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Brief history of FTS and CTU 20 years, 10 years

Mission and presentation of the faculty

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The Faculty of Transportation Sciences offers programmes for Bachelor’s degrees, Master’s degrees and Doctorate studies focused on transportation and telecommunications. Fields of studies are focused on:

  • Transportation Systems and Technology
  • Management and Economics of Transportation and Telecommunications
  • Automation of Transportation and Telecommunications
  • Intelligent Transport Systems
  • Logistics and Transport Processes Control
  • Security Technologies in Transportation
  • Air Traffic Control and Management

Bachelor's degree and Master's degree study programmesprepare students for the future application of acquired knowledge in the fields of analyses, design, control, management, development and research related to transportation processes. The main attention is paid to the latest findings in economic theory, transportation theory, systems theory, safety and reliability of transport and telecommunication services, effects of transportation on the environment and methods for the efficient organization of logistic chains, services of new transportation technologies as well as the optimization of telecommunication processes. Amongst others things, the graduates of the Faculty’s study programmes are to be readied for activities related to network operators; they are to be capable of optimizing economic relations and contributing to quality enhancement through their knowledge in the field of management and information technologies.

Ph.D. degree programmes are based on scientific and research activities of the Faculty departments and they provide thorough theoretical groundings in the following fields:

  • Technology and Management in Transportation and Telecommunications
  • Transportation Systems and Technology
  • Air Traffic Control and Management
  • Transportation Logistics
  • Engineering Informatics in Transportation and Telecommunications

The Faculty of Transportation Sciences cooperates with the Czech Academy of Sciences and industrial entities, such as Škoda Auto a. s. Mladá Boleslav, AŽD Praha s. r. o., České dráhy a. s. (Czech Railways), SKANSKA ŽS Praha a. s., ELTODO a. s., SUDOP a. s., Metroprojekt a. s. and also with the Ministry of Transport of the CR and its research organization, the Transport Research Centre, and last but not least INTRANS a. s., Czech and Slovak combined transport.

The Faculty began its cooperation with SIEMENS CZ and from this association a unique laboratory for the development and testing of applications has been established and international projects prepared.

20th anniversary of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences

logo 20th anniversary of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences

Czech Technical University in Prague Faculty of Transportation Sciences in 2013 celebrated 20 years of its existence. Student Day of Faculty of Transport Sciences is the opening event for 2013. The aim is to open to prospective students, and the general and professional public. For the full year were prepared for events celebrating this important anniversary. By focusing refer to the rich history and offer a view into the future direction of the faculty. There are both professional meetings and conferences on transport and other more or less surprising activity seeking to introduce faculty in a different light than before.

A selection of events and activities carried out in 2013, can be found on the website akce.fd.cvut.cz

  • The stamp on the 20th anniversary of teaching at FTS
  • 11th European Transport Congress
  • Gala evening celebrations of the 20th anniversary foundation of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences
  • Almanac of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences
  • Bike ride with the Dean of FTS
  • Grant opening of the Transportation hall
  • ...

10th anniversary of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences


The conference "Transportation and telecommunications for the third millennium" (26.5.2003)

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The public ceremony session of the Scientific Council and Academic Senate FTS in the Bethlehem Chapel (26.5.2003)

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The conference "Transportation and telecommunications for the third millennium" (27.5.2003)

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Social meeting - banquet (27.5.2003)

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Autoři fotografií: Ing. Václav Machek, CSc.; Doc. Ing. Mirko Novák, DrSc.; Doc. Ing. Rudolf Pohl, CSc.; Ing. Ivan Poláček; Martin Brumovský

Brief history of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences

Transportation is a set of processes which lead to the purposeful movement of persons, objects, energy and information in space and time. By its very nature it is a phenomenon of interaction of a living creature with a technical artefact, in other words, interaction of human society with technological infrastructures, which broadens the dimension of human existence in space-time.

Transportation as an independent technical branch of science has developed in cooperation with other disciplines, especially those developed by other departments of the Czech Technical University, namely in the field of engineering and technologies for transportation routes and means of transport, telecommunications systems and equipment, and also in the field of technical and economic aspects of the operation and maintenance of transportation routes and means of transport. The fundamental methodology of transportation as a distinct field of engineering is a systematic way of a general comprehension of relations among transportation routes, means of transport, and interdependent operational and logistics systems. The most distinctive feature that shifts transportation and telecommunications fields of study from the area of interdisciplinary branches into a separate Master’s and Doctorate study is the application of engineering informatics and its use in economic models of behaviour together with its consequent application to the efficient transportation systems within a given territory in connection with the economic, environmental and cultural activities of humans.

