planned to begin in the academic year 1998/1999.

At our faculty, courses in general medicine and stomatology aimed at self-paying foreign students take place in English. This study had reached its fifth year. For the academic year 1997/8, 22 students enrolled in the first year of study.

In the field of student welfare certain changes were made. For example, the system for the assigning of student accommodation was altered. Now, the social situation of the student's family, the time needed for travel from his/her place of permanent residence (not the distance from Brno) and the student's study results are taken into consideration.

The Faculty of Medicine fulfilled its international obligations: in line with an agreement between the Faculty of Medicine and the Universities of Vienna and Szeged, three teachers took part in a research stay, and following a cooperation agreement with the S.W. Medical School in Dallas two Faculty teachers went to Texas. Altogether, in 1997 383 trips abroad were made (319 in Europe, 64 beyond), 72% of which were for active participation in conferences and 6% for study stays. In other cases, visits abroad were prompted by academic cooperation between universities, lecture stays, courses and training and examiner's stays for opponent proceedings. Regarding preparation of projects under the Erasmus scheme: by university-wide agreement, study and research stays for 14 teachers and 4 students were laid down. Fifteen students travelled abroad through the IFMSA student organisation, with a further 14 going to Dijon as a result of the Faculty's agreement with that university.

The running of the Faculty of Medicine was negatively influenced by restrictive economic measures which slowed down considerably the development of the teaching process and also the motivation of talented graduates to pursue a career in theoretical disciplines. At the end of 1997, the Faculty was faced with the necessity of cutting down the number of non-teaching positions. Faculty employees accepted this measure as unavoidable, but developments in this regard are followed with a certain anxiety.

In 1997, Faculty of Medicine staff published 25 monographs and 340 articles in journals in the Czech Republic with a further 111 contributions to professional journals abroad. A total number of 58 teaching publications were issued, 49 of which were textbooks.

Awards in 1997:

Prof. MUDr.J. Šmarda, DrSc. - Ministry of Education Prize

MUDr. David Šmajs - MU Rector's Prize

Prof. MUDr. Petr Dítě, DrCs.- Honorary member of the Society for the Use of Laser

Prof. MUDR. Jindřich Lokaj, CSc. - Honorary member of the Slovak Immunology Society

Prof. MUDr. Jan Šmarda - Honorary member of the Czech Biology Society

- Honorary member of the International Biographical Center Advisory (Cambridge)

Prof. MUDr. Karel Benda, DrSc. - Honorary member of the Club de limfologia (Spain)

Prof. MUDr. Jaromír Švestka, DrSc. - Honorary member of the Czech Psychiatry Society

Doc. MUDr. Zdeněk Boleloucký, CSc. - Honorary member of the Society for Psychosomatic Integration and Behavioural Medicine of the Czech Medical Society

Porf. MUDr. Otto Vlach, DrSc. - Honorary member of the Bulgarian Spondylsurgical Society in Sofia

Medals:

Silver Medal of the Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Pilsen on the 650th anniversary of Charles University - Prof. MUDr. Otto Vlach, DrSc.

Silver medal of Masaryk University - Prof. MUDr. Jaroslav Kotulán, Csc.; Prof. MUDr. J.Kos, DrSc. of the Faculty of Medicine Pilsen

Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University: MUDr. Libuše Hrnčířová, CSc; Prof. MUDr. Alexandra Šulcová, CSc.; Prof. MUDr.Josef Bilder, CSc.; Prof. MUDr. Adolf Žáček, DrSc; Mrs. Věra Dřezová - Laboratory technician at the Institute of Anatomy

Honorary doctorate: Prof. Dr.Med. Miroslav Dave Poulik (Canada)