What has been achieved and where I want to take the University

Why have you decided to stand again?

The first term was about building the foundations. The second should be about making them count. I am standing because I feel this is work well begun, and I would like to carry it on.

Over the past four years we have moved the University a long way forward. We have built capacity, launched strategic projects and are preparing new, follow-up ones, and we have strengthened the standing of the University of Ostrava both in the Czech Republic and abroad. Interest in studying at the University keeps growing, and in a year’s time we will be able to offer twice the accommodation capacity — and accommodation we need not be ashamed of.

Now comes the stage at which we can make full use of the results of that work. At the same time, my place on the board of the Czech Rectors’ Conference (CRC) and on the Representative Commission for the Allocation of the Public Higher Education Budget allows me to advance the interests of the University of Ostrava in the preparation of higher education legislation as well. I want to use the experience I have gained, and the positions I hold in important bodies, for the benefit of our University.

How would you describe yourself as Rector?

Outwardly I am an ambassador and an active advocate for the interests of the University of Ostrava. Internally I am a team-minded rather than an authoritarian manager. I believe in discussion, cooperation and the search for consensus. At the same time, it is I who bear responsibility for the University’s decisions.

What is your vision for a second term?

I have a clear idea of where the University should go next. Our ambition is not to be the largest university but — as our motto says — a university with a mission, open to the world and engaged in its region. That means combining high-quality education, internationally respected research and a responsibility towards the Moravian-Silesian Region.

It should also be remembered that the substantial support from European projects will come to an end during the second term, and the University will have to be guided through that more difficult period as well. Until now, significant resources have gone into infrastructure; in the next term we will develop that capacity further.

This vision is reflected in projects now in preparation, such as LERCO 2.0 and RESCUE, which link the University with hospitals, industry and public administration, and in which the greater part of the funding will go to staff.

What are your priorities for the next term?

The University’s greatest asset is its people. Even though we are not a wealthy university, I will go on doing my best to direct funding towards staff and students. Salaries should grow at the same rate as the University’s budget. I also intend to improve conditions for doctoral candidates — a new PhD Academy in the University Library.

I will pay close attention to the preparation of new accreditations, where the faculties need every possible support. More generally, I want to put still more effort into winning European research projects and other external funding, because the demographic decline and the end of a relatively generous programming period lie ahead of us. These are challenges we must meet together.

Alongside that I want to continue modernising the University — from digitalisation and the sensible use of artificial intelligence to simplifying administration, so that academics and researchers can devote as much time as possible to teaching and research. Internationalisation will also matter to me: recruiting excellent people from abroad and further strengthening the position of the University of Ostrava as a self-confident European university.More on the DZS website

Are you planning any changes in a possible second term?

Yes. Within the Study Affairs Committee I would like to set up working groups on micro-credentials and distance learning, both of which I regard as very important for the development of the University.

For students, I would like to offer stronger administrative support for selected events (for example Majáles, the students’ spring festival, or 17 November, the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day) and systematic support for first-generation students, of whom the University has a great many.

I also plan to move the Counselling and Career Centre into the portfolio of Vice-Rector Tomášková, who is genuinely close to a number of the Centre’s agendas. Tereza Vengřinová, the new head of the Centre for International Cooperation, can contribute to the work of the counselling centre as well, including the emerging Centre for Educational Support. She has both the professional background and extensive experience from her time at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

We are also planning a selection procedure for a new University Ombudsperson. Given her workload at her home department and the volume of safeguarding casework, the current Ombudsperson will end her service at the University at the end of 2026. She deserves great thanks for her work on the system for a safe and respectful environment, which in my view works very well at the University.

I am also counting on a fifth Vice-Rector — for External Relations, Artificial Intelligence and Digitalisation, a post that would be held by Associate Professor Ondřej Volný, currently Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence, Digitalisation and Innovative Technologies, and Chair of the Czech Society for Artificial Intelligence and Innovative Digital Technologies in Medicine of the Czech Medical Association of J. E. Purkyně. Comparable universities mostly have at least five vice-rectors.

And what about support for European projects, where the University has not been particularly successful?

The operational programmes and European research projects are two sides of the same coin. Since 2023 we have secured more than CZK 4.5 billion. In that respect we are among the most successful universities in the Czech Republic. At the same time, this has consumed a considerable part of our organisational and, above all, research capacity. We now want to use that capacity more extensively for European research projects.

The long-standing problem was not only our success rate but above all the low number of applications submitted. We changed that by creating specialised support for European grants. Whereas 29 Horizon Europe proposals were submitted between 2014 and 2023, in the period 2024–2026 the figure was already 50, and more are in preparation.

