Prague University of Economics and Business (VŠE) is a public university with an economic focus based in Prague, founded in 1953.
Prague University of Economics and Business (VŠE) is a public university with an economic focus based in Prague. According to the university's own description, VŠE is the largest public economics university in the Czech Republic[1]. The university is divided into six faculties, which offer bachelor's, master's, doctoral and MBA study programmes[1]. More than 13,000 students study at VŠE[1].
Foundation and early years
The University of Economics was established under a government decree on 1 September 1953 by abolishing the existing VŠPHV and substantially expanding its Faculty of Economics, whose creation had been prepared during the 1952/53 academic year[1]. The new university comprised the faculties of general economics, production economics, domestic trade (later renamed the Faculty of Domestic and Foreign Trade), finance and credit, and statistics[1]. The seat of the new university became the building of the former apprentice school, or rather the rectorate of the VŠPHV, in Žižkov, today known as the Old Building[1].
Development of the faculties and 1968
In 1968 the Faculty of Political Economy was renamed the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Production Economics and the Faculty of Trade continued to operate, and the Institute of National Economic Planning was renamed the Faculty of Management[1]. These four faculties made up VŠE throughout the 1970s and 1980s[1].
According to the history of the university, teachers and students took part in the reform process, and students expelled from study since 1948 were rehabilitated[1]. Teachers and students participated in the nonviolent resistance to the Soviet occupation, and students organised the November strike and other protest actions[1]. Some VŠE staff and students went into exile[1].
1989 and the reorganisation after 1991
According to the university, the student strike, supported by most teachers and staff, contributed to the victory of the so-called Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989[1].
In 1991 the reorganisation of the university's structure produced five new faculties: the Faculty of Finance and Accounting, the Faculty of International Relations, the Faculty of Business Administration, the Faculty of Informatics and Statistics, and the Faculty of National Economy[1]. From the 1991/92 academic year VŠE introduced a credit system of study as the first university in Czechoslovakia, with study organised as a three-level system: bachelor's, engineer's and doctoral[1]. In the same year the Association of Graduates and Friends of VŠE was founded[1].
Campus expansion and international recognition
In 1993 construction of the VŠE campus in Jižní Město was completed, which expanded the university's facilities by a total of 15,157 m2 of usable floor area[1].
In 1998 the university expanded by a sixth faculty, the Faculty of Management in Jindřichův Hradec, which until then had operated within the University of South Bohemia, based in České Budějovice[1]. On the basis of an international evaluation, VŠE became a full member of the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS) in the same year[1]. The first of VŠE's scholarly journals, Politická ekonomie, was included in the JCR Social Science Web of Knowledge database and became an impact-factor journal[1]. In the same year a new auditorium was completed at the university's seat in Žižkov[1].
University leadership and further development
In 2000 a woman was elected to the university's leadership for the first time in its history, Prof. Ing. Jaroslava Durčáková, CSc.[1]
In 2006 VŠE introduced the European credit system ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System)[1]. In 2010 a multifunctional sports hall in Třebešín was handed over for use[1].