Czech Technical University in Prague

File:CTU founding decree.jpg; January 18, 1707]]

It was established as the Institute of Engineering Education in 1707, but as a secondary education (high school) instead of a tertiary university, by Emperor Joseph I{{cite web |url=http://www.cvut.cz/en/history/rescript |title=Rescript of the Emperor Joseph I |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005023043/http://www.cvut.cz/en/history/rescript |archive-date=2009-10-05 }} as a response to Christian Josef Willenberg's petition addressed to preceding emperor Leopold I. In 1806, the institute of Engineering Education was transformed into Prague Polytechnical Institute (or Prague Polytechnic), i.e. a school independent of the University of Prague. This was a Europe-wide trend in the early 19th century, as polytechnical universities were established following the model of the French École Polytechnique. After the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the name of the school was changed in 1920 to the Czech Technical University in Prague.

In 1705, {{Interlanguage link multi|Christian Josef Willenberg|de||cs}} asked Emperor Leopold I for permission to teach "the art of engineering". Later, the emperor's only son, who succeeded him on the throne in 1707 as Joseph I, ordered the Czech state of Prague to provide engineering education. For various reasons, the request was not implemented for some time. However, in October 1716, Willenberg repeated the request. Finally, on 9 November 1717, a decree by the Czech state granted Willenberg the first engineering professorship in Central Europe (formally as part of University of Prague). On 7 January 1718, he began teaching.

Initially, Willenberg started teaching only 12 students in his own apartment (six barons, four knights, and two burghers), but gradually students proliferated (in 1779, there were around 200) and they started studying in more suitable premises. Initially, the training focused mainly on the military. Teaching in the first year lasted one hour per day; in the second year, almost two.

The successor of Willenberg was Johann Ferdinand Schor, builder of hydraulic structures in the basin of the Vltava and author of textbooks used at the school of mathematics. He began under Willenberg's leadership by teaching optics, perspectivity, technical drawing and geography. The third was professor František Antonín Herget, who mainly focused on civil engineering, particularly construction.

In September 1776, Maria Theresa allowed Herget to use the Clementinum building; in 1786, the school moved to the new and better building. In 1787, the School of Engineering was established at the decree of Emperor Joseph II and merged with the University of Prague.

In 1815, the institution became independent again as the Royal Bohemian Estate Technical Institute in Prague (CS: Královské české stavovské technické učiliště v Praze, DE: Königliche böhmische ständische technische Lehranstalt zu Prag). The institute grew and changed its name several times during the 19th century. The biggest change was the split into Czech (Český polytechnický ústav království Českého) and German-speaking (Deutsches polytechnisches Institut) universities in 1869, caused by the rising ethnic tensions during the Czech National Revival.

File:Technische Hochschule Prag.jpg

During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, CTU was closed, along with all other Czech universities, on 17 November 1939 due to protests by Czech students. The German Technical University was not closed as it was managed directly by the Third Reich. The German University was closed by Czechoslovak President Beneš's decree in 1945 in the context of the expulsion of German speakers from Czechoslovakia. The Czech Technical University was reopened and is currently the sole successor of the institution's long and turbulent history.

The CTU is the best technical university in the Czech Republic. In 2010, in the world rating of THES-QS universities in the category of technical sciences, the CTU took the 121st place, in the category of natural sciences – 246th place.{{cite web|title=Czech Technical University (CTU)|url=https://msmstudy.eu/education/universities/czech-technical-university-ctu/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829050749/https://msmstudy.eu/education/universities/czech-technical-university-ctu/|archive-date=August 29, 2018|website=msmstudy.eu}} In 2018, Czech Technical University was ranked as 220th in Engineering and Technology in the QS World University Rankings.{{cite web|url=https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2018/engineering-technology|title=QS Engineering and Technology ranking|website=topuniversities.com}}

