- --~- --- -- ---- 0. Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Dr.h.c. Heinz W. Engl Rector University of Vienna Salutatory address on the 650th anniversary of the founding of the University of Vienna lt is not yet twenty years since the university in Prague celebrated 650 years of its existence. Tue event is still fresh in the memories of the majority of the adult population of the Bohemian lands today; in 1998 the university recalled the origins and development of university education, which we nowadays regard as a seif-evident part of our world. Tue memory of this anniversary gives us an indication ofthe significance ofthe year 2015 for both the University ofVienna and Austria as a whole. On this occasion the Prague university wishes to warmly re-affirm both long-standing, and more recent, bonds to the oldest university in its neighbouring country. Our shared past is a rieb one, and its brighter aspects are worth recalling, not least as a counterpart to all the dissonances of that past, caused chiefly by modern nationalism and totalitarian regimes. There were a variety of reasons for the exchange of ideas and academic peregrination of students and professors between Prague and Vienna in both the distant and more recent past. In the first years of its existence, the University of Vienna provided sanctuary to a number of scholars who bad left Prague as a result of the disputes between the 'nations' of the university there. In the times when the dominant faith in Bohemia was the Utraquist one, Vienna was the chosen destination for dozens of students from traditionally Catholic areas of southem Bohemia and Moravia. However, many non-Catholic intellectuals, too, including leading representatives of the Utraquist university in Prague, deepened their knowledge here, too. From the second half of the 16th century, even closer ties existed between the Jesuit academies in both metropoli. Going hand-in-hand with changes in the Danube monarchy, the bond between the two universities gradually developed into a relationship between the most significant institution of higher education in a large empire and a traditional national university. Academic peregrination between the two centres of edu­ cation was then stronger than at any other time. The imperial court, and later ministries, in Vienna marle fundamental decisions on reforms and the organisation of Charles-Ferdinand University. However, the attention of mem­ bers of the Prague academic community did not just turn towards Vienna in matters of official education policy; in the revolutionary year of 1848, one of the first acts of the students of Prague was to express their solidarity with their colleagues in Vienna. Professors ofboth universities regularly encountered one another as deputies of the Vienna parliament, and sometimes as ministers of the govemments of Cisleithania. lt is in the 19th century that we encounter great figures and schools of science that achieved worldwide renown and fundamentally influenced both Austrian and Czech science. This was the case with the famous Medical School of Vienna and its members Carl von Rokitansky andJosef Skoda, both ofBohemian origin. Their success was continued by, among others, Professor Eduard Albert, also of Bohemian origin, who was one of the most versatile figures of Czech and Austrian 19th century history. The world-famous physicist moved from Prague to Vienna, and in the opposite direction - a much less common occurrence - Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, later the founder of the independent Czechoslovak state. With its two world wars, nationalism and totalitarianism, the greater part of the twentieth century was not favourable towards the mutual relationship between Vienna and Prague; however, the natural bonds between the two institutions were not entirely disrupted, even though the Communist regime, in particular, made intensive efforts in this regard at certain phases ofits existence. Thankfully, this is all in the past, a past that it is good to, sometimes recall in order to highlight the positive aspects of the present, otherwise hidden in the haze of everyday worries. One of these positive aspects is freedom of academic soil. At this point 1would like to highlight the successful cooperation between the two universities, which started as far back as 1987 and encompasses a relatively large scope of scientific exchange activities across a broad range of fields. Since 2012 the University of Vienna has provided one-month grants for our postgraduate students and scientific cooperation is now planned joindy on the basis of the multilateral agreement known as 'CENTRAL', which was signed in Berlin in 2014 and, apart from our and your universities, also brings together partner universities in Budapest, Berlin and Warsaw. Please allow me, then, to wish the Viennese alma mater all the best for years to come in the words of the traditional university greeting: Quod bonum, felix, faustum, fortunatumque eveniat! „ Prof. Tomas Zima, MD., DSc. / Rector Charles University in Prague Vienna, March l 2th, 2015 .