Present (without titles):
Jiří Adámek, Doubravka Dostálová, Eliška Drbohlavová, Cyril Janeček, Marta Ljubková, Hana Malaníková, David Mírek (online), Filip Novák (online), Tomáš Pavelka, Karolina Plicková,
Kateřina Štefková (online)
Excused (without titles):
Roman Černík, Anastázie Dobrodinská
Guests present (without titles):
Karel František Tománek (Dean of DAMU), Jan Sedláček (Secretary of DAMU), Jan-Jakub Šenkeřík
Number of Senators and Senators present: 11
Majority: 6
At the beginning Karolina Plicková, the Chair of AS DAMU, welcomed the attendees, introduced them to the agenda and invited them to add any additional items.
1. Welcoming a new member of the AS DAMU
2. Preparations for the election of the Dean* of DAMU for the term 2025-2029 and election of the election committee
3. Discussion on the DAMU budget for 2025 - rapporteur David Mírek
4. Solidarity with the cultural sector in Slovakia
5. Miscellaneous
No additional suggestions were made. K. Plick called for an acclamation vote on the agenda.
Vote on the agenda:
For 11
Against 0
Abstained 0
All Senators and Senators present and attached expressed their agreement with the submitted programme.
K. Plicková summarized that by letter dated 18.7.2024 Lukáš Brychta terminated his membership in the AS DAMU as of 31.7.2024, as from 1.8.2024 he took up the position of Vice-
Dean for scientific research activities, while this position is incompatible with membership in the AS DAMU according to Article 1 (5) of the Election Regulations of the AS DAMU.
On the basis of the results of the Elections to the AS DAMU held on 5.-6.3.2024 and in accordance with Article 2 (17) of the Electoral Regulations of the AS DAMU, the vacant position
of member* of the AS DAMU was filled by letter dated 18.7.E. Spoustová-Málková has decided, for reasons that are essential for her, to cede her seat in the AS DAMU to the next in line.
By letter dated 22.7.2024, Tomáš Pavelka was called to fill the vacant position of member* of the AS DAMU, with the date of joining the AS DAMU no earlier than 1.8.2024.
According to Article 2, paragraph 17 of the Election Regulations of the AS DAMU, T. Pavelka becomes a full member of the AS DAMU on the day of the first meeting of the AS DAMU after her appointment as the Chairperson of the AS DAMU, which is today 18.9.2024.
K. Plicková informed the members of the DAMU AS about the current course of preparations for the election of the Dean* of DAMU for the term 2025-2029 and proposed a possible
sequence of the program and practical and technical details of the DAMU Academic Assembly and the subsequent meeting of the DAMU AS, at which the election will take place. Both events are scheduled for Friday 18.10.2024.
Discussion:
Members of the AS DAMU discussed practical issues as well as the process of selecting candidates for the appointment of the Dean*s and the criteria that influence the decision-making of the Senators and Senators. According to David Mirko, the main criteria for decision making are the concepts of the candidates. Hana Malaníková stated that the candidates are long-time members*of the AO DAMU; therefore, the Senate makes decisions based on both concepts and personal experience. Discussions with the DAMU AO are also essential.
Tomáš Pavelka apologized that he would unfortunately not be able to attend the vote on the proposal for the appointment of the Dean* on 18 October due to other work commitments. He
had previously consulted with K. Plicková whether it is not possible to vote remotely online - it turned out that it is not possible, the Rules of Procedure of the AS DAMU does not allow this.
The schedule of events on 18.10. is also no longer possible to change due to the time possibilities of other members of AS DAMU and other practical reasons. T. Pavelka also
pointed out that the Rules of Procedure of the DAMU AS prescribe that the DAMU AO assembly and the DAMU AS meeting (where the election takes place) must be held on the same day, and
that the DAMU AS had already resolved in an earlier composition during the 2020 election to change this setting (this change to the internal regulations did not happen in the end).
Therefore, he suggested that the AS DAMU should consider modifying the relevant provisions of the AS DAMU Rules of Procedure in the future, with the aim of electing the Dean* of DAMU e.g. one week after the discussion with the candidates.
Doubravka Dostálová responded that in the current setup, just to ensure a greater time gap between the discussion of the candidates with the DAMU AO and the vote itself, the student chamber of the DAMU AS will organize one more debate with the candidates in advance before 18.10.
