In mid-September, during the opening ceremony for the new academic year, Rector Mikuláš Bek awarded the Rector's Award for Outstanding Teachers to the three winners of the fourth annual competition. Awards were also given to students who participate in teaching in the second year of a separate competition organised by the Student's Chamber of the MU Academic Senate.
MU bronze medals plus monetary awards were given to Markéta Munzarová from the Faculty of Science in the category of natural sciences and medicine, Stanislav Balík from the Faculty of Social Studies in the category of social sciences and humanities, and Jan Strejček from the Faculty of Informatics in the category of economics and informatics.
“We want to recognise teaching, which is one of the basic, but these days also underpaid, pillars of tertiary education. Universities are currently drawing attention to the faults in the financing system that result in low salaries and the high ratio of students to teachers in the Czech Republic,” says Martin Bareš, vice-rector for academic affairs.
Teachers were nominated for the awards by the students and deans of the individual faculties and a board appointed by the rector then chose the winners. This year, 2,589 students took part in the voting, nominating a total of 1,450 teachers.muni
During the ceremony, students who participate in teaching were also presented with their awards by the representatives of the Student's Chamber of the MU Academic Senate. This year, students cast more than 1,000 votes for more than 500 student teachers in the same categories as those in the Rector's Award for Outstanding Teachers.
Hugo Semrád from the Faculty of Science won the award for natural sciences and medicine, Petr Sucháček from the Faculty of Arts won the award for social sciences and humanities, and Vlastimil Reichel from the Faculty of Economics and Administration won the award for economics and informatics.
