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Charles University ( CUNI ; Czech : Univerzita Karlova , UK ; Latin : Universitas Carolina ; German : Karls-Universität ), or historically as the University of Prague (Latin: Universitas Pragensis ), is the largest and best-ranked university in the Czech Republic . It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the first university north of the Alps and east of Paris . Today, the university consists of 17 faculties located in Prague , Hradec Králové , and Plzeň .

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91-572: The establishment of a medieval university in Prague was inspired by Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV . He requested his friend and ally, Pope Clement VI , to create the university. On 26 January 1347, the pope issued the bull establishing a university in Prague, modeled on the University of Paris , with all four faculties , including theology . On 7 April 1348 Charles, the king of Bohemia, gave to

182-642: A German-language majority around 1860. By 1863, 22 lecture courses were held in Czech, the remainder (out of 187) in German. In 1864, Germans suggested the creation of a separate Czech university. Czech professors rejected this because they did not wish to lose the continuity of university traditions. It soon became clear that neither the German-speaking Bohemians nor the Czechs were satisfied with

273-572: A courtly decree on 28 October 1791. On 15 May 1792, scholar and historian Franz Martin Pelzel  [ cs ] was named the professor of the chair. He started his lectures on 13 March 1793. In the revolution of 1848, German and Czech students fought for the addition of the Czech language at the Charles-Ferdinand University as a language of lectures. Due to the demographic changes of the 19th century, Prague ceased to have

364-643: A demonstration, Jan Opletal was shot. His burial on 15 November 1939 became another demonstration. On 17 November 1939 (now marked as International Students' Day ) the Czech University and all other Czech institutions of higher learning were closed, remaining closed until the end of the War. Nine student leaders were executed and about 1,200 Czech students were interned in Sachsenhausen and not released until 1943. About 20 or 35 interned students died in

455-512: A riot left a number of students dead. The university went on strike and they did not return for two years. Most universities in Europe were recognized by the Holy See as studia generalia , testified by a papal bull . Members of these institutions were encouraged to disseminate their knowledge across Europe, often lecturing at a different studium generale . Indeed, one of the privileges

546-476: A teacher in Toulouse had the right to teach everywhere without further examinations ( ius ubique docendi ), in time, transformed this privilege into the single most important defining characteristic of the university and made it the symbol of its institutional autonomy .... By the year 1292, even the two oldest universities, Bologna and Paris, felt the need to seek similar bulls from Pope Nicholas IV ." By

637-750: Is Karolinum Press and the university also operates several museums. The Botanical Garden of Charles University , maintained by its Faculty of Science , is located in the New Town . Among the four original faculties of Charles University were: the faculty of law, medicine, art (philosophy) and theology (now catholic theology). Today, Charles University consists of 17 faculties, based primarily in Prague , two houses in Hradec Králové and one in Plzeň . Charles University ranks 1st in Eastern Europe in

728-677: Is situated in the Old Town of Prague and constitutes the university's center. It is the seat of the rector and of the Academic Senate of Charles university. Carolinum is also the venue for official academic ceremonies such as matriculations or graduations . It was dedicated to the University by the Czech King Wenceslas IV in 1386 and has been serving the University ever since. Its academic publishing house

819-662: The Artistic Faculty . The faculty provides lectures in the widest range of fields of the humanities in the Czech Republic , and is the only university faculty in Europe which provides studies in all the official languages of the European Union . The faculty has around 1,000 members of staff, over 9,000 students, and a flexible system of more than 700 possible double-subject degree combinations. The faculty

910-767: The Charles Bridge in Prague was courageously defended by students of the Carolinum and Clementinum . Since 1650, those who received any degrees took an oath to maintain the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin , which has been renewed annually. On 23 February 1654, emperor Ferdinand III merged Carolinum and Clementinum and created a single university with four faculties: Charles-Ferdinand University ( Latin : Universitatis Carolinae Ferdinandeae ). Carolinum had at that time only

1001-618: The Cisleithanian Imperial Council , which Emperor Franz Joseph sanctioned on 28 February 1882. Each section was entirely independent of the other, and enjoyed equal status. The two universities shared medical and scientific institutes, the old insignia, aula, library, and botanical garden, but common facilities were administered by the German University. The first rector of the Czech University became Václav Vladivoj Tomek  [ de ] . In 1890,

