<div>Faculty of Architecture has prestige. This cannot be expressed in money.</div>

Under the title “Rector: Graduates earn more than I do”, an article was published on February 28, 2006, in MF DNES, which is an interview with the new rector of VUT in Brno, Professor Karel Rais. It echoed that successful faculties are able to acquire up to 30 percent of their budget from sources other than the ministry. The Faculty of Architecture was labeled unsuccessful in this context. Is this really the case?
It is true that finding non-standard streams of financing is not without problems. This stems from the specific conditions of an architect's work, which are completely different from the activities of academic staff in other parts of our school. It is essential to see primarily the fact that research at other faculties arises from the nature of the professions cultivated there. Our academic staff mainly engage in creative activities. For example, the state is willing to contribute to science at universities. However, support for the artistic and creative activities of architects is declining. Why, just as research intentions exist to stimulate scientific inquiry, aren’t creative intentions adequately announced for schools with an artistic focus? The state could thus analogously release funds to support artistic disciplines.

There is interest in the school, and it is successful

Despite the presumed difficulties, it should be noted that interest in studying at the Brno School of Architecture is still high among the current population-weaker cohorts. Demand exceeds our capacity by five times. We know very well how many talented students prefer Brno over Prague. A large number of applicants also come from Slovakia. Our talented students successfully participate in competitions. Recently, I can recall extraordinary results achieved in England. We belong to the faculties from which the most students go abroad for stays, and we are equally successful in accepting foreign students as well. Graduates easily find employment, and soon after completing their studies, we encounter their quality realizations.
An inseparable relationship with the public exists. For example, last year the school transformed into a gallery several times. World-renowned architects and offices from England, Germany, and the USA exhibited here. Experts from Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Great Britain, or Japan lectured. A captivating exhibition of student works took place at the Brno House of Art or in the Nostitz Palace in Prague. Extraordinary personalities work at the faculty, who, besides teaching, also build and publish books. They have received public recognition through state honors, four City of Brno Awards, an honorary doctorate, and three Gold Medals from VUT in Brno. The rector lamented that we currently do not have a dean, and that if there is no leadership, it could also reflect in funding issues. This is a statement that is difficult to understand. If a new dean was not elected on the first attempt, it does not lead to any tragic conclusion. It reflects the reality that in accordance with the spirit of the higher education law, there is a democratic environment at the faculty, which must also account for this alternative. Even in the current situation, the school does not succumb to chaos and is still properly managed.
I consider it essential to communicate that the Faculty of Architecture, as part of VUT in Brno, contributes to ensuring that our alma mater enjoys a good reputation. It belongs to those elements that patiently and gradually build its most valuable asset, prestige, which cannot be gained or expressed in any money… JOSEF CHYBÍK

---

Rector: Graduates earn more than I do

He has been in high university positions for ten years. When he looks down from academic heights into lecture halls, he is always pleasantly surprised by the students who attend the lectures. “When I have a chance to lecture, I take it as a pleasant mental refreshment,” observes Karel Rais. Since February, he has been leading the second largest university in Brno - the Brno University of Technology.

If you were to study now, what would it be?
I have an answer ready for this question for students. I would choose an interdisciplinary field. Perhaps management informatics, biomedical fields, mechatronics.

People with such a field can easily find employment?
Yes. Such a person is valuable in that he or she knows two fields. Financial lawyers and economists with legal knowledge have always been valued. But this does not mean that classical mechanical engineers will not be needed; on the contrary. Mechanical engineering is now on the rise in the region, and I am pleased to see companies like TOS Kuřim getting back on their feet with a new owner.

And they draw your graduates from you. Do you have a problem keeping skilled people at the school to teach?
Our teaching staff is now relatively old. The school needs to be rejuvenated and to give doctoral students a perspective so that they know it makes sense to stay at school. I had a doctoral student who ended up in Abu Dhabi (the capital of the United Arab Emirates - editorial note). He needed money for housing and has now gotten used to a certain standard of living, which is definitely higher than that of a university teacher.

Can those who stay at the school actually earn a decent income?
I think so. No one will bring them a paycheck on a silver platter, but they can obtain grants. Some actually earn money, but at the cost of working on Saturdays and Sundays and without holidays. Nevertheless, they are happy. But the fact that they do it at night is probably not right. It is not normal for someone in a stable Western type society to earn multiples more than an associate professor at a university.

