The Charles University administration and the Preparatory Committee for the celebration of the 650th anniversary of the establishment of Charles University have a firm idea about many of the questions regarding the course and content of the celebrations, but, a definitive program will be worked out and approved only at the beginning of 1996. Even then, certain corrections and some changes have to be counted with, as unforeseeable circumstances will undoubtedly occur.
The anniversary celebration will probably begin earlier, in the autumn of 1997.
From October to December an exhibition of contemporary Czech art will be held.
On 17 November 1997 the Rector will meet the students to unveil the commemorative plaques of Jan Opletal and Jan Palach at the Karolinum.
An exhibition on the history and importance of Charles University (in the basement and ground floor of the Karolinum) will be run for the period of eight months, while the part dedicated to the development of modern Czech science and its present state will be changed every two months.
A number of symposia and conferences will be held in Prague, Hradec Kralove and Pilsen, some of which will be included in official University events, while others will be organized in the faculties. The past will be dealt with in an international conference on the role of CU in Central Europe, organized by the international commission for the history of the University. Other conferences will be predominantly concerned with the problems of contemporary science.
The Faculty of Social Sciences is preparing an international conference on Czech society after 1989, the 2nd Faculty of Medicine an international conference dedicated to medical tuition, the Faculty of Science an international conference on the genetics and molecular biology of yeast, the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics a conference on the physics of hadrons and leptons in the field of TeV, the Faculty of Pedagogy a conference on teachers and their university education at the turn of the millennium. Other announced symposia will deal with Czech studies abroad, congenital heart conditions in adults, etc. The Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Kralove will organize a total of seven international meetings, one of which will concern the whole university.
International student meetings are being prepared with lectures by foreign experts in social sciences.
The jubilee will also be commemorated by a number of publications, first, the four-volume University History, of which the first has already been published, the second is being printed, and the remaining two will be published together with a concise English version by the time of the celebrations. Other publications will appear, including a list of cimelia. Apart from that, a minting of a commemorative coin is being planned, and a postage stamp will be issued. Around the end of 1998 an academic championship in judo will be organized. The jubilee year will be concluded with a Christmas concert. A calendar of all events will be issued in advance.