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1092-607: The Decree of Kutná Hora ( German : Kuttenberg ) on 18 January 1409, the king subverted the university constitution by granting the Bohemian masters three votes. Only a single vote was left for all other three nations combined, compared to one vote per each nation before. The result of this coup was the emigration of foreign (mostly German) professors and students, founding the University of Leipzig in May 1409. Before that, in 1408,

1183-428: The Old Town ( Faculty of Arts , Faculty of Humanities ), the New Town ( First Faculty of Medicine , Faculty of Science , Faculty of Mathematics and Physics ), Břevnov (halls of residence), Veleslavín (Faculty of Physical Education and Sport), Libeň (Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, halls of residence), and Hostivař (halls of residence, sports centre). The oldest building at Charles University Karolinum

1274-641: The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Reichsprotektor Konstantin von Neurath handed the historical insigniae to the German University, which was officially renamed Deutsche Karls-Universität in Prag . On 1 September 1939 the German University was subordinated to the Reich Ministry of Education in Berlin and on 4 November 1939 it was proclaimed to be Reichsuniversität . On 28 October 1939, during

1365-812: The QS Subject Ranking , Charles University is among the 150 best universities in the world in geography and linguistics . Charles University is a founding member of the 4EU+European University Alliance along with the University of Heidelberg , Sorbonne University and the University of Warsaw and a member of the Coimbra Group , the International Association of Universities and the International Forum of Public Universities . It participates on Erasmus Programme and has numerous inter-university agreements with

1456-771: The QS World University Rankings and 246 globally. It was ranked in 2013 as 201–300 best in the World among 500 universities evaluated by Academic Ranking of World Universities , 351–400 among 400 universities in Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 485th in CWTS Leiden Ranking of 500 universities. Earlier rankings are presented in following table. According to Academic Ranking of World Universities , Charles University ranked in

1547-596: The Renaissance due to the scholastic and Aristotelian emphasis of its curriculum being less popular than the cultural studies of Renaissance humanism , Toby Huff has noted the continued importance of the European universities, with their focus on Aristotle and other scientific and philosophical texts into the early modern period, arguing that they played a crucial role in the Scientific Revolution of

1638-532: The University of St Andrews (1413) begun as private corporations of teachers and their pupils. In many cases universities petitioned secular power for privileges and this became a model. Emperor Frederick I in Authentica Habita (1158) gave the first privileges to students in Bologna. Another step was Pope Alexander III in 1179 "forbidding masters of the church schools to take fees for granting

1729-416: The campus of a modern university. Classes were taught wherever space was available, such as churches and homes. A university was not a physical space but a collection of individuals banded together as a universitas . Soon, however, universities began to rent, buy or construct buildings specifically for the purposes of teaching. Universities were generally structured along three types, depending on who paid

1820-542: The faculty of arts , as the only faculty surviving the period of the Hussite Wars . The dilapidated Carolinum was rebuilt in 1718 at the expense of the state. The rebuilding and the bureaucratic reforms of universities in the Habsburg monarchy in 1752 and 1754 deprived the university of many of its former privileges. In 1757 a Dominican and an Augustinian were appointed to give theological instruction. However, there

1911-479: The insigniae . These troubles of 1934 harmed relations between the two universities and nationalities. The tide turned in 1938 when, following the Munich Agreement , German troops entered the border areas of Czechoslovakia (the so-called Sudetenland ), as did Polish and Hungarian troops elsewhere. On 15 March 1939 Germans forced Czecho-Slovakia to split apart and the Czech lands were occupied by Nazis as

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2002-543: The normalization period in the beginning of the 1970s. Only in the late 1980s did the situation start to improve; students organized various activities and several peaceful demonstrations in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989 abroad. This initiated the Velvet Revolution in 1989, in which both students and faculty of the university played a large role. Václav Havel , a writer, dramatist and philosopher,

2093-550: The 13th century, almost half of the highest offices in the Church were occupied by degree masters ( abbots , archbishops , cardinals ), and over one-third of the second-highest offices were occupied by masters. In addition, some of the greatest theologians of the High Middle Ages , Thomas Aquinas and Robert Grosseteste , were products of the medieval university. The development of the medieval university coincided with