Students apply to faculty. Each faculty has different admissions requirements. Acceptance rate ranges from 52.32% (Faculty of Information Technology) to 81.51% (Faculty of Transportation Sciences).{{cite web|title=Acceptance rate of Czech Universities|url=http://www.vysokeskoly.com/sance-na-prijeti/?filterTyp=&filterZamereni=5&ord=&fakOrd=&typOrd=&sanceOrd=&sance_rok=|website=vysokeskoly.com|language=cs}} The percentage of international students grew from 2.5% in 2000 to 16.4% in 2017.{{cite web|title=Annual report 2000|trans-title=Czech|url=https://www.cvut.cz/sites/default/files/content/122dcbcf-3b4a-4188-913e-5a0dd25f3d6e/cs/20180629-vyrocni-zprava-o-cinnosti-cvut-2000.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021232334/https://www.cvut.cz/sites/default/files/content/122dcbcf-3b4a-4188-913e-5a0dd25f3d6e/cs/20180629-vyrocni-zprava-o-cinnosti-cvut-2000.pdf|archive-date=October 21, 2018|website=cvut.cz|language=cs}}{{cite web|title=Annual report 2017|url=https://www.cvut.cz/sites/default/files/content/122dcbcf-3b4a-4188-913e-5a0dd25f3d6e/cs/20180911-vyrocni-zprava-o-cinnosti-cvut-2017.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021232422/https://www.cvut.cz/sites/default/files/content/122dcbcf-3b4a-4188-913e-5a0dd25f3d6e/cs/20180911-vyrocni-zprava-o-cinnosti-cvut-2017.pdf|archive-date=October 21, 2018|website=cvut.cz|language=cs}}

Due to the pace and difficulty of CTU coursework, high percentage of students fail to complete first year of their studies. First year failure rates range from 23% (Faculty of Civil Engineering) to 47% (Faculty of Information Technology).{{cite web|title=Annual report 2017|url=https://www.cvut.cz/sites/default/files/content/122dcbcf-3b4a-4188-913e-5a0dd25f3d6e/cs/20180911-vyrocni-zprava-o-cinnosti-cvut-2017.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021232422/https://www.cvut.cz/sites/default/files/content/122dcbcf-3b4a-4188-913e-5a0dd25f3d6e/cs/20180911-vyrocni-zprava-o-cinnosti-cvut-2017.pdf|archive-date=October 21, 2018|website=cvut.cz|page=77|language=cs}} Overall, only 48% of enrolled undergraduate students end up graduating.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

During their studies, students are encouraged to join one of many student teams within the university to gain real-life experience and work in teams on projects.{{Cite web |title=Studentské skupiny {{!}} ČVUT Fakulta strojní |url=https://www.fs.cvut.cz/studium/studentske-skupiny/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=www.fs.cvut.cz}}

Team based at Faculty of Electrical Engineering building a fully electric formula racing car to compete at international competitions.{{Cite web |title=eForce Prague Formula {{!}} |url=https://eforce1.feld.cvut.cz/web/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |language=en-US}}

Robotic team established by students of mechanical engineering designing and building a fully autonomous space rover vehicle and drones. Aiming to prestigious international competition European Rover Challenge which annually takes place in Poland.{{Cite web |title=CTU ROBOTICS |url=https://cturobotics.fs.cvut.cz/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=cturobotics.fs.cvut.cz}}

CTU Space Research is ambitious student team. Their goal is to design and launch space rockets and stratospheric balloons. They compete in the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC) in Portugal.{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://spaceresearch.cvut.cz/en/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=CTU Space Research |language=en}}

CTU has international agreements with 484 foreign universities. Many of them are ranked in the first hundred in QS World University Rankings such as National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Purdue University, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Delft University of Technology, KU Leuven or Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.

CTU has many bilateral agreements with universities outside of Europe. The most sought after universities are from Canada, Australia, Singapore, United States and Japan. That said, every year many students choose to study in attractive destinations such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, Costa Rica, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Russia or Taiwan.

CTU also participates in the European programmes Erasmus and Leonardo.

CTU has currently over 3500 international students from 117 countries. About 750 of them are an exchange students. One of the organizations that takes care of international students is Erasmus Student Network (ESN),{{Cite web |title=Erasmus Student Network CTU in Prague |url=https://esn.cvut.cz/czech |access-date=2024-04-20 |website=esn.cvut.cz |language=cs}} which organizes Buddy Programme and extra-curricular activities.

CTU has currently 21 agreements with universities such as Technical University of Munich, RWTH Aachen or Trinity College Dublin.