Economists, in particular, are able to identify correctly the importance of transportation and telecommunications that form a system, which contributes significantly to the viability and prospects of economics of regions and larger territorial units. In addition, the impact of transport as an important civilizational factor on the environment cannot be denied.

By founding the Faculty of Transportation Sciences the management of the Czech Technical University in Prague expressed their determination to keep up with the world’s leading universities and to include the development of technologies and engineering into their scientific and educational objectives. In addition, they also focus on the development of fields of study which owing to engineering methods exceed wide areas of human activities together with their system organization in terms of time and space. Such an approach is required by the current process of globalization of world telecommunications and transportation systems; in practice, this is manifested, for instance, by an improved service planning diagrams for railway transportation or by system construction of combined transportation with respect to environmental consequences.

The Faculty of Transportation is one of eight faculties of the Czech Technical University in Prague. The CTU was founded on 18 January 1707 by the Emperor Joseph I on the initiative of Christian Joseph Willenberg, the recognized expert in fortification works who was appointed a professor by the Czech Estates Decree dated 9 November 1717. Teaching at this first school of engineering in Central Europe began in January 1718 and it was named the Estates School of Engineering in Prague. It was not until 30 years later when the renowned and still existing Parisian university École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées was established.

Initially, the Estates School of Engineering in Prague had a narrow focus on military and fortifications; then under its second professor Johann Ferdinand Schor, the painter and architect, and namely the third professor Franz Anton Leonard Herget, the surveyor and water management expert, the school shifted its focus to civil engineering.

In 1803, following the example of the Parisian university, the Emperor approved the proposal to transform the Estates School of Engineering into a Polytechnic Institute, which was brought to life by František Josef Gerstner, the astronomer and professor of mathematics and mechanics. The Polytechnic Institute in Prague remained a part of Prague University until 1815 and only then did it become independent. The headquarters of the Polytechnic Institute was in Husova Street in Old Town. In addition to František Josef Gerstner, the author of the horse-drawn railway from České Budějovice to Linz, the list of prominent figures of the Polytechnic Institute also includes Christian Doppler, the professor of mathematics and practical geometry.

Another milestone in the development of the University was in the year 1863 when the Polytechnic Institute acquired the status of university. This contributed to the reorganization of the educational workings and management of the university that was now led by an elected rector and offered four fields of study:

  • water and road construction,
  • building construction,
  • mechanical engineering,
  • chemistry.

Although the Czech language was an equal medium for instruction to German, frequent discrepancies between German and Czech teaching staff resulted in a split into Czech and German departments in 1869. A new building designed by the architect Professor Ullmann was constructed for the Czech department in Charles Square in the New Town. In 1878 two state exams were established and in 1901 the university was granted the right to award doctorate degrees in technical sciences.

The Czech Technical University has borne this name since 1920. It then focused on the following:

  • civil engineering,
  • architecture and building construction,
  • mechanical and electrical engineering,
  • chemical engineering and technology,
  • agricultural and forestry engineering,
  • special sciences,
  • business.

During the German occupation the University was closed. After the liberation in 1945 it was reopened and in 1952 the Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Chemical Technology became detached.

The Faculty of Transportation Sciences was originally established in September 1952 as a part of the CTU. The independent University of Railways started its activities in the academic year of 1953/1954 in Prague – Karlín and comprised of four faculties:

  • Faculty of Civil Engineering,
  • Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
  • Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
  • Faculty of Transportation Sciences.

At that time it was attended by 1,200 students and it comprised of 20 departments. In the academic year 1960/61 it was moved to Žilina and its name was changed to the University of Transport and Communications. In the academic year 1993/1994, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the Faculty of Transportation Sciences was a part of the Czech Technical University in Prague.

The Faculty of Transportation Sciences obtained accreditation for engineering studies by the decision of the Accreditation Commission CR on 5 May 1993. The status of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences was approved by the Academic Senate of the CTU on 9 June 1993. In the academic year 1993/94 the first 200 full-time students of engineering studies began to study at the Faculty in Prague while in the academic year 1995/96 they were joined by students in Bachelor degree studies in the Department in Děčín known until 2012 as the Institute for Bachelor Studies. Since 2013 its official name has been the “Department Děčín”. In 1998 the first 70 students of engineering studies officially graduated together with the first 15 students of Bachelor studies.

In the academic year 2003/2004 the so-called structured form of studies was launched. The aim of this new form was to respond to European trends in education and provide students and teachers with higher pass rates. In the academic year 2009/2010 the Faculty started teaching in English under the so-called Master’s joint-degrees study field “Intelligent Transport Systems” offered in cooperation with Linköpings University in Sweden and the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien in Austria. A year later (by the beginning of the academic year 2010/2011) the second Master’s joint-degrees study field “Transportation and Logistics Systems” in cooperation with the University of Žilina in the Slovak Republic and the University of Texas at El Paso (USA) was introduced. Starting that same academic year 2010/2011 the standard length of a Bachelor’s degree study was reduced from 4 to 3 years.