2184-487: The 16th and 17th centuries. As he puts it " Copernicus , Galileo , Tycho Brahe , Kepler , and Newton were all extraordinary products of the apparently Procrustean and allegedly Scholastic universities of Europe... Sociological and historical accounts of the role of the university as an institutional locus for science and as an incubator of scientific thought and arguments have been vastly understated." Initially medieval universities did not have physical facilities such as

2275-447: The 19th century by oriental studies, archaeology , religious studies , and philology . Study of languages such as Czech , Italian , French , and Hebrew , and their respective literature and culture, also began to develop. Following the liberalization of the academic environment in the second half of the 19th century, the faculty started to accept women students in 1897. The faculty was divided into Czech and German parts in 1882, and

2366-652: The 19th century, shared by both Czechs and Germans . The university was opened in 1349. The university was sectioned into parts called nations : the Bohemian , Bavarian , Polish and Saxon . The Bohemian natio included Bohemians, Moravians, southern Slavs, and Hungarians; the Bavarian included Austrians, Swabians , natives of Franconia and of the Rhine provinces ; the Polish included Silesians , Poles , Ruthenians;

2457-456: The BA, MA and doctoral (Ph.D.) stages. Study programmes may be in single-subject or double-subject form, some are available in either single-subject or double-subject form. The standard length of study is 3–4 years in the BA programme and 2–3 years in the follow-up MA programme. After finishing their MA studies, graduates may apply for a doctoral study programme. The doctoral study programme which offers

2548-502: The Bologna university the students ran everything—a fact that often put teachers under great pressure and disadvantage. In Paris, teachers ran the school; thus Paris became the premiere spot for teachers from all over Europe. Also, in Paris the main subject matter was theology, so control of the qualifications awarded was in the hands of an external authority – the chancellor of the diocese. In Bologna, where students chose more secular studies,

2639-468: The Carolinum resigned, and all of the Carolinum and nine colleges went to the Jesuits. The right of handing out degrees, of holding chancellorships, and of appointing the secular professors was also granted to the Jesuits. Cardinal Ernst Adalbert of Harrach actively opposed the union of the university with another institution, the withdrawal of the archiepiscopal right to the chancellorship, and prevented

2730-578: The Communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989, and the departure of its representatives in the faculty, it was re-established as one of the country's most highly regarded university institutions. On 21 December 2023, a mass shooting occurred at the faculty claiming 15 lives including the perpetrator, David Kozák . All study programmes comply with the Bologna system and are structured into

2821-922: The Czech university was to be the successor to the original university. Dropping the Habsburg name Ferdinand , it designated itself Charles University , while the German university was not named in the document, and then became officially called the German University in Prague ( German : Deutsche Universität Prag ). In 1921, the German-speaking Bohemians considered moving their university to Liberec ( German : Reichenberg ), in northern Bohemia. In 1930, about 42,000 inhabitants of Prague spoke German as their native language, while millions lived in northern, southern and western Bohemia, in Czech Silesia and parts of Moravia near

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2912-490: The Czechs. The German University senate sent a delegation to Minister of Education Krčmář to protest the writ. At noon on 24 November 1934, several thousand students of the Czech University protested in front of the German university building. The Czech rector Karel Domin gave a speech urging the crowd to attack, while the outnumbered German students tried to resist. Under the threat of violence, on 25 November 1934 rector Otto Grosser  [ de ] (1873–1951) handed over

3003-584: The Faculty of Arts. The Faculty also organises the Summer School of Slavonic Studies. As of 2008 , the total number of students is over 8,000; 7,040 studying for Master or bachelor's degrees, and 1,701 for a doctoral degree. The faculty is composed of 46 basic working units and six specialized working units, as well as two scholarly research institutes (the Czech Institute of Egyptology and

3094-461: The Faculty of Natural Sciences became a separate institution between 1920 and 1939. In 1939, the school was closed by the occupying forces of Nazi Germany , and brutal persecution of teachers and students followed. Following the end of the occupation in 1945, the Faculty of Arts flourished again for a few years; this was forcibly terminated in 1948 by the Communist coup in 1948 . The prestige of

