VŠPJ celebrated its birthday with the Week of Higher Education in Jihlava - 20 years of VŠPJ

The Polytechnic College Jihlava was established by law on 3 June 2004 as the first public non-university college in the Czech Republic and in the two decades since its establishment it has become an indispensable centre of regional education.

The celebrations, which fell on the week of June 3 to 9, 2024, were in the spirit of cultural, social, educational as well as sporting events. The birthday week was kicked off by the Rector of the VŠPJ, Zdeněk Horák, with the cutting of a birthday cake in the VŠPJ lobby. This was followed by the placing of items representing the VŠPJ in a time capsule for future generations and the planting of a memorial lime tree in the VŠPJ Park.

Monday evening belonged to the ceremony in the Horácké divadlo Jihlava, where the commemorative medals of the Polytechnic University Jihlava were presented to those personalities who have contributed to the spread of education and academic freedoms and the development of the Polytechnic University Jihlava, who have made a significant contribution to the scientific, research, creative and pedagogical focus of the university.

Rector Zdeněk Horák presented a total of 22 commemorative medals, two of them in memoriam, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of VŠPJ. The commemorative medals were awarded to the rectors emeritus Václav Báča and Jakub Novotný, as well as personalities from among the employees, representatives of the Vysočina Region and the statutory city of Jihlava. Among the awardees were the Emeritus Governor of the Vysočina Region and current President of the Senate of the Czech Republic Miloš Vystrčil, current Governor of the Vysočina Region Vítězslav Schrek, Emeritus Governor Jiří Běhounek, current Mayor of the Statutory City of Jihlava Petr Ryška, Emeritus Mayor Jaroslav Vymazal and Emeritus Mayor Karolína Koubová. The commemorative medal in memoriam was awarded to Ladislav Jirků, the first rector of the Polytechnic University of Jihlava, and František Dohnal, the governor emeritus.

Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Mikulas Bek also attended the ceremony.

Tuesday's programme included a discussion on the importance of regional universities for the regions in the Czech Republic. Miroslav Holeček, Rector Emeritus of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Radka Wildová, Director of the Section of Higher Education, Science and Research of the Ministry of Education, Hana Hajnová, Deputy Minister of the Vysočina Region, Monika Prášilová, representative of the Labour Office, and Martin Plachý, representative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

After the round table, the professional simulation classrooms of the Department of Health Studies, namely the classrooms of the intensive care unit and the delivery room, were inaugurated at the Polytechnic University of Jihlava. These practical classrooms are equipped with state-of-the-art hospital equipment and students can try out real procedures on real devices, using a wide range of nursing, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, including the application of drugs and monitoring their effect in real time. Thus, the classrooms will not only help learners, but also those doctors in the future who want or need to upgrade their qualifications in various fields.

Wednesday at the Polytechnic College, memorialists who stood at the birth of the college came together to reminisce about the time when the Polytechnic College Jihlava was founded. Among those invited were, among others, the long-time vice-rector, an important personality in the foundation and development of the Polytechnic College Jihlava Alena Štěrbová, the emeritus vice-rector and co-founder of the college Zdeněk Laštovička and the emeritus vice-rector and co-founder of the college Jiří Vaníček.

The afternoon programme belonged to Michal Stehlik, a leading expert on modern Czech history, who gave a lecture on the Babice 1951 case. The Crossroads of Stories. He helped employees, students and the general public to uncover the events surrounding the so-called Babice case, on the basis of which the communist regime executed 11 innocent victims. The lecture was followed by the unveiling of the Memorial to the Executed Innocent Victims of the Communist Regime at the site behind the brick wall of the former regional courthouse in Tyršova Street, where innocent political prisoners were executed. The author of the memorial is architect Zdeněk Sendler.

The anniversary celebrations of the VŠPJ culminated on Wednesday evening with the first ever Polytechna Fest - an electronic one man show by Ventolin, noise explosions by the band Chief Bromden, jazz and soul soaked hip hop by Jihlava's Behind the Beat, an energetic group of well-coordinated musicians SpazierGang and a drumming performance by the Drumband group made up of clients of the Jihlava Day and Weekly Residential Centre. These are just some of the highlights of the rich program prepared by the VŠPJ for the visitors of Polytechna Fest.

Thursday's program then belonged to the younger age groups. For the seventh time, the Masaryk Square was the venue of the Sports with the University of Applied Sciences, where a day full of fun and sport awaited young and older visitors. Active and passive athletes could enjoy the traditional human football tournament for the traveling cup, climbing wall, baseball simulator, athletics, parkour, archery and more.

The weekend then commemorated the first rector, Ladislav Jirka, and his passion for baseball. From 7 to 9 June, the first edition of the international baseball tournament Memorial of Rector Ladislav Jirků - VŠPJ Cup took place in the Sports Complex of the Otokara Březina and Demlova Elementary Schools as part of the Sports with VŠPJ 2024 project. The international baseball tournament, which is held in honour of the first rector of VŠPJ and one of the founders of baseball in Jihlava Ladislav Jirku, is intended for teams competing in the youth category up to 13 years old. Teams from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Germany came to play for the traveling baseball cup. After a thrilling duel in the final with Ježky Jihlava, the A-team from Austria finally took the trophy.

The Week of Higher Education in Jihlava - 20 years of VŠPJ was financially supported by Highlands Region and the Statutory City of Jihlava.