žurnál Magazine of Palacký University Olomouc, 2015 /1 theme Palacký University in Select Company Due to Science and Research Genius loci… �lomouc � �e �niversity �ity 24 000 students at 8 faculties the highest student/inhabitant ratio in the country more than 300 study programmes at Bc., M.A. and Ph.D. levels dynamic research and international cooperation study programmes in English and other languages · English Philology · Deutsche Philologie · Euroculture · European Studies and International Relations · Chinese Philology · Jewish and Israeli Studies · Dentistry · General Medicine · Leisure Time Activities Counselling and Management · Pre-Primary Education · Special Needs Counselling · Specialnaja Pedagogika · Biochemistry · International Development Studies · Ph.D. programmes in Sciences, Social Sciences, Medical Sciences, Education, Law, Kinanthropology www.upol.cz contents 2 — UP in Select Company Due to Science and Research 5 — Noam Chomsky, the Phenomenon 6 — Dean’s Wish Comes True: Faculty of Law Receives First Accreditation for Awarding Docentships 6 — Chemist Pavel Hobza Among the World’s Most Cited Scientists 7 — Peter Tavel Takes Over Leadership of Sts Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology Annus mirabilis. 7 — Daniel Schacter Lectures on Human Memory I dare to describe the year 2014 with these rather audacious words. Perhaps surprisingly, it 8 — Dentistry Students Save the Dummies… for was not due to the visit of the global academic Training superstar Noam Chomsky, the flattering scores of Palacký University in global rankings, a number 8 — Speech Therapy Studies Found Excellent in of individual awards and achievements, our International Ranking expansion to Prague, nor the Alumni programme. e main reason is the fact, perhaps considered 9 — Mark Latash: Keynote Speaker at Movement banal by many, that as the UP Rector I came to Analysis Conference know many colleagues and scientists in the past year who work very hard and whose primary 9 — BALUO Centre Construction Commenced: intention is not a vision of success, but simply their Hammering on the Foundation Stone love for science and their students; they never lack motivation, enjoying their profession sometimes 11 — Breakthrough Environmental Nanotechnologies even to the point of obsession. It has resulted from Olomouc in a breath-taking dynamic of development in a number of disciplines, whose mere list would 13 — Young Algologist Reveals Ancient History of fill this column. My logical conclusion after the Cyanobacteria past year is: Palacký University Olomouc has an immense human, infrastructural, scientific, and 15 — Olomouc Scientists Discover Method to Speed educational potential, whose continuous fulfilment Detection of Serious Diseases must be our objective in the years to come. I have been delighted in the past year for 16 — Mediterranean Bats Take a Fancy to Olomouc many reasons. ese include the impressive 17 — Profile – Michael Beckerman achievements of individuals and research teams, as well as the less conspicuous—yet just as 20 — Fifty Times More than Just a Festival significant—events vital for the functioning and fine reputation of our university: the sophisticated 24 — “Once a student, always an alumnus.” system of science popularisation for secondary (Interview with Leona Axelsson) school students at the Faculty of Science; the accreditation of the Associate Professor 28 — Jaroslav Doležel Receives the Ministry Award for programme granted to the Faculty of Law; the first Research three graduates of the doctoral programme at the Faculty of Health Sciences; the completion of the 32 — Olomouc Residents Identify Their City with the new complex at the Faculty of Education, and the University commencement of the construction of the BALUO Application Centre at the Faculty of Physical 33 — Our Man in America: Motivation is the Key Culture; the refurbished Dentistry manikins; the completion of the Centre for Doctoral Studies at 35 — A Fulbright Means Finally Having Time for the Faculty of Arts; and the fantastic success of the One’s Own Work charity flea market at the Sts Cyril and Methodius Faculty of eology. 