3185-566: The German University was the era preceding the First World War, when it was home to world-renowned scientists such as physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach , Moritz Winternitz and Albert Einstein . In addition, the German-language students included prominent individuals such as future writers Max Brod , Franz Kafka , and Johannes Urzidil . The "Lese- und Redehalle der deutschen Studenten in Prag" ("Reading and Lecture Hall of

3276-535: The German students in Prague"), founded in 1848, was an important social and scientific centre. Their library contained in 1885 more than 23,519 books and offered 248 scientific journals, 19 daily newspapers, 49 periodicals and 34 papers of entertainment. Regular lectures were held to scientific and political themes. Even before the Austro-Hungarian Empire was abolished in late 1918, to be succeeded by Czechoslovakia , Czech politicians demanded that

3367-714: The Institute of the Czech National Corpus ). Each year authors of the faculty publish an average of 35 book titles. The faculty participates in a number of international exchange programmes, including LLP Erasmus , the Central European Exchange Program for University Studies (CEEPUS), AKTION , exchange programmes under the auspices of the Visegrad Fund , and governmental scholarships. The number of visiting students within

3458-594: The Jesuit Academy became a university. (It could award academic degrees.) Jesuits were expelled 1618–1621 during the early stages of the Thirty Years' War , which was started in Prague by anti-Catholic and anti-Imperial Bohemians. By 1622, the Jesuits had a predominant influence over the emperor. An Imperial decree of 19 September 1622 gave the Jesuits supreme control over the entire school system of Bohemia, Moravia , and Silesia . The last four professors at

3549-491: The Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples , and the Kingdoms of England , France , Spain , Portugal , and Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries for the study of the arts and the higher disciplines of theology , law , and medicine . These universities evolved from much older Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools , and it is difficult to define the exact date when they became true universities, though

3640-462: The Nazis. None of these historical objects have been found to this day. Although the university began to recover rapidly after 1945, it did not enjoy academic freedom for long. After the communist coup in 1948, the new regime started to arrange purges and repress all forms of disagreement with the official ideology, and continued to do so for the next four decades, with the second wave of purges during

3731-685: The Royal and Imperial Czech Charles-Ferdinand University had 112 teachers and 2,191 students and the Royal and Imperial German Charles-Ferdinand University had 146 teachers and 1,483 students. Both universities had three faculties; the Theological Faculty remained the common until 1891, when it was divided as well. In the winter semester of 1909–10 the German Charles-Ferdinand University had 1,778 students; these were divided into: 58 theological students, for both

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3822-535: The Saxon included inhabitants of the Margravate of Meissen , Thuringia , Upper and Lower Saxony, Denmark, and Sweden. Ethnically Czech students made 16–20% of all students. Archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice took an active part in the foundation by obliging the clergy to contribute and became a chancellor of the university (i.e., director or manager). The first graduate was promoted in 1359. The lectures were held in

3913-532: The University Václav Hampl said in 2008: "I am very pleased that Charles University achieved such a great success and I would like to thank to all who have contributed to it. An overwhelming majority of schools with a similar placement like Charles University have incomparably better financing and therefore this success is not only a reflection of professional qualities of our academics but also their personal efforts and dedication." According to

4004-561: The award of Ph.D. requires completion of a doctoral programme, Ph.D. finals and dissertation defence. Beside the degree programmes, the Faculty offers a number of short-term courses or summer schools and long-lasting education to its students, visiting students or the general public. For example, the East and Central European Studies Programme (ECES) is a semester-long programme with instruction in English, designed for international students of

4095-417: The bilingual arrangement that the university had established after the revolutions of 1848. The Czechs also refused to support the idea of the reinstitution of the 1349 student nations , instead declaring their support for the idea of keeping the university together, but dividing it into separate colleges , one German and one Czech. This would allow both Germans and Czechs to retain the collective traditions of

4186-474: The borders with Austria and Germany. In October 1932, after Naegle's death, the Czechs started again a controversy over the insignia. Ethnic tensions intensified, although some professors of the German University were members of the Czechoslovak government. Any agreement to use the insignia for both the universities was rejected. On 21 November 1934, the German University had to hand over the insigniae to

