“One of the main challenges is the opening of the birth celebrations of Johann Gregor Mendel. We will publish the program in the spring. We will focus a lot not only on our students but also on high school students. Mendel is still better known abroad than at home, and we want to change that together with other institutions,” said Danuše Nerudová, Rector of Mendel University in Brno.

For students and educators alike, the pandemic of a new type of coronavirus has brought many changes. At present, the summer semester will certainly begin in the remote teaching mode. “In the field of teaching, we are preparing further development and support of online teaching with an emphasis on a combination of different teaching methods collectively called blended learning, creating teaching aids for modern teaching methods using student involvement and personal activity or new methods such as microlearning, based on current communication methods. and tools, mobile phones and tablets and reflecting the current time management of our students, “said Vice-Rector for Education Radim Farana. Flexible forms of teaching will also be reflected in the new Strategic Plan 2021+, which will determine the further direction of the university in the light of the pandemic. It will also reflect the uniqueness of school enterprises, which must cope with the effects of climate change, basically at the level of traditional business entities.

MENDELU will also focus on employees. This year, he will defend the HR AWARD, which he received in 2018 as the first university in the Czech Republic. “An updated action plan will also be launched, the essential part of which is the introduction of annual personal plans for all employees and the formulation of a unified university education strategy for employees,” said Jitka Janová, Vice-Rector for Quality and Human Resources Management.

According to her, the university will also launch a pilot project to support senior academics, in which it will verify the potential of individual language education and individual coaching in the academic environment. “Coaching is standard support for excellence in science at Western universities. Within Czech universities, MENDELU will be one of the first to consider the introduction of such support for researchers and launch pilot projects,” said Janová. MENDELU will also focus on restarting a scientific career after a break due to parenthood. Even in this case, it is highly above-standard support of scientists in the Czech Republic.

At the end of last year, Mendel University in Brno passed the test of an international evaluation panel of foreign experts for the first time. He will implement their comments this year. Another challenge in terms of scientific and other projects will be the preparation for the new period of operational programs. In the past, the university has entered several international rankings, which are evaluated by European and world universities. The Green metric ranking, an environmental assessment school, will be added. The evaluation committee is currently visiting the university to assess the university’s application for institutional accreditation in six areas of education.