The management of the Faculty and the academic staff welcome all newly enrolled students for their first year in this academic year 2016/2017 and hope that your studies at any level within the Faculty of Transportation Sciences will be an enjoyable experience. We would also like to express our wish for your studies to be successfully completed or further continued in higher studies.

Brief history of the Czech Technical University

Old paperEngineering education has a long tradition in the Czech lands. One of its founders, Christian Joseph Willenberg, addressed a petition to Emperor Leopold I. in January 1705, asking permission to begin teaching engineering sciences. Leopold's son, Emperor Joseph I., who succeeded his father on Habsburg throne, responded to this request on 18th January 1707 with a decree in which he ordered the Czech general Estates to found an engineering school in Prague. Willenberg began teaching in his private flat with only 12 students. However, the number of students grew rapidly and reached more than 200 in 1779. Willenberg's successor was Jan Ferdinand Schor, author of the textbook on mathematical sciences taught at the Institute. The third Professor of the Institute of Engineering was František Antonín Herget, who was particulary well-known for his lectures on practical applications of mechanics.

In 1806, following the project of František Josef Gerstner, based on the model of l' Ecole Polytechnique de Paris, the institute of Engineering Education was transformed into Prague Polytechnic. At that time Prague Polytechnic was the only school of higher technical education in the Austrian empire.

Many other people famous for their work in the sciences worked and thought at Prague Polytechnic. The most outstanding was Christian Doppler, Professor of mathematics and practical geometry from 1837 to 1847. In 1842 Doppler formulated his well-known principle concerning the frequency shift of waves due to the relative velocity of the source and the observer. This effect is routinely used in many fields of human activities, including physics, astronomy, medicine, meteorology and transformation.

Old building In 1863, Prague Polytechnic was transformed into a technical university headed by a rector. At that time the studies were divided into 4 specialisations: Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil Engineering and Architecture.

In 1891, František Křižík, a former student of Prague Polytechnic, constructed the first electric street car in Prague. Architect Josef Zitek, a professor at the Polytechnic, designed many beautiful buildings in the Czech lands, Germany and Austria. His work included the National Theatre in Prague, the jewel of Czech architecture. In 1912, Jan Zvoníček professor of theory and design of steam engines and compressors, invented a radial steam turbine.

After the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the name of the school was changed in 1920 to the Czech Technical University in Prague, which united seven schools, including the School of Chemical Technology, the School of Agriculture and Forestry, and the School of Business. These three above mentioned schools developed into independent universities in the early 1950s.

In 1921, Academician František Klokner founded the research and testing institute for materials and structures, attached to CTU. This was the first institute of its kind in Central Europe and it exists still to this day.

CTU Professor František Běhounek, a postgraduate student of Marie Curie-Sklodowska, made important contributions to dosimetry. He participated in two expeditions to the North Pole, the second of which, led by Italian general Umberto Nobile, ended with the tragic crash of the airship ,,Italia". Běhounek continued making improvised measurements of natural radioactivity in the survivors' camp and obtained very important data.

In 1975, Professor Vlado Prelog, a 1928 CTU graduate, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

During the last three quarters of the last century, worldwide, the advanced in engineering and science have been enormous. However, the developments in the Czechoslovak Republic were slowed down by the Nazi occupation (1938-1945). Universities were closed for six years and by the economically stagnating communist regime (1948-1989) accompanied by the political oppression. Hundreds of students and scores of lectures and researchers were kicked out from the universities and research institutes. In spite of this, during these difficult times graduates and staff members of the Czech Technical University created numerous remarkable engineering and architectural works, developed noteworthy technologies, mechanical and electrical equipment, and achieved notable scientific accomplishments and inventions. Outstanding personalities associated with CTU have been so numerous that it would be fair to name a few here and to forget the others. Many have gained noteworthy prizes and awards, others have been promoted to Doctors Honoris Causa.

In the course of the last half century, the Czech Technical University in Prague has undergone several reorganisation: the faculty of economic sciences was closed after 1948, and the faculty of chemical technology and the faculty of agriculture became independent in 1952. after 1960, CTU had four faculties: of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and a forerunner of the present faculty of nuclear science and physical engineering. The faculty of architecture was founded in 1976, the faculty of transportation science in 1993, the faculty of biomedical engineering in 2005 and the faculty of information technology in 2009 - so at present, CTU has eight faculties.

From the brochure "Student Survival Guide to Prague", CTU Prague.