AS DAMU agreed on the following parameters of the 18.10.2024 event:
The AO DAMU Assembly will be held from 16:00 to 18:00 at the DISK Theatre. Both candidates will have 15 minutes to introduce themselves and their concept. In the following 90 min. will be open for questions from the Academic Community of DAMU. English interpreters from the
DAMU students will be present in the DISK Theatre. The assembly will be streamed; questions can be asked in writing via the MS Teams platform by members of the DAMU Academic
Community who will be present online; the public will be able to watch the event on YouTube. An invitation to the Assembly will be sent to the DAMU Academic Community in October with all practical details.
At 19:00 in the meeting room of the DAMU, the meeting of the AS DAMU will begin, during which a secret ballot will be held on the proposal for the appointment of the Dean* of the DAMU for the term of office 2025-2029.
At 16:50 T. Pavelka leaves.
K. Plicková proposed an election committee consisting of Hana Malaníková (chair of the committee), Doubravka Dostálová (member of the committee) and David Mírek (member of
the committee). She justified the timing of her proposal a month before the relevant meeting to allow the proposed members to prepare for their role in peace. She proposed to conduct the actual election of the Elections Committee at the October 18 meeting for practical reasons; the Senators and Senators present agreed.
We are waiting for the concepts of the candidates, the deadline for their submission is 20.9.2024.
At 17:00 the Dean of DAMU and the Secretary of DAMU arrived.
K. Plicková stated that the approval of the faculty budget for a given year usually happens only in the spring months of the year and in time pressure, and therefore the DAMU AS opens the discussion on the basis and priorities of the DAMU budget for 2025 now, to allow for a calmer balance.
The materials for the approval of the DAMU budget for 2024 as well as the document Analysis of the differences in salaries of academic staff between the faculties of higher education institutions in the Czech Republic, which dates back to May 2024 and was prepared by analysts from Govlab and the Faculty of Informatics and Statistics of the University of Economics in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. The document confirms that the salary situation at art schools is generally dismal, with AMU appearing at the bottom of the comparative tables (all documents can be found by the DAMU Academic Community on the Senate SharePoint).
K. Plicková thanked the Dean and the Secretary of DAMU for accepting the invitation and asked David Mírk for an introduction.
D. Mírek stated that it is crucial to clarify where the Senate can help and have a say in budget preparations. Secretary J. Sedlacek summarized that the DAMU budget development timeline is decided by the AMU leadership, coordinated by the Bursar. AMU management will formally begin the budget preparation process when they receive information on the amount of the educational activity allowance. However, the DAMU Academic Senate may discuss aspects of the budget outside the formal timetable. He added that although we have budgets from previous years, there may be a change in 2025 from the Ministry of Education - and therefore last year's budget is only a partial guide. Within the budget structure, the DAMU AS is focusing on TA01, the contribution to educational activities, which is related to salaries. The volume of funding for salaries and the structure of resources compared to other universities does not allow for comparable salaries, as shown in the presented analysis of salaries in the university sector. He appreciated the material on the Wage Gap Analysis... and added that D. Mírek spoke of the custom by which resources are distributed within the faculty, but that it is also a commitment of the institution based on labour relations. These were the basis for the calculation of the allocation breakdown prior to the Secretary taking office three years ago. The contribution breakdown continues to be discussed and modified. D. Mirek stated that much of the budget is pretty much unchanged. He wondered which items are variable and what the prospective changes are (student grant competition, research funds, etc.). He also brought up a topic that runs through the faculty across departments, and that is the extra funds that may come from the MIT for 2025 - and the question is where they are going.
The Secretary responded that there are indeed changes every year. Some of the funding is stable in terms of purpose. Some of it is variable (e.g., new project opportunities with funders). He pointed out that decisions on the use of funds are made by the relevant managers, including the heads of departments (DAMU's internal control system).
Jiří Adámek left at 17:32, followed shortly by Jan-Jakub Šenkeřík.
Hana Malaníková asked whether we can count on funds for the internal competition even before the budget is approved.
Hana Malaníková asked whether we can count on funds for the internal competition even before the budget is approved.
The Secretary talked about the competitions within DAMU, and elaborated on the internal DAMU grant competition and its schedule. If the DAMU AS would like to make a decision on the competition grant earlier, i.e. in the year before the year of the project implementation, it will be decided in ignorance of how much funds will be realistically available in the educational activities grant. It will not know whether the contribution will be increased or decreased. From an accounting perspective, there is no problem in setting up actions for projects and drawing down funds from the beginning of the calendar year.
