Czech Republic's oldest university elects first ever female head

Prague, Oct 22 (CTK) - Milena Králíčková has been elected the first ever female rector of Charles University, the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic.

Her term as head of the university will run from February 2022 until 2026, once her election is confirmed by the president.

Králíčková will replace Tomáš Zima in the position. In a ballot of the university’s Academic Senate, Králíčková was successful in the first round of voting, gaining an absolute majority of the 70-member voting panel.

Králíčková, 49, graduated from Charles University’s Medical Faculty in Plzeň, West Bohemia, where she has headed the Institute of Histology and Embryology since 2011.

Since 2014, she has been the university’s vice-rector for study affairs. She has also been a leading personality in the 4EU+ European alliance of universities coordinated by the French Sorbonne university, also including universities in Heidelberg, Copenhagen, Milan and Warsaw. She is also an ambassador of the Fulbright Commission.

Králíčková’s forthcoming tasks as Charles University rector include the construction of a scientific and educational campus in Prague's Albertov neighborhood, expected to cost CZK 8 billion and scheduled for completion by the end of 2025.

Czech universities will soon also be able to draw on money from the EU-subsidized National Recovery Plan, aimed at restarting and modernizing the economy after the coronavirus crisis.