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Present day
The university’s history is now in our hands
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2014
Scala Cinema becomes part of MU
In addition to its primary function as a cultural venue, University Cinema Scala hosts academic ceremonies and conferences. It is also the location of a unique university shop opened in 2016.
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2014
CEITEC MU opens
CEITEC MU, a centre of research excellence, is home to research teams active in fields such as neuroscience, structural biology, molecular medicine and plant genomics and proteomics.
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2007
Mendel Museum becomes part of MU
Besides safeguarding and promoting the legacy of the father of genetics, Mendel Museum also constitutes a venue for presenting Masaryk University’s research.
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2006
Antarctic research station opens
Masaryk University opens the Gregor Johann Mendel research station on James Ross Island, providing scientists with a unique opportunity to study e.g. the effects of climate change.
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2005–present
Years of renovation
Thanks to funding obtained primarily from EU Structural Funds and the state budget, Masaryk University is able to complete large-scale renovation projects at a number of its downtown locations: the Faculty of Science complex is renovated, the Faculty of Social Studies is relocated to a renovated building, the Faculty of Economics and Administration remodels a library and an atrium and the Faculty of Law turns basement spaces into a library. The most extensive renovations take place at the Faculty of Arts complex.
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2004
University Campus Bohunice foundation stone laid
Buildings set to house most of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science as well as the entire Faculty of Sports Studies and the CEITEC research institute are gradually erected in the vicinity of the University Hospital Brno. The University Campus Bohunice is completed nearly a decade later.
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2004
The Jesuit College becomes University Center Telč
Although the Jesuit college once housed a pharmacy and a printing press and even served as a military barracks, its primary function has always been educational. Masaryk University students first attended courses at the venue in 2002; two years later the college became university property. Following a period of intensive renovation, the new University Centre Telč now constitutes a major educational centre for the entire Vysočina Region. The centre includes accommodation facilities as well as a library and provides a unique environment for teaching and learning, including in courses held as part of the University of the Third Age, while also serving as an event venue.
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2000
Special needs centre opens
As the first university in the Czech Republic to do so, Masaryk University opens the Support Centre for Students with Special Needs, a specialized facility dedicated to helping persons with various types of disabilities.
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1999
Information System simplifies study administration
The launch of the MU Information System constitutes a breakthrough in the university’s operation: from this point on, a majority of all study-related administrative tasks are carried out electronically and MU joins the ranks of a select group of the world’s most progressive universities.
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1990–2004
A new era for Masaryk University
In the wake of the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the university returns to its original name, a symbol of freedom and independence.
The development of new fields of study leads to the establishment of several new faculties:
1990
Faculty of Economics and Administration established1994
Faculty of Informatics established as the first Czech faculty of informatics following a split from the Faculty of Science1997
Faculty of Social Studies established following a split of several departments from the Faculty of Arts2001
Faculty of Sports Studies established following a split from the Faculty of Education -
1961–1968
The favourable sixties
Changes in the political situation result in favourable conditions for scientific and educational activities. The Faculty of Education – previously closed in connection with the communist purges of 1948 – is reinstated, as is the Faculty of Law. In 1968, the university's development is blocked once again, this time by the so-called normalization. Purges among teachers significantly impact education for the next two decades.
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1960
A new university name
The Faculty of Pharmacy, the only faculty of its kind in the entire country, is closed by government decree after functioning for only eight years. Only three faculties remain operational during this period. The university even loses its original name; until 1989, it is known as Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Brno.
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1948
Political purges among professors and students
The Faculty of Education is founded one year after the end of WWII. The university's postwar recovery is, however, stymied by the Czechoslovak coup d'état. Subsequent communist purges affect primarily the students and professors of the Faculty of Law, which is closed completely two years later.
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1939
University closed for six long years
The university closes on 17 November 1939 as a result of the Nazi occupation. The damages and losses suffered during six years of war are immense. The number of executed and tortured professors is overwhelming; the Faculty of Science alone loses a full quarter of its academics.
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1935
The emergence of university insignia
The rector's chain and medal, gifted by T. G. Masaryk and bearing his portrait on the obverse, launches the university's insignia tradition. The chain is later supplemented with the rector's mace and the vice-rector's chain.
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1925
Leoš Janáček becomes the university's first doctor honoris causa
Composer Leoš Janáček is awarded the first honorary doctorate in the history of the university, in recognition of – among other things – Sonata 1. X. 1905, dedicated to the struggle for a Czech university in Brno, and a cantata composed specifically for the keystone laying ceremony at the new Faculty of Law building.
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1919
Masaryk University establishing act
An act unanimously adopted on 28 January 1919 approves the establishment of the university in Brno along with its four founding faculties: Law, Medicine, Science and Arts. Karel Engliš becomes the university's first rector.
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1885
T. G. Masaryk, Athenaeum
In 1891 T. G. Masaryk introduces a motion at the Imperial Council in Vienna calling for the establishment of a second Czech university in Moravia. Twenty years later, he submits a petition to the Council in support of the founding of a university in Brno.