The Academic Senate met for the first time in its new composition
At the constituent session, the Chairmanship was elected and the Senate committees were appointed. The reform of doctoral studies was also discussed.
Academic Senate has not yet approved the budget methodics
Neither the proposal for the appointment of doc. Burešová to the newly created post of vice-dean for accreditation and doctoral studies, has obtained support so far. Discussions will continue at an extraordinary meeting on 12 February.
At its meeting on 29 January 2024, the Academic Senate of the MU Faculty of Arts discussed many applications for an extension of the authorization to carry out a study program:
- Baltic Studies (Bc and NMgr)
- Ancient History (PhD)
- Ethnology (Bc and NMgr)
- French Language and Literature (NMgr)
- Japanese Studies (Bc)
- Classical Greek Language and Literature (NMgr)
- Latin Language and Literature (NMgr)
- Literature and Intercultural Communication (NMgr)
- Mediterranean Studies (Bc and NMgr)
- Modern Greek Language and Literature (Bc)
The Senate supported all applications. In the case of the PhD in Ancient History, the possibility of merging it with History in general was discussed. Ethnology representatives reflected on the better positioning of the program within the discipline categories when advertising to applicants: they would see themselves among the human sciences rather than among the historical sciences. Concerning Japanese Studies, the issue of students who use our majors for language training but do not complete their studies because they do not want to work on a qualifying paper came up. In the case of Latin and Classical Greek, the plan is to merge them into one program as in the undergraduate degree. Mediterranean Studies requires accreditation for completion only: the course is difficult to staff, and its content overlaps to a large extent with the programs of study in Romance Studies.
The next item on the agenda was the Dean's proposal to create a new vice-dean position and fill it with doc. Iva Burešová. Her agenda would consist of parts of the agendas of the two current vice-deans and would include accreditation of study programs (under the responsibility of dr. Jastrzembská, so far) and studies in doctoral programs (under prof. Knoz, so far). The Senate supported establishing the new vice-dean position and the division of agendas; however, the appointment of doc. Burešová, who could not attend the meeting in person, was not appointed for the time being. Senators first want to meet the nominee and discuss her vision for the doctoral reform agenda.
A lengthy discussion ensued over the proposed budget methodology that the Dean had submitted to the Senate based on discussions in the Finance Committee of the Dead and on which doc. Zbíral, on behalf of the Finance Committee of the Senate, presented a dissenting opinion: rather than a gradual approach to the university methodology, they would welcome a more radical adoption of it with all its implications. Several academic community members also joined the discussion; its detailed course is recorded in the minutes, and the opinions of selected discussants are expanded in the appendix. However, it is essential that the discussion did not lead to any conclusions, and in the end, there was no vote on either the budget methodology presented or the proposals of the Senate's Finance Committee. Discussions will continue at the extraordinary meeting on 12 February 2024.
The detailed course of the Senate meeting is recorded in the minutes.
The next regular meeting of the Senate will be held on 11 March 2024.
