The University of Hradec Králové celebrated its 60th anniversary

Mr Kuča, last year, the University celebrated the 60^th anniversary of its institutional predecessor. Of what significance is that to you? You have been a member of the academic world for a long time. In what condition is the sixty-year-old University of Hradec Králové?
Since its foundation sixty years ago, the University of Hradec Králové has developed into a respected university and it is well established among the public universities in the Czech Republic. Nonetheless, we should humbly admit, that the University of Hradec Králové will never be as well known as Charles University or Masaryk University, as we will never draw level with their historical experience. But I trust and believe that as the years go by, we will fairly rival these traditional institutions.

Do you think that a regionally-based university like ours can compete with traditional, established universities?
Even though we are a small, and I like saying family, university, studying here is incredible and very beneficial to everyone involved. Teachers often know students by name. I, for example, like meeting up with students on a regular basis. Unlike tutors and lecturers at other, bigger, universities, we take up a much more individual approach to students and that's why, in my mind, we can provide our students with a sounder education and training. We talk to our students, we meet up with them and we support their ideas and activities.

Even though we are regionally-based university, we must add that with global ambitions.

 

The University’s global ambitions go, without a doubt, hand in hand with how far the UHK has internationalised. Is internationalisation still a priority?
Internationalisation is a road that the University of Hradec Králové must take. Not only in terms of it being an important indicator when it comes to budgeting and income, from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, for instance. I like to explain the concept by retelling the Czech fairy tale about Honza. He too had to go out into the big wide world to gain experience and skills that he would otherwise not have found back home. In the same way, real-life students have to go abroad to gain international know-how and we must do all we can to support them in their efforts. And I do not agree with the idea that we should send our students only to countries with stronger economies. On the contrary, our students learn and gain more valuable skills of the same importance in countries and regions that taking into account basic economic indicators are far behind the Czech Republic.

Are our students aware of this? Are they, in your opinion, making the most of being able to visit and study at international partner universities?
I must say that as the Rector I am very happy with the way things are going, even though, of course, there is always room for improvement. When it comes to the number of students travelling abroad to study, the latest figures show that, in absolute terms, the University of Hradec Králové ranks amongst the top ten universities in the Czech Republic. Converting the numbers into actual students, it may be noted that we are one of the most active universities in the Czech Republic, let’s say we rank amongst the top 3, in both our students studying abroad and international students studying at the UHK. The very fact that more and more international students want to study at the UHK tells us that UHK is an attractive choice and that people abroad know about us.

I understand that internationalisation is one of the top priorities for the UHK. What about other priorities?
Those would, without a doubt, be science and research. Here too we are getting better and better. Not only with regards to the number of very good scientific publications, but also with regards to the increased number of projects that we have applied for and won. A few years ago, we only had a handful of projects per year. Today, if I correctly recall the latest figures, we are working on almost 50 projects, and that is a tremendous increase. Besides, the projects are often worth tens of millions of Czech korunas, which I think is confirmation enough that our institution is a good institution. This also confirms my experience as a scientist, as my foreign colleagues contact me more frequently with the wish to cooperate with us.

During your first term of office, university-wide areas of research were established at the UHK. Why were they set up and what is their purpose?
The idea again comes from the experience that I gained at renowned universities abroad. The probability that we are going to make radical discoveries in the fields that the UHK specialises in, like mathematics, physics or even medical biology, is slim. Nonetheless, we can contribute in terms of multidisciplinarity of research. The likelihood that more will be achieved in the area of research may essentially be due to the fact that it is based on multiple scientific disciplines and trends; put simply, more scientists specialising in various fields of interest are coming together to find comprehensive solutions. This logic is then reflected in the creation of university-wide areas of research – in fact, all three of them (Editor’s note: Healthy Ageing and Quality of Life, Security and Sustainable Development in Digital Society, and New Challenges in Education) are associated not only with the faculties, but also with the individual branches of study that our University offers. The fact that we are going in the right direction is supported by other national universities originally not interested in identifying areas of research now doing just that. I recently noticed that Masaryk University has followed in our footsteps and has decided to identify Age as one of its areas of research. So it is clear that even a regionally-based university has enough pull to significantly influence and set trends in research.