4277-489: The bureaucratic needs of monarchs—and were, according to Rashdall, their artificial creations. The University of Paris was formally recognized when Pope Gregory IX issued the bull Parens scientiarum (1231). This was a revolutionary step: studium generale (university) and universitas (corporation of students or teachers) existed even before, but after the issuing of the bull, they attained autonomy . "[T]he papal bull of 1233, which stipulated that anyone admitted as

4368-460: The camp. On 8 May 1940 the Czech University was officially renamed Czech Charles University ( Czech : Česká universita Karlova ) by government regulation 188/1940 Coll. World War II marks the end of the coexistence of the two universities in Prague. In 1945 the insignia of the university (the rector's chain, the scepters of the individual faculties, the university seal and also the founding documents and other historical documents) were stolen by

4459-399: The city if they were enrolled at a university. University studies took six years for a Master of Arts degree (a Bachelor of Arts degree was awarded after completing the third or fourth year). Studies for this were organized by the faculty of arts , where the seven liberal arts were taught: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music theory, grammar, logic, and rhetoric. All instruction

4550-682: The colleges, of which the oldest was named for the king the Carolinum , established in 1366. In 1372 the Faculty of Law became an independent university. In 1402 Jerome of Prague in Oxford copied out the Dialogus and Trialogus of John Wycliffe . The dean of the philosophical faculty, Jan Hus , translated Trialogus into the Czech language . In 1403 the university forbade its members to follow

4641-414: The drawing up of the Golden Bull for the confirmation of the grant to Jesuits. Cardinal Ernst funded the Collegium Adalbertinum , and in 1638, Emperor Ferdinand III limited the teaching monopoly enjoyed by the Jesuits. He took from them the rights, properties and archives of the Carolinum making the university once more independent under an imperial protector. During the last years of the Thirty Years' War

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4732-415: The established university privileges and immunities from the secular power in a Golden Bull and on 14 January 1349 he repeated that as the King of the Romans . Most Czech sources since the 19th century—encyclopedias, general histories, materials of the university itself—prefer to give 1348 as the year of the founding of the university, rather than 1347 or 1349. That was caused by an anticlerical shift in

4823-421: The faculties of theology and law disappeared, and only the faculty of arts remained in existence. The faculty of arts became a centre of the Hussite movement, and the chief doctrinal authority of the Utraquists . No degrees were given in the years 1417–30; at times there were only eight or nine professors. Emperor Sigismund , son of Charles IV, took what was left into his personal property and some progress

4914-404: The faculty rapidly decreased as a result of the forced departure of numerous respected teachers and the introduction of Marxist–Leninist studies. In the 1960s, the faculty slowly began to open to prominent thinkers of the time, but this trend was reversed by the Soviet occupation in 1968 , which Jan Palach , a student of the faculty, protested against by setting himself on fire. After the end of

5005-456: The higher faculties, law , medicine , or theology , the last one being the most prestigious. Originally, only few universities had a faculty of theology, because the popes wanted to control the theological studies. Until the mid-14th century, theology could be studied only at universities in Paris, Oxford, Cambridge and Rome. First the establishment of the University of Prague (1347) ended their monopoly and afterwards also other universities got

5096-452: The insignia of 1348 were exclusively to be kept by the Czech university. The Act No. 197/1919 Sb. z. a n. established the Protestant Theological Faculty, but not as a part of the Charles University. (That changed on 10 May 1990, when it finally became a faculty of the university.) In 1920, the so-called Lex Mareš (No. 135/1920 Sb. z. a n.) was issued, named for its initiator, professor of physiology František Mareš , which determined that

5187-403: The largest part of the university. In 1366, Emperor Charles IV endowed it with the first Prague college, the Collegium Carolinum ; as part of the college, the first library of the artistic faculty was established, of manuscripts donated by the king. Following the Hussite wars , the Faculty of Liberal Arts became the nucleus of the university for two centuries. From the 17th century, the faculty

5278-418: The late 14th century, the term began to appear by itself to exclusively mean a self-regulating community of teachers and scholars recognized and sanctioned by civil or ecclesiastical authority. From the Early Modern period onward, this Western -style organizational form gradually spread from the medieval Latin west across the globe, eventually replacing all other higher-learning institutions and becoming

