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.
The Academic Senate completed its term of office
In the final session, there was a discussion on the remuneration of senators or the promotion of eco-travel.
At its meeting on 20 May 2024, the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Arts MU expressed its support for the extension of the authorisation of the follow-up Master's degree programme Sound Design and Multimedia Technologies.
After several years, the topic of whether senators should receive symbolic payment for their duties was revisited. The individual who brought this up emphasized how time-consuming the work is and noted that, unlike the faculty senators, members of the wider Academic Senate are paid. Opinions on this matter varied greatly. Some people were completely against the idea of payment, arguing that serving as a senator was more about exercising academic freedoms rather than doing a job that warrants payment. Others suggested different types of rewards instead of money. Ultimately, by a narrow majority, the idea of paying senators was turned down.
The Senate also discussed the current activities of the Hour of Truth initiative, which draws attention to the underfunding of higher education. The thesis of the event was presented, the Senate expressed support for the planned protest and invited the academic community to participate:
The AS FF MU expresses its support for the Hour of Truth initiative and the planned event entitled "Collapse of the System", including the formulated theses, and invites FF MU academic community members to participate in the protest on 3 June 2024 in Prague.
Finally, the possibilities of promoting environmentally friendly travel for employees, e.g. in the form of discounts for train travel, were discussed. The Senate asked the management to think about ways in which this could be implemented as part of employee benefits.
The detailed course of the Senate meeting is recorded in the minutes.
This meeting marked the end of the current term of office of the MU Faculty of Arts Academic Senate. The mandates of the senators ended at midnight on 22 May, and the Senate has now begun its term of office in the new composition resulting from the recent elections. The constituent session of the new Senate, at which the Chairs will be elected and the Senate committees will be appointed, will take place on 17 June 2024.
