Zlín University has started the construction of the Laboratory Center

Zlín - Zlin University today began construction of the Laboratory Center of the Faculty of Technology. The new building in the city center, close to the faculty, will offer students well-equipped spaces for teaching, science, and research. The center, costing 527 million crowns, will primarily feature special laboratories with modern technology, and the facility will rank among the most modern in the country, said Roman Čermák, the dean of the Faculty of Technology, to ČTK.
    Special equipment will cost more than 25 million crowns, and the building will also include lecture halls and classrooms. Tomas Bata University has received a European grant of 448 million crowns for the center project, which should be operational by 2014.
    Sonja Baťová, the wife of Tomáš Baťa, who was the son of the founder of a vast shoemaking empire and passed away in 2008, also laid the cornerstone today. "My father-in-law built a great empire here and always emphasized education. It is important that there will be a place for science and research, as there is a great emphasis on this worldwide; one must always stay one step ahead," Baťová said, who will receive an honorary doctorate from Zlin University on Thursday.
    According to the dean, there are currently about 1900 students studying at the faculty, with key fields including plastic processing, natural polymers, and food and food supplement processing and production. The faculty is the oldest of the faculties at Tomas Bata University, which celebrated its 43rd anniversary this year.