Thanks to the operational programmes our research teams have been strengthened as never before, and we have also built up — and are still expanding — the staffing of the unit that supports European projects.

Is there not too much talk of applied research?

Basic research remains a pillar of the University of Ostrava. More than CZK 150 million in institutional support goes into it every year, and we have not weakened the way it is funded.

At the same time, we are responding to changes in European calls, which increasingly favour applied and interdisciplinary research. If we want to succeed in competitions for funding running into billions of crowns, we have to be able to bring the two together.

You promised higher salaries. Where do we stand now?

Last year, by agreement with the deans, we made a substantial increase in the basic salary scales. We have also used every other option available to us. Through the LERCO (Life Environment Research Center Ostrava), REFRESH (Research Excellence For Region Sustainability and High-tech Industries) and other projects alone, more than CZK 618 million went into staff salaries between 2023 and 2026.

The budget allocation methodology for public higher education institutions has been frozen for almost ten years and does not reflect the changes that have taken place — and not only in the number of applicants. I have managed to build a coalition of some ten universities calling for the methodology to be unfrozen; over the years it has widened the gap between Czech universities and created a great inequality in the per-student funding contribution. For the University of Ostrava this system is exceptionally disadvantageous.

As Vice-Chair of the Czech Rectors’ Conference I have far greater scope to point to this injustice and to call for redress — which is what I do.

Let us turn to the conditions of doctoral candidates. That is a highly visible issue across the country.

It is, and for us it has become one of our priorities, even though our budget position is more difficult than that of many other higher education institutions. In our Strategic Plan we examined the whole system very carefully, and at the round tables of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports the University of Ostrava has been appointed, together with the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU), as the university coordinating the substance of those discussions.

We have created a new post of doctoral studies coordinator, introduced the induction course “Doktorandské rozkoukání” (an orientation course for new doctoral candidates) and launched a new website for doctoral candidates bringing together all the support information, including the courses of the Doctoral School, which we are expanding. Over the summer we are working on the English version of all the documents and of the website itself, so that everything is fully in place for the new academic year.

The refurbishment of one floor of the University Library, once the book stock has been moved out, should create a dignified environment not only for the Doctoral School but also space for reading rooms and rooms for workshops and other student activities. Later this year I am preparing further steps that will also help the financial situation of “older” doctoral candidates.

You promised greater involvement of students.

That is true, and I think we are delivering on it; I would like to continue in that direction in future. The result is a marked increase in the number of student organisations and, above all, in concrete activities. I always hear about the results of the projects we have supported from the representatives of the societies themselves, with interest and with pleasure.

Students took part in preparing the Strategic Plan, I supported the creation of the Student Panel of the Internal Evaluation Board, and we have brought students into working groups. We have managed to set up a grant scheme to support the activities of student societies, and I am delighted by the enormous interest the societies have shown in it.

The growing interest in building and bringing together the university community is a pleasure to see. In my youth I was involved in founding several so-called bottom-up initiatives.Interview for VaV I am glad to see that our students, too, take an interest in what is going on around them.

And what about the capital projects?

On 7 September we will open the building of the LERCO research centre on the campus of the Faculty of Medicine. The priority is, of course, the timely completion of two new halls of residence at Hladnov, a project worth some CZK 750 million. Had we not negotiated support of CZK 180 million from the city and the region, construction of the halls would never have begun. It should be added that rectors from other regions envy me this substantial support from the regional and Ostrava councillors.

We are naturally also keeping a close eye on the refurbishment of the buildings of the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Arts. For the coming years I regard as important the refurbishment of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music building in Mariánské Hory, the refurbishment and substantial extension of the building of the Institute of Anatomy of the Faculty of Medicine, and the completion of the Faculty of Education campus in Fráni Šrámka Street.

The University’s total capital investment is now far larger than it used to be. We have secured more than CZK 2.2 billion for investment. We now spend around CZK 50 million a month, several times more than in the previous term. That places enormous demands on a number of departments.

How is the preparation of the university and clinical school going?

The conceptual side of the project now has clear outlines. I am glad that a good many academics have joined the discussion. It confirms an appetite for innovation and high-quality teaching, which I regard as excellent news about our University.

At this point, however, I cannot approve an investment of the order of CZK 1 billion without clearly documented economic sustainability. Neither the funding of the construction nor the operating model has been settled. It is my responsibility to protect the University’s long-term financial stability.

It should be added that this is an exceptionally complex project requiring very thorough preparation and, among other things, close cooperation with the city.

What is the University’s standing in the region today?