5369-426: The law. Students were also known to engage in drunkenness. Sometimes citizens were forbidden to interact with students because they made accusations against the university. This led to uneasy tensions with secular authorities—the demarcation between town and gown . Masters and students would sometimes "strike" by leaving a city and not returning for years. This happened at the University of Paris strike of 1229 after

5460-401: The license to teach ( licentia docendi ), and obliging them to give license to properly qualified teachers". Rashdall considered that the integrity of a university was only preserved in such an internally regulated corporation, which protected the scholars from external intervention. This independently evolving organization was absent in the universities of southern Italy and Spain, which served

5551-420: The lists of studia generalia for higher education in Europe held by the Vatican are a useful guide. The word universitas originally applied only to the scholastic guilds —that is, the corporation of students and masters—within the studium , and it was always modified, as universitas magistrorum , universitas scholarium , or universitas magistrorum et scholarium . Eventually, probably in

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5642-447: The madrasahs in Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily . George Makdisi, Toby Huff and Norman Daniel, however, have questioned this, citing the lack of evidence for an actual transmission from the Islamic world to Christian Europe and highlighting the differences in the structure, methodologies, procedures, curricula and legal status of the "Islamic college" ( madrasa ) versus the European university. Hastings Rashdall set out

5733-457: The main subject was law. It was also characteristic of teachers and scholars to move around. Universities often competed to secure the best and most popular teachers, leading to the marketisation of teaching. Universities published their list of scholars to entice students to study at their institution. Students of Peter Abelard followed him to Melun, Corbeil, and Paris, showing that popular teachers brought students with them. Students attended

5824-566: The medieval university at different ages—from 14 if they were attending Oxford or Paris to study the arts, to their 30s if they were studying law in Bologna. During this period of study, students often lived far from home and unsupervised, and as such developed a reputation, both among contemporary commentators and modern historians, for drunken debauchery. Students are frequently criticized in the Middle Ages for neglecting their studies for drinking, gambling and sleeping with prostitutes. In Bologna, some of their laws permitted students to be citizens of

5915-1037: The modern understanding of the medieval origins of the universities, noting that the earliest universities emerged spontaneously as "a scholastic Guild, whether of Masters or Students... without any express authorization of King, Pope, Prince or Prelate." Among the earliest universities of this type were the University of Bologna (1088), University of Paris (c. 1150), University of Oxford (1167), University of Modena (1175), University of Palencia (1208), University of Cambridge (1209), University of Salamanca (1218), University of Montpellier (1220), University of Padua (1222), University of Naples (1224), University of Toulouse (1229), University of Orleans (1235), University of Siena (1240), University of Valladolid (1241) University of Northampton (1261), University of Coimbra (1288), University of Macerata (1290), University of Pisa (1343), Charles University in Prague (1348), Jagiellonian University (1364), University of Vienna (1365), Heidelberg University (1386) and

6006-408: The papal bull confirmed was the right to confer the ius ubique docendi , an entitlement to teach everywhere. Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague The Faculty of Arts, Charles University ( Czech : Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy ), is one of the original four faculties of Charles University in Prague . When founded, it was named the Faculty of the Liberal Arts or

6097-447: The pre-eminent model for higher education everywhere. The university is generally regarded as a formal institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting. For hundreds of years prior to the establishment of universities, European higher education took place in Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools ( scholae monasticae ), where monks and nuns taught classes. Evidence of these immediate forerunners of

6188-420: The right to establish theological faculties. A popular textbook for theological study was called the Sentences ( Quattuor libri sententiarum ) of Peter Lombard ; theology students as well as masters were required to lecture or to write extensive commentaries on this text as part of their curriculum. Studies in the higher faculties could take up to twelve years for a master's degree or doctorate (initially

6279-476: The secular priesthood and religious orders; 755 law students; 376 medical; 589 philosophical. Among the students were about 80 women. The professors were divided as follows: theology, 7 regular professors, 1 assistant professor, 1 docent; law, 12 regular professors, 2 assistant professors, 4 docents; medicine, 15 regular professors, 19 assistant, 30 docents; philosophy, 30 regular professors, 8 assistant, 19 docents, 7 lecturers. The Czech Charles-Ferdinand University in

