I would like to thank all more than 220 members of the academic community of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, who have supported my nomination to the office of the Dean of the Faculty.

My thanks go also to the members of the Academic senate of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, who have voted for me in such a convincing way.

M. Rokyta, March 31, 2024 and April 18, 2024, respectively

General theses of the election program     

doc. RNDr. Mirko Rokyta, CSc.

Preamble

The electoral term of the current faculty management expires on September 5, 2024. Therefore, in November 2023, the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University (AS MFF UK) announced the forthcoming election of a candidate for the office of the Dean of the Faculty for the period September 6, 2024 – September 5, 2028. This election will take place at the AS MFF UK meeting on April 17, 2024. I have decided to stand as a candidate in this election and will therefore strive to hold the position of Dean in the next period as well. The text presented below contains a general outline of my ideas for the path our faculty should take over the next four years.

Vision and continuity

Woody Allen, a famous film director once said: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” In the spirit of this statement, it is worth recalling February 2020, i.e. the time when I wrote the general theses of my program for the election of a candidate for the office of a Dean for 2020-2024. At that time, no one had any idea that in the next four years we would face two years of covid, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, significant indebtedness of the state budget and, as a result, problems with the financing of university education. I am therefore always a little uncomfortable when faced with the requirement of creating a long-term vision. I understand its content as binding, in a way, so I am usually reluctant to promise something that extends beyond the horizon in which I can influence the course of things.

Nevertheless, I still have a sort of a vision that influences the decisions I could make at the crossroads of the paths I follow. In this sense, I would very much like to see our faculty at the end of the twenties of this century to be

• a scientifically strong and self-confident faculty that wants to compare itself, and is not afraid of comparing itself with the best institutions in a global context;
• the faculty, where top-class teaching takes place in a modern environment and with the use of modern technologies; a faculty that is friendly to students, that engages students in research at all levels of study, and that understands student education as a collaboration between students and teachers on a common path to gaining knowledge;
• a faculty that is managed efficiently, a faculty where "what is central in nature is centralized, and what is local in nature is managed locally";
• a faculty consisting of three relatively independent Schools, and at the same time a faculty united by the idea of one common “Matfyz”.

However, the vision can be not only a distant destination beyond the horizon of a local time, but the vision can also be the path we take to this destination ("The path determines the destination." - Mahathmá Gandhí). In this sense, my vision or work plan for the next period is based primarily on the notion of continuity (although mathematicians know that a mere continuity does not preclude a rather wild behavior, hence a "smooth continuation" for them). It is mainly about continuity in the sense of the same style of work as the management of the Faculty presented in the years 2020-2024. I.e. the style that is based on

• communication within the faculty, listening to the needs of their employees and students, and trying to thoroughly explain all the steps that the management of the Faculty is taking, so that they are comprehensible to the faculty public;
• a style of work that is based on a careful monitoring of developments both at the faculty and at Charles University or in the wider “outside world” with the aim of trying to find the best solution for the faculty at every moment;
• a cooperative and active, or more exactly active and cooperative relationship with the management of Charles University.

In a narrower sense of the word „vision“, one can surely give a list of the specific most important tasks that await the faculty in the next period. These include:

• Active participation in the building of the Biocentrum of the Campus Albertov, ensuring the financing of the Faculty's share of the costs of this construction and creating conditions for the future operation of the Biocentrum; in this context, the general care of the faculty's investment fund is particularly important so that some important Faculty investment projects can also be carried out.
• As a result of the expected adoption of the amendment to the Higher Education Act, to reset the conditions for the study especially of students of doctoral study programs (legislative settings, financial balance).
• Carefully follow the process of modifying the financing of teaching, which is planned to be carried out by the management of the Charles University in the near future, and actively participate in its course.
• To put into practice the newly approved Career order of the Faculty. With its help to strive for a competitive and balanced structure of the academic and scientific community of the Faculty.
• To try to increase the safety of the Faculty as a so-called "soft target"; to solidify the feeling of safety of employees and students of the Faculty.

A more detailed list of tasks, for those who want to read longer and more specific text, is provided in a separate document.

In the case of a candidacy for a second term, some brief reflection of the first term is also expected. However, I do not want to list at this point what has been done and what has not been done. Instead, I would simply refer to the strategic documents of the MFF UK, https://www.mff.cuni.cz/cs/fakulta/uredni-deska/dlouhodobe-a-strategicke-zamery-mff-uk, where those who are interested can find what I consider to be most important thing concerning all so-called visions: how these visions have been transformed into specifically planned tasks for each year and how these tasks have been fulfilled. I have always seen these documents not as a mandatory essay exercise, but as a plan of work for the year, the implementation of which is controlled by the faculty's Academic Senate and its Scientific Board. On the page, the plan for 2024 also indicates what particular actions the management of the Faculty wants to address not only for the remainder of the current term, but also in the beginnings of a possible future term.

By writing down basic general ideas about managing the Faculty and by reference to the above page of particular tasks of the past and for the immediate period planned, I would like to end this (more concise) part of my thesis with a promise: If I am again given confidence and I am elected as a candidate for Dean by the Academic Senate also for the period 2024 – 2028, I will devote myself to my work again with full dedication, having in mind that I lead one of the best faculties in the Czech Republic.

M. Rokyta, March 31, 2024