Palacky University Olomouc

Palacký University (UP) was founded in 1573 as the second university in the Czech Lands. Today it has more than 23 700 students at 8 faculties, covering fields from health sciences and medicine through modern and classical languages, philosophy, teacher training, sciences, law, sports and theology. Palacky University Olomouc (UP) is a university with long-standing traditions, located in the historical City of Olomouc. Students constitute nearly 25% of the city's population, which creates a unique atmosphere of a real “college town”. Founded in 1573, the second oldest university in the Czech Republic is a leading university in the field of research, striving for a permanent position among the three most important universities in the Czech Republic and among the top 500 universities in the world. The University actively supports internationalisation of educational and research environments, as well as the international mobility of students, academics and researchers. Particular attention is paid to the development of international strategic partnerships within its inspirationally diverse international academic collaboration framework.

In the recent years, the University has been actively represented at major international student fairs and EAIE, NAFSA, APAIE international professional conferences in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. As to the total number of foreign students, in 2015 there were 2895 international students from 90 countries studying at UP. The total number of foreign students in 2016 was 3201, which represented an annual increase of 10.56%. In 2017, the total number of foreign students increased to 3432 from 98 countries, in 2018 it was 4045 foreign students from 107 countries, and in 2019 it grew to 4497 foreign students from 108 countries. This continuous growth of the total number of foreign students studying at the University was between 2019 and 2013 more than 72% and in ten years 100%.

Speaking about the very recent years and activities related to excellence, in 2018 UP organized the Times Higher Education (THE) International Summit aimed at the possibilities of developing excellence in science, academic community and research in Central and Eastern Europe. UP ranked among the top ten in the THE New Europe 2018 Ranking evaluating universities from the 13 countries which had joined the EU since 2004. UP has been very active in the Erasmus+ programme, in mobility actions including Erasmus Mundus JMD and in many other significant international programmes, grants, projects such as Horizon 2020, ERC, Operational Programmes, Fulbright, Visegrad Fund, etc. Also due to the aforementioned, but particularly for reflecting the EAIE values (collaborative, inspiring, inclusive, excellence), in 2019, UP received the 2019 EAIE Award for Excellence in Internationalisation. Thanks to the Award, the University´s internationalisation has truly received the credit bringing in even more attention of national and international HEIs, international associations, institutions, institutes, and has also brought practical proposals for joint projects, consortia and stronger specific global academic collaboration.