This academic year, in accordance with a decision of its Annual General Meeting and Governing Board, the Association of Graduates and Friends of Charles University - Carolinum, stopped publishing its printed report (Oznamatel). This is to be replaced in future by the regular section that in recent years has already been appearing in our university-wide magazine Forum under the heading "Association of Graduates and Friends of Charles University". This section will either appear once every two months as the Association would like), or simply from time to time. The choice will depend on you, present or future members and readers, to whom we are appealing to participate in the association's activities and to take out subscriptions to Forum (by filling out the application forms). We believe that there are many people in our society who would be happy to take part in the life of "their" university, and so we are sure that the section that follows will not disappear from our pages, and the activities of the Association of Graduates and Friends of Charles University - Carolinum - will continue to flourish.
When, at the beginning of 1991, people had the idea of creating a society of graduates and friends of Prague university on the model of similar European and American university associations, it was clear to the participants in the first general meeting that only the fundamental, exciting changes in our society initiated in 1989, made the association's foundation possible. The idea very rapidly found a broad-based response not only among Charles University graduates at home but also among former members of the university academic community abroad.
The current form of the association derives from statutes passed by its last General Meeting on the 7th of April 1996. These establish that the Association of Alumni and Friends of Charles University in Prague - Carolinum - is an independent voluntary organisation for graduates of Prague's Charles University and for its well-wishers. The aim of the Carolinum Association is to cultivate and maintain the links between members of the academic community past and present, and to create an informal society of people who have remained aware of the words of the ceremonial oath of graduation whereby graduates of Charles University promise to keep in their thoughts and memory the good name of their "alma mater".
The purpose of the Association is the following:Membership of the Carolinum Association is open to all individuals and legal entities, and above all graduates of Charles University, who wish to support the activities of the association and the university. The Committee of the Association has the right to award honorary membership, which has been conferred on honorary doctors and holders of the gold and silver medals of Charles University.