Now, can you think of any area that the University is behind in?
Unfortunately, yes. University workers. Including academic and research staff, and technical and administration staff. When I took up my function as rector, I essentially needed to kick-start those indicators which directly affect the financing of universities, particularly internationalisation and science, which is going well. Now I want to concentrate on our people. On those that make the UHK a university.

My objective is to ensure that our employees are happy and in so contributing to making the institution a better place.

 

It was unfortunate when in 2019 the University of Hradec Králové decided to withdraw its application for institutional accreditation. Why did the management board make the decision?
It may seem like a paradox, but the fact that we acted on the opinion of the National Accreditation Authority and decided to withdraw the application may well benefit the University from within. As feedback, it confirmed that some of the processes in place at the UHK must be radically changed, while new processes need to be introduced, and most importantly – we established the Procurement Office, which is going to set and monitor these processes. Now we have sufficient feedback that will help us put together a new application for institutional accreditation. We also have more time to make the necessary preparations. And I am convinced that in the next few years the University of Hradec Králové will have the dignity and capacity to receive institutional accreditation.

I would like to ask about the changing conditions regarding the evaluation of higher education institutions, particularly Methodology 17+. How is the UHK adapting to these new evaluation frameworks?
First allow me to note that, like other higher education institutions, the UHK just simply has to adapt. It is in this regard and in respect to emerging rules affecting Methodology 17+ that we introduced the Bonus for Quality system at the University (Editor's note: Prémie pro kvalitu, abbreviated PPK). And so we have been preparing the University for changes in evaluation over the past three years. This university budgeting motivation system has already produced its first initial outcomes, specifically in terms of the publications in the Q1 or the said internationalisation, which is also very much taken into consideration in the evaluation.

Let’s briefly talk about a practical topic – investments into the infrastructure of the UHK. What awaits us in the years to come?
One of our most extensive investment projects is, without a doubt, the complete rebuilding of the Faculty of Education and the Philosophical Faculty in Svoboda Square. Even though our academic staff and students will certainly have to deal with some discomfort, I am convinced that the outcome is worth the while. And after all the excitement has played down and everyone is back at their desks in the new buildings, I want to have everyone and everything slowly moved from rented premises that we don’t own; we’re paying high tenancies. And finally, what concerns the Na Soutoku Campus – we need to initiate more intensive negotiations with the Municipality of Hradec Králové and possibly also with the Regional Authority so that these institutions become a convincing partner in the development of the infrastructure of the University, without which neither the Municipality of Hradec Králové nor the Regional Authority could be labelled as academic.

I would like to balance one more important thing, the so-called third role of the University. How are we doing?
I think that we're doing very well. People are aware of the University of Hradec Králové thanks to the conferences and forums it organises and the clubs and societies it runs; it contributes to the development of the community. The UHK pursues important events, such as remembering the self-immolation of Jan Palach in 1969 or the Velvet Revolution of 1989 – a series of events attended by thousands of people have gained the UHK a sound reputation. As part of the UHK’s social responsibility, I would like us to focus on further topics – let’s be more active in discussions concerning environmental protection, improving quality of life and Industry 4.0. We must be a trustworthy partner to Czech society, who brings forth matter-of-fact and scientific arguments in shaping public opinion. It’s definitely better than if various media groups or political parties and movements were to be involved.

The faculty deans have voiced their thoughts in commemoration of the 60^th anniversary of the University of Hradec Králové. I would like to give you the same opportunity in the conclusion of this interview.
When I took up the job at the University of Hradec Králové a long time ago, my colleagues from other universities used to make fun of me noting that I took up a job with Oxford Na Soutoku. I have not forgotten and I wish the University of Hradec Králové on the occasion of its 60^th anniversary that, as a regionally-based higher education institution, it continues to educate its students well, that it be scientifically strong and ambitious on an international level so that it is deserving of the title Oxford Na Soutoku. Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard – these are no big megalomaniac universities. Qualified people make really good science there and they educate and train excellent students in a sound environment.

Simply put, the size of a university has no say in how good it actually is. So let us not be frightened by such talk in the years to come.

 

Date of interview: December 17, 2019