Czech Technical University in Prague


Czech Technical University in Prague is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Central Europe. It is also the oldest non-military technical university in Europe.
In the academic year 2017/18 Czech Technical University offered 128 degree programs in Czech and 87 in English.

History

It was established as the Institute of Engineering Education in 1707, but as a secondary education instead of a tertiary university, by Emperor Joseph I as a response to Christian Josef Willenberg's petition addressed to preceding emperor Leopold I. In 1806 the institute of Engineering Education was transformed into Prague Polytechnical Institute, when the university studies began. After the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the name of the school was changed in 1920 to the Czech Technical University in Prague.

Origins

In 1705, asked Emperor Leopold I for permission to teach "the art of engineering". Later, the emperor's only son, who succeeded him on the throne in 1707 as Joseph I, ordered the Czech state of Prague to provide engineering education. Due to various reasons the request was avoided long periods of time but in October 1716 Willenberg repeated the request and finally on 9 November 1717 a decree by the Czech state granted Willenberg the professorship and on 7 January 1718 he began teaching. Initially, Willenberg started teaching only 12 students in his own apartment, but gradually students proliferated and they started studying in more suitable premises. Initially, the training focused mainly on the military. Teaching in the first year lasted one hour per day in the second year almost two.
The successor of prof. Willenberg was Johann Ferdinand Schor, builder of hydraulic structures in the basin of the Vltava and author of textbooks used at the school of mathematics. He began under Willenberg's leadership by teaching optics, perspectivity, technical drawing and geography. The third was professor František Antonín Herget, who mainly focused on civil engineering, particularly construction.
In September 1776 Maria Theresa allowed Herget to use the Clementinum building; in 1786 the school moved to the new and better building.
In 1787 the School of Engineering was established at the decree of Emperor Joseph II.

Academic profile

Rankings

The CTU is the best technical university in the Czech Republic. In 2010, in the world rating of THES-QS universities in the category of technical sciences, the CTU took the 121st place, in the category of natural sciences – 246th place. In 2018 Czech Technical University was ranked as 220th in Engineering and Technology in the QS World University Rankings.

Admissions

Students apply to faculty. Each faculty has different admissions requirements. Acceptance rate ranges from 52.32% to 81.51%. The percentage of international students grew from 2.5% in 2000 to 16.4% in 2017.

Graduation rate

Due to the pace and difficulty of CTU coursework, high percentage of students fail to complete first year of their studies. First year failure rates range from 23% to 47%. Overall, only 48% of enrolled undergraduate students end up graduating.

International cooperation

Study and work abroad

CTU has international agreements with 484 foreign universities. Many of them are ranked in the first hundred in QS World University Rankings such as National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Purdue University, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Delft University of Technology or KU Leuven.
CTU has many bilateral agreements with universities outside of Europe. The most sought after universities are from Canada, Australia, Singapore, United States and Japan. That said, every year many students choose to study in attractive destinations such as Argentina, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Indie, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, Costa Rica, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Russia or Taiwan.
CTU also participates in the European programmes Erasmus and Leonardo.

International students

CTU has currently over 3500 international students from 117 countries. About 750 of them are an exchange students. One of the organizations that takes care of international students is International Student Club, which organizes Buddy Programme and extra-curricular activities.

Dual diploma

CTU has currently 21 agreements with universities such as Technical University of Munich, RWTH Aachen or Trinity College Dublin.

Constituent parts

CTU has 8 faculties. The oldest one was founded in 1707, while the youngest and most selective faculty was founded in 2009.
The university also has 5 university institutes, such as Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Klokner Institute, Institute of Physical Education and Sport, University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings and Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics.
Other constituent parts include Computing and Information Centre, Technology and Innovation Centre, The Research Centre for Industrial Heritage, Centre for Radiochemistry and Radiation Chemistry, Division of Construction and Investment and .
The university also has a Publishing House and service facilities.
Student clubs within the CTU are integrated in the Student Union. It has 27 members and covers a wide range of free time activities, with the biggest club being Silicon Hill. The Student Union also organizes social events for students throughout the year.

Notable alumni