Masarykova univerzita v Brně: Příběh vzdělání a vědy ve střední Evropě
Masaryk University in Brno: The Story of Education and Science in Central Europe

Author(s): Lukáš Fasora, Jiří Hanuš
Subject(s): History, Social Sciences, Education, Cultural history, Recent History (1900 till today), Higher Education , History of Education
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Masaryk University; History of Education; Higher Education; Czech Republic; Brno; 1919-2009;
Summary/Abstract: This publication has two objectives: to contribute to the 90th anniversary celebrations of the founding of Masaryk University, while at the same time opening up a specialist debate about the traditions and conditions of higher education in the context of modern Czech history, and the prospects for its future development. In the first chapter, entitled “The Journey Towards a Second Czech University,” the authors examine the events leading up to the establishment of Masaryk University in 1919. Particular attention ispaid to three factors which played key roles in its inception: (1) the condition and development of higher education in the western part of the Habsburg monarchy, which not only involved universities (traditionally those in Prague, Cracow, Vienna, Innsbruck, Lviv, and later Černovice), but also colleges of higher education (in Olomouc and Štýrský Hradec); (2) the conditions particularto Brno, with disagreements between German and Czech elements, which constituted only one facet of the question of nationality in the middle of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire; and lastly, (3) the position of the city of Brno and its civic politics, which were codetermined by industrial and cultural developments. In this part of the text the emphasis shifts from an academic and political view of the establishment of the new university to how it was viewed by the public. From this perspective the foundation of the university can be seen as a “revolutionary act.”

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