Since we're talking about money, what about the school? Does it also obtain part of its own funding?
What we receive from the ministry sometimes is not even enough for salaries. Therefore, we seek other sources, such as collaborating with foreign universities on various projects.

How self-sufficient are you?
Last year, we had an evaluation from the European University Association. Our successful faculties are capable of acquiring 25 to 30 percent of their budget aside from what the government provides for education and research. Unfortunately, not all faculties are successful. This is then reflected in what people take home in their paychecks.

The Faculty of Architecture is not exactly doing the best, is it?
You answered for me. I wanted to talk about the successful ones.

Feel free to speak.
The successful ones are the traditional technical faculties - electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and construction. Regarding architecture, I would only add that they currently do not even have a dean. When there is no leadership, it can also reflect in funding problems.

Will the share of money that you obtain for yourself continue to increase?
It must. We have no other choice. But faculties can go about it in various ways, such as organizing courses in fields that are in demand, obtaining grants from the European Union, and so on.

There are sixty thousand students studying at universities in Brno today. Is this a significant benefit for the city?
Tremendous. Brno has several even European unique aspects, and one of them is that the universities in Brno are capable of communicating and collaborating together in the Brno Center for European Studies. This is something that would be impossible, for example, in Prague. The Prague universities also feel that when six universities from Brno come together, it poses a competition and a force that they must consider.

How does this strength manifest?
It is completely unique, for example, for engineering to collaborate with the law faculty on joint economic-legal studies. And we have many such examples in Brno. The Faculty of Natural Sciences with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Medical Faculty with the Electrical Engineering Faculty. This is valuable for students.

It is a somewhat clichéd question, but can university Brno become a small Silicon Valley?
I think it is already in some ways. Just look at GiTy. That is a huge company with close ties to the universities, Girstl’s universities support them. It is difficult to count how many companies in Brno are connected to the university background. As an example, Entrepreneur of the Year (owner of Student Agency, Radim Jančura - editorial note) is our graduate.

Jančura, by the way, says he skipped your school...
I also smiled when he said that he made excuses on the Faculty of Electrical Engineering for the Business School and vice versa. The point of the game is not for everyone to sit in school, but for them to learn something. Results are what matter.

Brno has been hit by an investment boom. What do you think of the incoming companies?
I am glad that different companies are coming than those we saw in the nineties. They needed a few dozen housewives for assembling electronic components, and as soon as they found out that costs were rising rapidly, they moved to Ukraine. They will probably go around the world and end up somewhere in Asia. Now, however, a completely different kind of company is heading here, and that is very good.

Do you have any contacts with them at VUT?
Those companies know very well what the university background is here. They often negotiate with the school's management through representatives from CzechInvest even before they decide to come here. And they find the school's environment in Brno to be very good. When you have tens of thousands of students, you will definitely find the top talent more easily than if only a few hundred study here.

Do you create tailored graduates for such companies at the faculty?
For example, in the bachelor's program, we respond to the requests of large construction companies. We then adjust some subjects according to them.

Does such a "tailored graduate" succeed at work, or do they face challenges?
We find this out every year through surveys. In the nineties, graduates complained about computer illiteracy, but that has been resolved with the enormous increase in computers. Today they mourn their lack of language skills, but also so-called soft skills.

Which include negotiation or communication skills...
Everyone at school wants to teach their theoretical subjects. And then suddenly in the company, they tell you that they need someone who can negotiate a contract, recognize that everything is in order, organize their time efficiently, and handle stress. I want us to reflect this. But this might be a task for the next five years to eliminate this problem.

And what do your graduates say when asked how they found their jobs?
There will certainly always be three percent dissatisfied, three percent enthusiastic, and the rest will spread somewhere in the middle. What matters is how this is moving. Here I think that there is interest in our graduates. Although, of course, it is mostly the successful ones who respond, who are happy to boast, and perhaps this skews it somewhat. But sometimes their financial evaluations look very good.

What does that mean?
In the extremes, it is definitely more than I or my colleagues earn. And that is good.

---

Karel Rais
56 years old, family: married, two children
education: studied automatic computers at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at VUT, obtained professorship in the field of industrial economics and management. He earned an MBA from the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom)
career: for ten years has been in high positions at VUT: was the dean of the Faculty of Business, vice-rector for strategic development, and has been in charge of the technology since February.