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Faculty of Informatics celebrates 30th anniversary with conference

At the end of November, the Faculty of Informatics celebrated an important anniversary. It was founded thirty years ago as the first independent faculty of informatics in the Czech Republic.

The Faculty of Informatics of Masaryk University.

Prior to 1994 informatics was taught at the Faculty of Science but the demand for this field of study evidently exceeded the faculty’s capacities. The first attempt for an independent faculty dates to 1993 and the foundation of the faculty was approved by the Academic Senate of Masaryk University a year later. Initially the faculty was located at Burešova Street in what is now the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic. With Jiří Zlatuška as the founding dean, the new faculty was a modest one, with fewer than 400 students and around twenty faculty members.

Relocation to Botanická

In early 1996 the faculty moved to Botanická and the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic moved to the faculty’s former building at Burešova.

First proFIdivadlo play

The faculty has an amateur theatre group under the name of proFIdivadlo. Its 1998 premiere was an improv slapstick piece Lambda Kalkulka with the Little Red Riding Hood as a key character element. Since 2006, the ensemble has been offered under a university-wide elective course, Theatre Play (Divadelní hra).

Information system

Masaryk University students had been using “grading books” (“index”) until the turn of the millennium when the university introduced its information system (IS) developed at the Faculty of Informatics. Thanks to IS, Masaryk University was the first Czech university to offer electronic applications. The award-winning system was ultimately offered to other universities.

Anti-plagiarism software

Systematic fight against plagiarism had been discussed at MU before 2004 when full versions of theses were published via IS. The existence of an independent plagiarism checker proved practicable, and the university introduced one in 2006. Incorporated in IS at first, it has since been introduced by other schools and within the websites Theses.cz and Odevzdej.cz.

Construction of the Faculty of Informatics in Botanická Street.

New premises

The completion of the faculty building started in the fall of 2012. The original street-facing building had to make room for new premises for teaching and research purposes which ultimately became part of the new Centre for Education, Research and Innovations in Information and Communication Technologies (CERIT). The new complex with laboratories, computer rooms, lecture halls and library opened in September 2014. With the increasing demand for education in this field, the faculty offers degrees at all levels in Czech or English to two thousand students. In addition to top-quality teaching it conducts excellent research in more than twenty laboratories, often in cooperation with commercial sector partners or companies occupying the science and technology park on the premises of the university.

Conference celebrating the 30th anniversary

On Thursday, 28 November, the faculty organised a conference entitled Otevřená fakulta (“Open Faculty”) to celebrate its 30th anniversary, with partners from the commercial sector in attendance and a discussion on the faculty’s future opening with a speed by the Faculty of Informatics Dean Jiří Barnat and the subsequent networking event focused on the alumni and their post-graduation professional experience. The event also included presentations of current students’ activities.