6370-409: The study of rhetoric. Studied books on logic included Porphyry 's introduction to Aristotelian logic , Gilbert de la Porrée 's De sex principiis and Summulae Logicales by Petrus Hispanus (later Pope John XXI ). The standard work of astronomy was Tractatus de sphaera . Once a Master of Arts degree had been conferred, the student could leave the university or pursue further studies in one of

6461-458: The teachers. The first type was in Bologna , where students hired and paid for the teachers. The second type was in Paris , where teachers were paid by the church. Oxford and Cambridge were predominantly supported by the crown and the state, which helped them survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 and the subsequent removal of all principal Catholic institutions in England. These structural differences created other characteristics. At

6552-609: The teachings of Wycliffe, but his doctrine continued to gain in popularity. In the Western Schism , the Bohemian nation took the side of king Wenceslaus and supported the Council of Pisa (1409). The other nations of the university declared their support for the side of Pope Gregory XII , thus the vote was 1:3 against the Bohemians. Hus and other Bohemians, though, took advantage of Wenceslaus' opposition to Gregory. By

6643-444: The three Aristotelian philosophies: physics , metaphysics and moral philosophy . Much of medieval thought in philosophy and theology can be found in scholastic textual commentary because scholasticism was such a popular method of teaching. Aelius Donatus ' Ars grammatica was the standard textbook for grammar; also studied were the works of Priscian and Graecismus by Eberhard of Béthune . Cicero's works were used for

6734-512: The two were synonymous), though again a bachelor's and a licentiate 's degree could be awarded along the way. Courses were offered according to books, not by subject or theme. For example, a course might be on a book by Aristotle , or a book from the Bible . Courses were not elective: the course offerings were set, and everyone had to take the same courses. There were, however, occasional choices as to which teacher to use. Students often entered

6825-621: The universities around the world. In Germany, Charles University cooperates, among others, with the Goethe University Frankfurt . Both cities are linked by a long-lasting partnership agreement. Medieval university A medieval university was a corporation organized during the Middle Ages for the purposes of higher education . The first Western European institutions generally considered to be universities were established in present-day Italy, including

6916-673: The university at fourteen to fifteen years of age, though many were older. Classes usually started at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. As students had the legal status of clerics, Canon Law prohibited women from being admitted into universities. Students were afforded the legal protection of the clergy, as well. In this way, no one was allowed to physically harm them; they could only be tried for crimes in an ecclesiastical court , and were thus immune from any corporal punishment . This gave students free rein in urban environments to break secular laws with impunity, which led to many abuses: theft, rape, and murder. Students did not face serious consequences from

7007-653: The university at many places dates back to the 6th century AD. With the increasing growth and urbanization of European society during the 12th and 13th centuries, a demand grew for professional clergy . Following the Gregorian Reform 's emphasis on canon law and the study of the sacraments , bishops formed cathedral schools to train the clergy in canon law, and also in the more secular aspects of religious administration, including logic and disputation for use in preaching and theological discussion, and accounting to control finances more effectively. Pope Gregory VII

7098-456: The university had about 200 doctors and Masters, 500 bachelors, and 30,000 students ; it now lost a large part of this number, accounts of the loss varying from 5000 to 20,000 including 46 professors. In the autumn of 1409, Hus was elected rector of the now Czech-dominated rump university. The university became a bastion of the Hussite movement and mostly a regional institution. Soon, in 1419,

7189-911: The university, the perpetrator killed his father at their home in Hostouň . He was also identified as the person responsible for the murders of a man and his two-month-old daughter in Klánovice Forest six days earlier on 15 December. Charles University does not have one joint campus. The University's faculties are located in Prague , Hradec Králové , Plzeň and Brandýs nad Labem . The Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies has teaching centres in Dobruška , Mariánské Lázně , Poděbrady and Zahrádky (near Česká Lípa ). The Charles University Archive and Depository are located in Lešetice . University buildings and compounds are scattered throughout Prague – in

