Palacký University Olomouc
Palack University Olomouc is Moravia's oldest university and the Czech Republic's second-oldest. It was founded in 1573 in Olomouc, then the capital of Moravia and the seat of the episcopacy, as a public university led by the Jesuit order. It first solely taught religion, but philosophy, law, and medicine were soon added.
The university became increasingly state-directed during Bohemian King Joseph II's reforms in the 1770s, and it is now a public university. During the 1848 Revolution, university students and professors actively supported the cause of democratization. During the 1850s, conservative King Francis Joseph I shuttered most of the university's faculties, but they were restored on February 21, 1946, by an act of the Interim National Assembly. This act also changed the name of the university from University of Olomouc to Palack University Olomouc, in honor of Frantiek Palack, a Moravian historian and statesman who lived in the nineteenth century.
With roughly 25,000 university students (including those at Moravian College Olomouc) compared to a population of 100,000, Olomouc has the largest density of university students in Central Europe (and as many again in its suburbs). Albrecht von Wallenstein and Gregor Mendel are two notable alumni who have taught, worked, and studied at the university.
- QS Ranking 2022: 601
- THE Ranking 2022: 801
- ARWU Ranking 2021: 701
Founded: 1573
Location: Olomouc
Website: http://www.upol.cz/en/