CTU has 8 faculties. The oldest one (Faculty of Civil Engineering) was founded in 1707, while the youngest and most selective faculty (Faculty of Information Technology) was founded in 2009.

The university also has 5 university institutes, such as Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics, Klokner Institute, Institute of Physical Education and Sport, University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings and Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics.

Other constituent parts include Computing and Information Centre, Technology and Innovation Centre, The Research Centre for Industrial Heritage, Centre for Radiochemistry and Radiation Chemistry, Division of Construction and Investment and [http://knihovna.cvut.cz/en/ Central Library].

The university also has a Publishing House and service facilities.

Student clubs within the CTU are integrated in the Student Union. It has 27 members and covers a wide range of free time activities, with the biggest club being Silicon Hill. The Student Union also organizes social events for students throughout the year.

• Gaston Banda-Bafiot, Central African engineer, diplomat, and politician
• František Běhounek, radiologist
• Christian Doppler, mathematician and physicist
• Ivan Puluj, physicist and one of the founders of medical radiology
• Antonín Engel, architect
• Vladimír Fischer, architect
• Josef Gerstner, physicist and engineer
• Václav Havel, statesman, writer and former dissident, who served as the last President of Czechoslovakia
• Josef Hlávka, architect, main founder of Academy of Science, patron
• Otakar Husák, CTU graduate, chemist, General, Czechoslovak Legionnaire in Russia and France, fighter from Zborov and Terron, Chairman of President Masaryk's Military Office, Minister of Defence, First Director of the Explosia Semtín factory, prisoner of concentration camps Dachau and Buchenwald, Director of the Synthesia Semtín (1945–1948), political prisoner (Prague Nusle-Pankrác, Mírov 1950–1956) (CS) PRECLÍK Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and Legions, Масарик и Легии), Ваз. Книга, váz. kniha, 219 p., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná, CZ) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (изданная издательством «Пари Карвина», «Зишкова 2379» 734 01 Карвин, в сотрудничестве с демократическим движением Масарика, Прага), 2019, {{ISBN|978-80-87173-47-3}}, pp. 16 – 70, 150–157
• Eva Jiřičná, architect
• Karel Jonáš, who became Charles Jonas (Wisconsin politician), Czech-American publisher, legislator and Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
• George Klir, computer and systems scientist
• Karl Kořistka, geographer and technologist
• František Křižík, inventor, electrical engineer and entrepreneur
• Ivo Lukačovič, entrepreneur, founder and chairman of Seznam.cz
• Jan Hird Pokorný, architect
• Vladimir Prelog, chemist and Nobel Prize winner
• Richard Rychtarik, set designer
• Marie Schneiderová-Zubaníková first female Czech civil engineering graduate (in 1923)
• Alena Šolcová, mathematician, historian
• Vladimír Teyssler, engineer and author
• Emil Votoček, chemist
• Emil Weyr, mathematician
• Josef Zítek, architect and engineer

Image:Rectorate CTU in Prague.jpg|The CTU Rectorate

Image:CzechTech Univ Campus, Prague Dejvice.jpg|Dejvice campus

Image:CVUT Karlovo namesti.jpg|Karlovo Náměstí campus

Image:Academic_ceremony_Bethemel_chapel_Prague.jpg|Bethlehem Chapel – The CTU's ceremonial hall

Image:CTU_Dejvice_campus.jpg|Dejvice campus - Library, FA, FIT

Image:National_Technical_Library.jpg|Interior of National Technical Library

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Czech Technical University}}

• [https://www.cvut.cz/en CTU official website in English]
• [https://www.cvut.cz/ CTU official website in Czech]
• [http://studyatctu.com www.StudyAtCTU.com] Official website for international students
• [http://www.isc.cvut.cz International Student Club] Organization for international students
• [http://www.iaeste.cz IAESTE] Organization for international students
• [http://www.uceeb.cvut.cz/en UCEEB] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092703/http://www.uceeb.cvut.cz/en |date=2016-03-04 }} University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB)
• Top Industrial Managers for Europe (TIME) network for student mobility.

{{Public universities in the Czech Republic}}

{{Top Industrial Managers for Europe}}

{{Danube Rectors Conference}}

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