The Technical University of Liberec was established by a government decision of 27 February 1953 as the University of Mechanical Engineering. The building of the then F. X. Šalda grammar school in Hálkova Street was made available to the new school.[1] Its studies focused on fields typical of northern Bohemia: mechanical engineering and the textile, clothing, glass and ceramics industries.[1]
Beginnings and expansion
The first courses began on 1 October 1953 with 259 students. The school had six departments and only 19 teachers, and the students lived in a dormitory in Zeyerova Street.[1] In the following years the number of students and the amount of space grew, new dormitories were built, and the school acquired the building of a former textile factory in Doubí and further premises around today's Studentské náměstí. The first 121 graduates completed their studies in 1958 with a ceremony in the Liberec theatre.[1]
In 1960 the school was divided into a mechanical and a textile faculty and renamed the University of Mechanical Engineering and Textiles in Liberec (VŠST). It also acquired buildings in Sokolská Street and the premises of the closed pedagogical institute in Komenského Street.[1]
Dormitories and buildings
As the number of students grew, accommodation capacity became insufficient. In 1977 construction began in Starý Harcov on a complex of six dormitory blocks with 2,300 beds, a new canteen and other facilities, which was completed in its present form in 1990.[1] In 1992 the school took over the building of the former Stavoprojekt in Voroněžská Street, where the university library was established, and a site in Vesec used as dormitories and laboratories. In 1996 the former House of Political Education in 1. máje Street was added.[1]
Faculties and university status
Between 1990 and 1995 several further faculties were founded. The Faculty of Education began to be built up in 1990 (today the Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education), the Faculty of Economics followed in 1992, the Faculty of Architecture in 1994 (today the Faculty of Arts and Architecture) and the Faculty of Mechatronics and Interdisciplinary Studies in 1995.[1] The youngest is the Faculty of Health Studies, which was established on 1 August 2016 by transforming the Institute of Health Studies. The institute had been set up on 1 December 2004 to obtain accreditation for a three-year bachelor's programme in nursing.[1]
Thanks to its development, its own research and its international relations, the school received the name Technical University of Liberec under Act No. 192/1994 Coll. of 27 September 1994, effective from 1 January 1995.[1]