Mendel University in Brno is a public university founded in 1919 as the University of Agriculture in Brno, bearing its current name since 2010.
Mendel University in Brno (MENDELU) is a public university based in Brno. According to the university archive, it is "the oldest independent university of its field in the Czech Republic" [1]. It was founded as the University of Agriculture in Brno (VŠZ) by Act No. 460 of 24 July 1919 [1][2].
Foundation and the interwar period
Efforts to establish a higher agricultural school in Moravia go back to 1864, according to the university archive, and for a long time met with "obstacles of a political, economic and national nature" [1]. The school could be founded only after the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak Republic in October 1918 [1]. The decisive step for the creation of the VŠZ was the conversion of the Provincial Agricultural Academy in Tábor into a university, its relocation to Brno and its placement in the building of the Provincial Institute for the Blind in Brno-Černá Pole [1]. The school initially had two departments, agriculture and forestry. In the 1919/1920 academic year, teaching took place only in the agricultural department; the forestry department was opened in October 1920 [1].
The postwar financial crisis and efforts to relocate the school to Slovakia threatened its existence from 1920 to 1924 [1]. In 1923 the school acquired the School Forest Estate in Adamov for the forestry department, and two years later the School Agricultural Estate in Žabčice for the agricultural department [1][2]. The Great Depression led to attempts to abolish the school in 1930 and 1931 [1].
Occupation and the postwar years
On 17 November 1939 the school, like the other Czech universities, was closed by the Nazi occupiers and placed under German commissioner administration. No teaching took place; instead, seventeen institutes for applied research were opened. According to the archive, during the Protectorate period the school suffered great material damage and the loss of members of the academic community [1]. The political screenings after February 1948 led to the expulsion of 27.7 percent of students [1].
Restructuring of the faculties after 1950
On the basis of the Higher Education Act, the original departments were abolished in 1950 and the Faculty of Agriculture and the Faculty of Forestry were established [1][2]. In 1951 the School Horticultural Estate in Lednice was set up for horticultural studies [1][2]. The Faculty of Agriculture was subsequently divided into the Faculty of Agronomy and the Faculty of Animal Science. In 1952 the abolished University of Veterinary Medicine in Brno was converted into the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and attached to the VŠZ [1]. The Faculty of Forestry was transferred to the Brno School of Civil Engineering and returned to the VŠZ in 1956 [1]. In 1959 the Faculty of Animal Science was abolished and its field incorporated into the Faculty of Agronomy, while the Faculty of Operations and Economics was established, given in the university's English overview as the Faculty of Business and Economics [1][2].
In 1964 a branch in Jihlava was established, where first-year teaching took place until 1994 [1]. In the 1960s, units were established for the use of radioisotopes, electron microscopy, computing, scientific and technical information, and a publishing centre, and the school joined the UNESCO programme through the department of the International Biological Programme [1]. In 1985 the Faculty of Horticulture in Lednice was established by separating the horticultural fields from the Faculty of Agriculture [2].
Name after 1990 and the present
In the 1990s the school adopted the name University of Agriculture and Forestry, given in English as Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, after Gregor Mendel, whom the university calls the "founder of genetics and one of the most important scientists in the world" [2]. The Faculty of Forestry was renamed the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology [2]. In 2000 all the school estates were merged into a single School Agricultural Enterprise in Žabčice [2]. In 2003 the Institute of Lifelong Learning was established, and it has been a university institute since 2006 [2]. In 2008 the Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies was founded [2]. In 2010 the university adopted its current name, Mendel University in Brno [2]. In 2011 the university institute CEITEC MENDELU was established at the Faculty of Agronomy as part of the inter-university centre of excellence CEITEC [2]. In 2012 the university received the ECTS Label and Diploma Supplement Label certificates from the European Commission, confirming the compliance of its study programmes and examination system with the principles of the Bologna Declaration [2]. In 2013 the Hrášek kindergarten was established for university employees [2].
In 2018 Danuše Nerudová became the first woman to head the university [2]. In 2019 the university celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding [2]. In 2020, according to the university, it became the first university in the Czech Republic to switch to distance learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic [2].