Technikatörténeti szemle 23. (1997-98)
TANULMÁNYOK - Efmertová, Marcela: Major Anniversaries of Prague’s Czech Technical University and its Support from the Secondary School System in the Past
Czech Technical University in Prague and Imperial-Royal German Technical University (K.K. Deutsche Technische Hochschule) in Prague. Another two technical universities were also established in Brno, a German university in 1855 and a Czech one set up in 1899. In 1920, under the provisions of the socalled Minor School Act, the Czech Technical University in Prague and the German Technical University (Deutsche Technische Hochschule) in Prague were instituted, while two technical universities continued their activities in Brno. In 1939 the Czech technical universities and other universities were closed down by German Nazis. Only Czech universities (specializing in humanities and technical sciences) were reopened in Prague and Brno after World War II in 1945, while regional technical universities were set up in the country. Secondary Schools in the Czech Lands in Support of Education at the Polytechnic The tradition of practical schools was established by the school reforms of Empress Maria Theresa, which not only introduced compulsory school attendance (Felbiger's 24 reform of elementary education in 1774) but sought to disseminate the knowledge of new manufacturing processes by teaching students, and by extension their parents, by means of the so called industrial classes, introduced by Kindermann's school reform 25 at elementary schools in 1777. Instruction in industrial classes (workshops) was designed to reflect the specific nature and needs of individual regions (e.g. textile, fruit-growing, bee-keeping, pond-keeping, forestry classes etc.). Secondary education In the Czech lands and virtually throughout the monarchy underwent far-reaching changes tanks to the Exner-Bonitz reform 26 known as "An,Outline of the Organization of Gymnasia and Realschule in Austria". This reform, announced on September 16,1849, was approved by an imperial decree in 1854. Under its provisions, former six-year gymnasia were merged with the first and second-year philosophy courses at universities. This gave rise to an eight-year gymnasium where the language of instruction was no longer Latin but German 27 . As for other subjects taught, accent was laid on social sciences and classical languages. Natural and technical sciences were introduced at this type of secondary school in the 1830s. Students could choose from three types of gymnasia: the classical gymnasium (preparing students for university studies), the real gymnasium (whose graduates usually went on to study at technical universities or work in businesses and industries), and later also the reformed real gymnasium (devoted to practical applications).