37 — Park Here e Science and Technology Park successfully 38 — Remem(Novem)bering started its new proof-of-concept programme and the Library has managed to link the Palacký 39 — Reflection: The Czech Republic—A New Page in University and Olomouc Regional Museum the Book of My Life catalogues. e Rector’s Office supported many student clubs financially in 2014 that might be finally 40 — The Final Word & Comics able to find adequate premises for their activities in 2015 or 2016. e past year was also marked by the beginning of the long-term process of the university’s internationalisation. e first visible step was opening a branch of the Czech Department of Asylum and Migration Policy on academic grounds, which rather simplified the service for foreign students and academics at UP. Last but not Žurnál | Published annually in English | Czech Registration No.: MK ČR E 12524, least, our university proudly celebrated the 25th ISSN 1804-6754 | Published by Palacký University Olomouc, Křížkovského anniversary of the November 1989 changes, without 8, CZ-771 47 Olomouc, Czech Republic | VAT No.: 61989592 | Chairman of which none of the achievements described above the Editorial Board: Petr Bilík | Editor-in-Chief: Pavel Konečný | Layout: Věra would have been possible. Marešová | Graphic Editor: Michaela Cyprová | Proofreading: Matthew Sweney | Editorial Board | Biskupské nám. 1, Olomouc | Telephone: +420 585 631 155 Jaroslav Miller | E-mail: [email protected] | Print | Profi-Tisk Group Olomouc | 1000 copies Rector, Palacký University Olomouc text: Martina Šaradínová topic photos: Pavel Konečný, Viktor Čáp/RCPTM UP in Select Company Due to Science and Research Palacký University Olomouc scored again in an international univer- sity ranking. After this year’s premiere in the list of the world’s top universities made by the Centre for World University Rankings, UP also recently succeeded in the U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings, where it achieved the 488th posi- tion. ªe other two Czech universities included in the company of the world’s 500 top universities were Charles University in Prague (no. 179) and Czech Technical University in Prague (no. 371). UP Rector Jaroslav Miller was pleased, esTM, an analytics platform for bibliomet- but not surprised by the achievement. “I’m ric comparison of scientific performance. glad our university has been ranked among Primarily, the academic research perfor- the best universities internationally. It’s an mance is monitored, but some of the fac- appreciation of our work, giving us motiva- tors also involve the quality of education. tion to further improve,” said Miller. Apart from the number of publications, ci- The Best Global Universities Rankings tations, and other relevant data, the rank- is based on data and analytics solutions ings also take into account the opinions provided by Thomson Reuters, whose and evaluations of approximately 8000 ac- portfolio includes bibliometric and citation ademics associated via the Thomson Reu- data from the Web of Science and InCit- ters database. 2 žurnál 2015 Long-standing trend According to the university management, UP’s successful ranking is a result of the emphasis on scientific work and excel- lence in research. “This trend has been long-standing and has been shown in all indicators. International comparison in the form of the rankings is one of them,” added the UP Rector. UP’s impressive results have been con- firmed in another research output analy- sis assessing more than 5,000 research-fo- cused institutions – Scimago Institutions Rankings, based on the SciVerse Scopus database owned by Elsevier publishing house. “The rapidity of our improvement is very high. In the last five years, Palacký University has moved between four and six hundred places higher in this rank- ing,” said Miller. The most significant shift occurred in the indicator monitoring ex- cellent publications. UP also greatly im- proved in the number and proportion of publications that are cited in patent appli- cations. Scientific publications and Ph.D. students on the increase of Palacký University’s strong points. In definitely strengthen its reputation and may The resulting score in Best Global Univer- the percentage of total publications that are have a synergetic effect. “It may indirectly sities Rankings comprises ten indicators among the 10 percent most cited, UP occu- enhance our chances to score in other with varying weights. The most important pies the 222th position, outpacing Charles rankings too, and the increasing awareness ones are global and regional reputation of University (no. 473) and Czech Technical of UP in more than the international the university, followed by bibliometric in- University (no. 305). UP’s best score, no. scientific community will improve our dicators such as the number of publications 162, was achieved in normalised citation starting position for establishing further or the number of frequently cited publica- impact which takes into account the insti- international collaborations,” she said. tions (that are among the 10 percent most tution’s size. UP also excelled in the num- The 2014 results correspond with a pre- cited), total citations, normalised citation ber of awarded Ph.D. degrees per academic vious Thomson Reuters analysis via the impact, or international collaboration. The staff member (ranked no. 250). Web of Science database that monitors ci- final two indicators