The second important task for the Faculty in 1999 was the introduction of the credit system of study at MU. The Faculty completed the task successfully, including the electronic registering of courses taken by individual students.

The Faculty continued its research work from previous years, in accordance with its obligation to prepare and educate a new generation of teachers for all types and levels of school. This primary mission of the Faculty conditions its scholarly and research activities, as well as the creative output of its departments.

During the year, the departments held a number of conferences and seminars whose topics attest to the large scope of research undertaken at the Faculty. These included Forum bohemicum X and XI, Totalitarianism in the 20^th Century (the Czechoslovak Experience), European and National Identities, the seventh international conference The Czech and Slovak Republics Under New Conditions, Monitoring Teaching Skills in Teacher Training, Children and Their Rights and Education, Alternative Physical Activities of Children and Young People, and Musica viva in schola. The fourth round of discussions entitled Halfhearted or Enthusiastic took place, its topic being the Olympic Year 2000.

The Department of Musical Education, along with the Department of Art Education, took part in numerous activities specific to the Faculty of Education. Their work was successfully presented at exhibitions, symposiums (the third international symposium PAPER ’99), concerts, and international festivals (Sant’Elpidio Amare). Recordings of musical works were made, such as the opera Ifigenia by M. Košut and the Norddeutscher Rundfunk Hamburg project Music in Bohemia under the Reign of Rudolph II.

In March, the Centre for European Studies was established at the Department of Philosophy and Civic Education. This department also organized an international student competition entitled The Human Being at the Turn of the Millennium. Together with the Centre for the Further Education of Teachers, the Faculty continues to teach pre-accreditation courses for practising teachers; based on these, a programme of postgraduate (lifelong) studies for history teachers was developed at the Department of History (commissioned by the Ministry of Education).

Postgraduate doctoral courses continue to be taught in five fields, involving 26 full-time students, 55 extramural students, and eight graduates. The Faculty was accredited to confer the degrees of associate professor or full professor respectively. The Academic Council of the Faculty of Education held five proceedings to confer the title of full professor and ten proceedings to confer the title of associate professor.

The Central Library of the Faculty registered 4,294 readers in 1999. 44,620 volumes were borrowed in the course of the year, and 28,000 people made use of the study room; 91 books were borrowed via inter-library lending services, while 60 lendings were made by means of the JASON electronic service. The new design of the central library web pages enabled comprehensive access to electronic sources of information: on-line access to the Masaryk University Central Library catalogues, to the databases Current Contents, Connect and ERIC, to the Ultranet of MU, and to the collection of CD-ROMs available at the Central Library. Music CDs can now be listened to on new high-quality equipment and CD ROMs can be explored more extensively in the study room.

Students on the teacher-training programmes for the first level of primary school are obliged to choose a specialisation out of 12 options. With all other types of Mgr. teacher-training programme, students are required to study a combination of two subjects. In the subjects that have been accredited for the third level of schools, students attain the qualification to teach at secondary schools and art schools. The Faculty also offers a Mgr. course of study in social pedagogy and special pedagogy.

Along with the Mgr. programmes, the faculty ran a Bc. (bachelor’s) programme in social pedagogy focusing on leisure time, and several programmes of supplementary and augmenting studies within the framework of life-long education.

Compared to those of 1998, foreign contacts have been expanded and intensified, mainly by means of bilateral agreements within the SOCRATES project. Altogether, 157 trips were made to 17 countries, and 164 teachers and lecturers took part. The destination countries were: Slovakia (38 trips / 60 teachers), Germany (24 / 27), Austria (19 / 24), Poland (10 / 11), followed by France, Great Britain, Slovenia, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Spain, and others. These trips were mostly study trips (53) and conferences and seminars (48). A number of the trips provided an opportunity to deliver a lecture. Five teachers took part in sessions of expert committees or academic councils.

The international mobility of students and teachers continues to grow, taking place mainly under the auspices of the SOCRATES-ERASMUS programme. The Faculty managed to gain altogether 52 one-semester student scholarships for 1999/2000, and 17 one-week study trips for teachers. These were made possible by bilateral agreements with universities in Austria, Germany, Holland, France, Finland, England, Greece and Italy.

In 1999, altogether 77 students took part in seminars, study trips, field trips and courses abroad (mostly in Germany, to a smaller extent in Poland, Holland, Italy, Russia, Slovakia and elsewhere). These trips were mostly made possible by means of direct invitation from abroad, various grants or international programmes (LEONARDO DA VINCI, KONTAKT, CEEPUS, PHARE, etc.); to a lesser extent, through partnership agreements between MU and foreign universities, Ministry of Education or AIA quota, and via individual contacts.

There were also numerous visits by renowned scholars to the Faculty of Education (47 occasions / 93 guests). They came to take part in academic meetings, carry out common programmes, deliver lectures, participate in scholarly discussions or for short-term research work. The visiting scholars came mostly from Germany, Austria and Poland.

Foreign visitors came in particular for the following events: the international Language in Context conference, Energy in Education in the Science of the Environment (EESE), Musica viva in schola, the international PAPER 99 symposium.

In 1999, teachers of the Faculty of Education published 16 monographs; the joint authorship of monographs and book popularisations has increased by 100% (24). The number of original works published both independently and in reviewed almanacs has increased significantly. Compared to 1998, the number of works published in excerpted journals and the number of teaching texts was higher; however, the number of published textbooks decreased slightly. Popularisations in books increased slightly, at the expense of popularisation works in magazines, TV and radio. The volume of artistic production both in the Czech Republic and abroad increased; there were solo concerts, individual and collective exhibitions, and recordings for TV and radio.

The number of teachers working for academic councils, academic societies, the committees of grant agencies and international congresses, and editorial boards of professional journals increased significantly, as did the number of invitations to give lectures or take study trips, both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

• Prof. Dr. Michal Košut received an award for his composition at the International Competition of Composers in Electro-Acoustic Music in Bourges (France), 1999.
• Mgr. Jana Francová was awarded the Rector’s Prize for 1999.
• Prof. Dr. Jan Chvalina received the Honorary Award of the Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists and the Memorial Diploma of the Military Academy of Ground Forces.
• Dr. Jaroslav Beránek received the Honorary Award of the Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists.
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jaromír Šimsa obtained the Prize of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic for popularisation of science.