K. Plickova inquired about two topics. First, whether a sabbatical (creative sabbatical) will be instituted at DAMU. And secondly, whether there is a possibility to move some more funds to the salaries at DAMU, whether there are any loopholes in this direction within the faculty (most of the senators and senatoresses have already advocated for decent remuneration during their candidacy to the DAMU AS).
The Secretary responded that DAMU manages with limited financial resources that do not allow for significant salary increases. The DAMU management has taken several steps to create the conditions for efficient management (internal control system delegating powers to departments) and to raise additional resources (building a grants department), which secondarily allows to increase the available resources from the contribution to educational activities. At the same time, he stated that a medium-term management outlook would be submitted to the DAMU AS for discussion of the management with a three-year perspective, which would allow to assess the management in a time context
K. Plickova continued that one thing is the contribution from the Ministry, but another thing is the reallocation of funds within DAMU. She asked whether the maximum was actually being done to improve the wage situation and whether investments were not being prioritised, for example.
The Secretary responded that part of the AO believes that funds are being put into investments at the expense of salaries. But funds that are earmarked for investment are not earmarked for wages. The investment projects undertaken are beneficial for the infrastructural development of the faculty. He also added that it is not uncommon in academic senates to have a budget committee with which the Dean or the Registrar can interact on a more regular basis. He recommended a similar committee to the DAMU AS to facilitate communication on the budget.
The Dean stated that the sabbatical requires discussion. The decision to grant such sabbaticals should not be made by one person (the Dean); there is an option to leave this to the departments (if someone wants to take a sabbatical, have the head of that department allocate funds for this). There is still the possibility of setting aside funds from the faculty, but there would have to be clearly written rules about who can take such sabbaticals. He sees sabbatical as a substantive issue that needs to be talked about.
D. Mirek agreed that it would be great to have a budget committee in the Senate and only address the most important information at a joint Senate meeting. He stated that by following a certain methodology, savings can be made "inside" the institution as we have an overload of students who have a lot of courses that someone has to teach for inadequate pay, and then those funds have to be reallocated. Those are the loopholes and opportunities where the allocation of funds could be adjusted - and some sort of regular agenda for the budget committee could be put in place.
K. Plick welcomed the fact that we are moving towards a concrete step and asked D. Mírka to initiate the formation of a budget committee of the DAMU AS. D. Mirek accepted the challenge and promised to contact the Secretary on this matter.
Jan Sedlacek and Karel F. Tomanek left at 6:00 p.m., followed shortly thereafter by Marta Ljubková.
K. Plicková recapitulated that during the summer holidays AS DAMU was involved in the creation of a faculty-wide statement on the disturbing events in Slovakia. The text was published on the faculty website on 9.8.2024 under the title DAMU statement on the actions of the Slovak Minister of Culture Martina Šimkovičová.
Those present discussed the possibilities of further support for the Slovak cultural and academic scene and the concrete possibilities of supporting the Cultural Strike, which is organised by the Open Culture platform. Eliška Drbohlavová proposed to highlight this topic in the framework of the upcoming celebrations of the 35th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution (the celebrations are planned for 16-17 November 2024).
K. Plicková pointed out that in addition to the election of the Dean* of DAMU, the election of the Rector* of AMU is also approaching. On 9 September 2024, in accordance with Article 3(1)
of the Rules of Procedure of the AMU AS as amended, the Academic Senate of AMU decided to start the selection of candidates for the appointment of the Rector of AMU for the term of office 2025-2029. The deadline for submission of proposals for candidates is set for 21.10.2024.
The Chairwoman of the AS DAMU thanked those present for their active participation and invited them to the next meeting, which is scheduled for Friday 4.10.2024 at 16:00 in the DAMU meeting room.
Attachments:
1. Materials for the approval of the DAMU budget for 2024
2. Analysis of differences in salaries of academic staff between faculties of higher
education institutions in the Czech Republic
3. Preparations for the election of the Dean of DAMU - practical information
They wrote it down:
Eliška Přichystalová and Karolina Plicková
Approved:
Karolina Plicková, Chairwoman of DAMU, v.r.
The text of item no.3 were revised by Jan Sedláček, Secretary of DAMU (the revision took place on 14 October 2024).
1. October 2024
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