7280-450: The university. German-speakers, however, quickly vetoed this proposal, preferring a pure German university: they proposed to split Charles-Ferdinand University into two separate institutions. After long negotiations, Charles-Ferdinand was divided into German Charles-Ferdinand University ( German : Deutsche Karl-Ferdinands-Universität ) and Czech Charles-Ferdinand University ( Czech : Česká universita Karlo-Ferdinandova ) by an act of

7371-619: The upper 1.5 percent of the world's best universities in 2011. It came 201st to 300th out of 17,000 universities worldwide. It is the best university in the Czech Republic and one of the best universities in Central and Eastern Europe only overtaken by Russian Lomonosov Moscow State University at 74th place. It was placed 31st in Times BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings 2014 (after 23rd University of Warsaw ). Rector of

7462-411: The widespread reintroduction of Aristotle from Byzantine and Arab scholars . In fact, the European university put Aristotelian and other natural science texts at the center of its curriculum, with the result that the "medieval university laid far greater emphasis on science than does its modern counterpart and descendent." Although it has been assumed that the universities went into decline during

7553-513: The winter semester of 1909–10 included 4,319 students; of these 131 were theological students belonging both to the secular and regular clergy; 1,962 law students; 687 medical; 1,539 philosophical; 256 students were women. The professors were divided as follows: theological faculty, 8 regular professors, 2 docents; law, 12 regular, 7 assistant professors, 12 docents; medicine, 16 regular professors, 22 assistant, 24 docents; philosophy, 29 regular, 16 assistant, 35 docents, 11 lecturers. The high point of

7644-425: Was a gradual introduction of enlightened reforms, and this process culminated at the end of the century when even non-Catholics were granted the right to study. On 29 July 1784, German replaced Latin as the language of instruction. For the first time Protestants were allowed, and soon after Jews . The university acknowledged the need for a Czech language and literature chair . Emperor Leopold II established it by

7735-410: Was critical in promoting and regulating the concept of modern university, as his 1079 Papal Decree ordered the regulated establishment of cathedral schools that transformed themselves into the first European universities. Learning became essential to advancing in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and teachers also gained prestige. Demand quickly outstripped the capacity of cathedral schools, each of which

7826-401: Was essentially run by one schoolmaster . In addition, tensions rose between the students of cathedral schools and burghers in smaller towns. As a result, cathedral schools migrated to large cities, like Bologna , Rome and Paris . S. F. Alatas has noted some parallels between madrasahs and early European colleges and has inferred that the first universities in Europe were influenced by

7917-639: Was founded as the Faculty of Liberal Arts of Charles University by Emperor Charles IV on April 7, 1348, part of the emperor's attempt to establish the Kingdom of Bohemia as the permanent centre of the Holy Roman Empire and to place greater emphasis on the development of learning and culture in Prague . At that time, students attended the Faculty of Liberal Arts to receive education primarily in rhetorics and philosophy , later going on to pursue other subjects. The Faculty of Liberal Arts soon became

8008-458: Was given in Latin and students were expected to converse in that language. The trivium comprised the three subjects that were taught first: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The quadrivium consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The quadrivium was taught after the preparatory work of the trivium and would lead to the degree of Master of Arts. The curriculum came also to include

8099-416: Was known as the Faculty of Arts and, until the middle of the 19th century, its programme served as a compulsory preparatory higher education for future students of all the other faculties. From the 18th century, as well as philosophy, the faculty offered programmes in aesthetic theory, pedagogy, mathematics , astronomy , natural sciences, engineering sciences, economy, and history. These were complemented in

8190-523: Was made. The emperor Ferdinand I called the Jesuits to Prague and in 1562 they opened an academy—the Clementinum . From 1541 till 1558 the Czech humanist Mattheus Collinus  [ de ] (1516–1566) was a professor of Greek language. Some progress was made again when the emperor Rudolph II took up residence in Prague. In 1609 the obligatory celibacy of the professors was abolished. In 1616

8281-534: Was recruited from the independent academic community and appointed president of the republic in December 1989. Since 26 January 2022, Prof. Milena Králíčková is the first woman rector of the Charles University. On 21 December 2023, a mass shooting occurred at the university. 14 people were killed, and 25 others were wounded. The 24-year-old perpetrator then killed himself. Before the shooting at

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