Charles University

Visit our admissions website www.studycharles.cz for all the study programmes offered by our University. It was originally founded by a charter issued on 7 April 1348 by Charles IV, King of Bohemia and King of the Romans, as the first Studium generale north of the Alps and east of Paris. Charles University is thus one of the oldest European universities. It was modelled on the universities in Bologna and Paris, and within a very short time it achieved international renown. It had four faculties: theology, liberal arts, law, and medicine. The academic community was comprised of teachers and students from the local area and further afield – but especially from the Central European region, for whom the University became an accessible and erudite Studium generale school. Charles’ son and successor Wenceslas (Václav) IV extended his influence over the University; in 1409 he issued the Kutná Hora Decree, by which he strengthened the status of Czech academic community members. Some of the masters and scholars left the Prague Studium generale in protest; this accentuated the University’s character as an institution with strong links to the Czech nation.