News

Happy Czech Day of Education!

7 April, 2021

Today we are joining Charles University to celebrate the Day of Education in the Czech Republic.

On this day in 1348, King Charles IV of Bohemia and Rome founded the first university in Central Europe (today´s Charles University), which at that time consisted of 4 faculties. The existence of the university was very important for Czech education. The founding of Charles University is a symbol of the flourishing of education, the significance of which is to be commemorated each year on April 7.

In 1994, CERGE officially became an autonomous interdisciplinary center of Charles University. Five years later, the Rector of Charles University and the Chairman of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic signed an agreement formally establishing CERGE-EI as a joint workplace of Charles University and the Academy of Sciences. Designed to create “an advantageous merger of research and educational activities,” this agreement deepens and strengthens the links that have existed between CERGE and EI since the establishment of the latter institution in 1992. The joint nature of CERGE-EI was further cemented by the appointment in June of Jan Hanousek as the single director for the combined institutions. The fusing of CERGE and EI as CERGE-EI serves as a model for breaking down the Communist world’s artificial division between university faculties and research institutes while preserving the historic roles of these institutions.

We wish everyone in the CERGE-EI community that they will never tire of the desire to keep learning and growing! Here is a link to the video of Charles University´s rector Tomáš Zima and its other representatives giving a commemorative address.