Prague, 10 October 2023 - Professor Milan Pospíšil will lead the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (UCT Prague) for the next four years. On 10 October, UCT Prague’s Academic Senate elected him in a confidential first-round process as their choice for Rector for the next term, 2024–2027, with a total of 18 votes.
The Academic Senate’s endorsement will now be passed on for review by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports and then to the Czech President, who formally appoints UCT Prague’s Rector.
“In the coming years, I will prioritize attracting quality students, both Czech and those from abroad. We must offer attractive study programs that reflect current European and global trends. Priority number two is to strengthen UCT Prague’s position as a leading educational and research institution with internationally competitive basic and applied research and high-quality collaborations with the commercial sector. That’s why we need to make systemic and organizational changes soon while concurrently diversifying budget funding sources,” said Milan Pospíšil, who becomes Rector on 1 January 2024.
In addition to Professor Pospíšil, UCT Prague’s current Rector, Professor Pavel Matějka, ran for the position of Rector in this election.
Prof. Ing. Milan Pospíšil, CSc. (born 1963 in Klatovy) is married and has two adult daughters. He studied Chemical and Energy Processing of Fuels at UCT Prague, where he received his MSc degree in 1985, becoming Associate Professor in this area (2002) and being appointed Professor in 2016.
He has spent his entire professional career at UCT Prague. Since 1987, he has taught and conducted research at the Department of Petroleum Technology and Alternative Fuels. In the past, he was Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Technology (2002-2007), Vice-Rector for Research and Development (2008-2011), and Vice-Rector for Strategies and Development (since 2012).
He gained experience in higher education management as Vice-Chair (2015-2017) and Chair (since 2018) of the Council of Higher Education of the Czech Republic. Furthermore, he was the main expert guarantor for the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport’s IPN KREDO grant on higher education management strategy (2012-2015). He was a member of the expert team for the same Ministry’s that prepared the Czech Education Strategy 2030+ and the Higher Education Strategy 2021+. He is a member of the Government Council for the Sustainable Development of the Czech Republic (since 2019).
In his professional activities, he focuses on practical applied research in the areas of hydrocarbon analysis, the impact of combustion on the environment, progressive fuel production technologies, and the creation of a national strategy for the use of renewable energy sources in the transportation sector.
He is the author/co-author of 44 peer-reviewed journal publications according to the Web of Science (WOS) database (WOS h-index 15).
About UCT Prague
The University of Chemistry and Technology Prague (UCT Prague) is a natural center of study and cutting-edge research. One of the largest educational and research institutions in Central Europe, it specializes in technical chemistry, chemical and biochemical technologies, material and chemical engineering, food chemistry, environmental studies, and business. Remarkably, of the more than 4,000 students at the school, 700 are enrolled in PhD programs on average. Some of the study programs on offer at UCT are unique in the Czech Republic and are key to the future of the entire country. The school collaborates with more than 100 academic institutions, namely within Europe but also in the USA, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
Contact: Michal Janovský, spokesman, telephone: +420 733 690 543, e-mail: michal.janovsky@vscht.cz