The evening had a festive and retrospective character, as Rector Martin Bareš in his speech recalled the achievements of Masaryk University during his first term of office. The first part of the programme was hosted by the Vice-Rector for Academic and Cultural Affairs of Masaryk University, Jiří Hanuš, who emphasised that holding a traditional event at the beginning of the academic year does not have to be a matter of course. “The older I get, the more I realise that these meetings are not a matter of course. It is not a matter of course to meet, it is not a matter of course to teach, and it is not a matter of course to live in a free country. That is why I would like the main topic of today’s meeting to be gratitude,” said Vice-Rector Jiří Hanuš.
Rector Martin Bareš did not forget to mention the excellent position of Masaryk University in the world rankings and he enumerated the areas in which Masaryk University can still improve.
“It was none other than Tomáš G. Masaryk who, at the end of the 19th century, said that the Prague university needed competition within the country. The mission of the new university in Brno – in the words of the Memorial Charter of 1919 – was to “live, prosper and flourish in noble competition with its older sister in Prague”. Therefore, I understand my ambitious vision for our university as a kind of return to the original founding idea, namely to be a successful, self-confident, open and simply the institution in can be,” said Rector Martin Bareš in his speech. He also mentioned that while Masaryk University can never become the oldest, there is opportunity for it to become the best. He referred to the quality of education and efforts to attract motivated and talented candidates to study as the key areas to focus on. “Students must be at the centre of our thinking and our university strategies. Future students, current students, and former students – that is, alumni. Only if we can connect and link these three groups and follow-up activities in a meaningful and organic way, can we achieve noticeable improvements and move forward,” said Martin Bareš about his vision for the future of Masaryk University.
The Rector’s Award for Excellence in Teaching was awarded to Masaryk University teachers in three categories – in the field of natural sciences and medicine, in the field of social sciences and humanities, and in the field of economics and informatics. Recognition in the form of a bronze medal and a diploma was personally received by two of the three winners – Iva Dřímalová from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of the Faculty of Science and Tomáš Brázdil from the Department of Machine Learning and Data Processing of the Faculty of Informatics. The award for Zuzana Vikarska from the Faculty of Law, who is currently on a visiting scholarship in Israel, was accepted by her PhD students Michal Kovalčík and Terézia Lazarová.
When asked how she is able to help students who did not learn mathematics well at secondary school, Iva Dřímalová replied: “I believe it is in the students. I don’t rest until they realise they actually know how to do it and start working the problem.” With Tomáš Brázdil, students appreciate the way he is able to introduce complex knowledge of neural networks and related areas of machine learning, including the use of artificial intelligence. “It’s important to be passionate about the subject so that students fall in love with the field. I have even thought of leaving some of the lectures to artificial intelligence, but for now I prefer to do teach them in person,” joked Tomáš Brázdil. In the same way, according to PhD student Terézie Lazarová, Zuzana Vikarská is able to enthuse her students. “She teaches us what law should be and lead us to reach our full potential. As a teacher she is excellent, respectful and open to her students,” said Terézia Lazarová.
In the next part of the ceremony, Markéta Pitrová, in her capacity of the competition’s secretary, introduced this year’s official University Wine to all present.
“We separated the red and white categories even more, so that wine specialists in certain varieties can only apply for one. This further opened up the range of quality wines,” explained Markéta Pitrová. Eighteen samples of white wines and twelve samples of red wines competed for the title of University Wine 2023/2024. In the category of white wines, the committee selected a newcomer to the competition – Sauvignon 2022 (late harvest) from Farma U tří dubů winery. The winner among red wines was Merlot 2021 (selected grapes) from Moravíno.
In addition to the MU Academic Evaluation Committee, students, representatives from the student chambers of the faculty senates and the Academic Senate of Masaryk University, also voted for their wines. The title of Student University Wine was awarded to Pálava 2022 (late harvest) from Gazaň Winery Hovorany in the category of white wines, and Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 (selected grapes) from Sedlecká vína in the category of red wines.
To ensure that the university and the wineries prosper, the wines were blessed at the end of the ceremony by Bishop Pavel Konzbul of Brno, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Masaryk University.
Awarded teachers
RNDr. Iva Dřímalová, Ph.D. – Faculty of Science
Iva Dřímalová is a lecturer at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. She teaches and participated in teaching several basic subjects at the Department. She is a lecturer in Linear Algebra, where she successfully strives to make students understand and be able to use basic concepts related to vector spaces and linear representations. She teaches a course called Practical Mathematics for Teachers, in which she teaches students to work collaboratively in the study of mathematics and seeks to develop their teaching competencies. Before the beginning of the semester – in early September – she usually lectures at a summer school. Her main goal is to help students who come with poorer math skills from secondary school to overcome their handicap so that they have a better chance of successfully completing their first year of study.
JUDr. Zuzana Vikarská, MJur, MPhil, Ph.D. – Faculty of Law
Zuzana Vikarská is an assistant professor at the Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science at the Faculty of Law. She teaches or participates in teaching of more than a dozen courses in Czech or English that have been positively evaluated by students. The main areas of teaching are constitutional law, human rights, introduction to governance (theory of the state), constitutional and criminal law of the European Union, legal science and political theory. For example, the Reading Group course introduces students to some of the key classic works in constitutional law, as well as some examples of current drafts and recent work by leading academics. In this way, Dr Vikarská seeks to strengthen the “academic literacy” of her PhD students. In the course Procedural Law of the European Union, she introduces students to the course of proceedings before the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and to national court proceedings with European elements. Graduates of the course acquire the important ability to read the case law of the CJEU, as well as national courts’ case law with a European element, and the ability to navigate European and national case law.
The award was presented to Zuzana Vikarská’s former students and current colleagues Terézia Lazarová and Michal Kovalčík.
doc. RNDr. Tomáš Brázdil, Ph.D. – Faculty of Informatics
Tomáš Brázdil works at the Department of Machine Learning and Data Processing. He teaches or participates in teaching of courses in Czech and English. In the Neural Networks course, Tomáš Brázdil successfully aims to provide students with a comprehensive knowledge of neural networks and related areas of machine learning. Upon completion, students are better able to learn and explain neural network problems, solve practical problems using neural network techniques independently and in teams, and will have developed the ability to critically interpret solutions based on third-party neural networks. In the Introduction to Machine Learning course, successful lecturers develop students’ basic understanding of fundamental theoretical models, their key practical applications, and the fundamental connections of machine learning to other fields, particularly mathematical statistics, logic, artificial intelligence, and optimisation.