I would venture to say that the University of Ostrava brand is now a firm part of our region. We have devoted considerable attention to deepening our relationships with the City of Ostrava, the Moravian-Silesian Region, Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre Ostrava (MSIC) and VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, and that is paying off for our University and will go on doing so.

The halls of residence project and the strategic projects LERCO and REFRESH are already examples of this. I also count it a success that the University has secured the role of host of the ceremonial opening of the 2027–2028 academic year — an event that brings together not only rectors but also leading figures from institutions connected with science and research, and representatives of the government.

And if by region you mean Europe, there we are better networked thanks to our membership of the European University alliance NEOLAiA.

Did you discuss this with the Prime Minister during his visit to the University?

I did. It became the main theme of our meeting, which took place at the Prime Minister’s request; he wanted to see how the construction of our halls of residence was progressing. Alongside the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Havlíček and Minister Juchelka came as well.

I count it a success that we managed to convince members of the government that the frozen state of funding for public higher education institutions is markedly unfair, particularly to universities in the regions — and to the University of Ostrava especially. The Prime Minister promised to ask the Minister of Education to address it, and he did so. Everything will now depend on the size of the budget for public higher education institutions. If there is a year-on-year increase, there is in my view certainly a chance of adjusting the way it is distributed.

I should mention that the Prime Minister’s visit met with disapproval and a protest from students. I met them the same day, listened to them and proposed that I would hold a debate for the academic community on what a non-political university actually is. The debate took place at the end of May and I found it very worthwhile. It gave me the opportunity to explain that two years ago I had already agreed with the deans on rules governing visits by politicians to the University.

The University must cooperate with elected politicians, but it cannot fall under their sway. It must remain strictly non-partisan and stay out of party political competition.Interview for Universitas

Four years ago you promised that under your leadership the Rector’s Office would not swell.

When a university’s budget rises within a few years from roughly CZK 1.4 billion to more than CZK 2.2 billion, it cannot operate with the same administrative support. Even so, the administration has grown considerably more slowly than the University as a whole.

The University as a whole added 221 full-time equivalent posts, only 22 of them at the Rector’s Office, and a significant proportion of those were funded from external projects.

Although I had promised “only” a review of the Rector’s Office agendas, I commissioned the first external HR audit of the Rector’s Office in the University’s history — and it did not confirm that these posts were superfluous. Rather the opposite: in some cases we were advised to strengthen the staffing of certain agendas further.

Where do you see the greatest shortfalls? What would you do differently with hindsight?

It undoubtedly has to do with internal communication. I admit that I had myself hoped for faster and more noticeable change. I firmly believe it will come with the launch of the intranet in the autumn. I am at least pleased that the student app is widely used and well received.

The second area is digitalisation — there too I feel that things could move faster. Among other things, we unfortunately come up against the staffing capacity of our Centre of Information Technologies. Even so, a good deal has been achieved: applications for study, asset records, contract routing sheets, requisitions, bonuses, HR documents, staff appraisals; we will soon launch electronic timesheets as well. We are also working on the digitalisation of doctoral studies.

I would go into a second term with a commitment: to fine-tune the intranet, cut duplicated communication and introduce a measurable plan for further digitalisation.

With hindsight I also see that some personnel changes were beneficial and could have been made sooner.

And what about the Centre for Marketing, Communication and Public Engagement, whose staff has changed fundamentally — is it meeting your expectations?

It is true that the turnover was very rapid. The new head, however, is delivering on her brief very well. I think the faculties are being drawn into the preparation of university-wide campaigns more than ever before and are taking part in preparing the recruitment campaign and other events.

The figures are favourable too. The reach of the University’s social media keeps growing. Add to that the new agenda, in particular a series of visits to Slovakia and a tour of secondary schools in the towns of our region. The number of visits to secondary schools has more than doubled since 2024 — from 34 to 74. That is reflected in the steadily rising number of applicants to the University.

At the same time the Centre’s costs are not rising, and its performance has certainly not fallen even after I abolished two head-of-unit posts.

Finally, how would you briefly sum up the past term?

Looking back at the first term, we have concrete results. Over the past four years we have moved the University substantially forward. We opened the Dentistry degree programme, launched LERCO and other strategic projects, started building the new halls of residence and strengthened research, knowledge transfer and international cooperation.

Interest in studying at the University continues to grow — in 2026 we passed 17,000 applications. At the same time we have strengthened support for students, doctoral candidates and staff, and greatly deepened cooperation with the city and the region.

So in my view the first term was not just about individual projects, but about the University of Ostrava becoming more self-confident, more visible and better prepared for the next stage of its development. That is what I want to build on in a second term.