European University Association

3.11 Balance in terms of local, regional, national and international positioning
Brno se šesti universitami a s přibližně 400 000 obyvateli patří mezi města s největší koncentrací universitních studentů (cca 60 000 studentů) nejenom v České republice, ale pravděpodobně v celé střední Evropě.

Brno has six public and state institutions of higher education – The Brno University of Technology, Masaryk University in Brno, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, the

University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Janáček Academy of the Performing

Arts and the Defence University in Brno. The six higher education institutions in Brno have worked to convince the city of Brno, and more recently the newly-established (2003) South Moravia Region, of the importance of this pool of university-trained individuals as a catalyst for local and regional development. Their efforts have born fruit in the form of the adoption by the municipal authorities of an official policy entitled “Brno – City of Universities” and more recently in close cooperation with the new regional authority.

Cooperation between the Brno institutions of higher education is all the more effective since, with only a few exceptions (in areas such as economics, computer science, chemistry), their degree programmes do not overlap but complement each other. Two forms of cooperation have been particularly prominent. First, there is the creation by the South Moravian Region, the city of Brno, the Brno University of Technology and Masaryk University of the South Moravian Innovation Centre, a consortium designed to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises based on innovative technology. Second, there is the Brno Centre for European Studies, a consortium of the city’s six higher education institutions and the city of Brno that grew out of a realization that one of the main strengths of the city and surrounding region is the great variety and depth of the programmes offered at these institutions. The aim of the BCES is to coordinate university activities and build up links between the universities, industry and the region as well as other places of similar importace in the European Union. Within the framework of the BCES and the “Brno – City of Universities” programme, the six institutions of higher education have begun to participate in joint presentations at international forums.

Výuka na VUT probíhá zejména ve třech brněnských campusech (Brno–sever, Brno–střed, Brno-jih). VUT však dále uskutečňuje (prostřednictvím Fakulty strojního inženýrství) tři bakalářské studijní programy kombinovanou formou, které probíhají mimo Brno (Žďár nad Sázavou, Uherský Brod - obory Strojírenská technologie a Aplikovaná informatika a řízení). V roce 2005 se plánuje otevření dalšího kombinovaného studia (spolupráce s BOSCH Diesel, s.r.o. Jihlava).
VUT dokončuje v rámci rozvojového projektu, finančně podporovaného MŠMT, realizaci dvou Joint degrees study programmes. Řada specializovaných studijních programů je dlouhodobě uskutečňována na VUT ve spolupráci s francouzskými, britskými či americkými universitami – např. MBA studia nepřetržitě od roku 1993 s Notttingham Trent University, atd.