UCT Prague defended its second place among Czech universities and is ranked 358th in the world.

For the fouth time in a row, UCT Prague defended its second place among Czech universities in the prestigious QS World University Rankings 2023. 

The excellent result in the QS World University Rankings 2023 was most influenced by UCT Prague’s small student-to-academic instructor ratio. Individual support for education and the inherent involvement of students in the research process even earned UCT 29th place in the world and first in Czechia in this aspect of rankings system evaluation process.

“The fourth success in a row is, of course, a nice outcome of all the staff and students of our university. We strive to build a supportive and fair environment for everyone, where everyone can participate in scientific activities. But I understand that the ranking is just a number. It is more important that we work on ourselves and continue to improve,” said Pavel Matějka, UCT Prague Rector.

The international environment of the university, with a high number of students (by Czech standards) from abroad in recent years, contributed to the good ranking. The university has also recently attracted international academics who have linked their careers to UCT Prague. After last year, which was greatly affected by the pandemic situation, these indicators have increased again. In the overall result, this means that UCT Prague is ranked 230th in this criterion.

Other Czech universities were also successful in this year’s edition of the rankings. The largest Czech university, Charles University, placed in the 288-290 world ranking range. CTU Prague moved to the 378-379 ranking range; Masaryk University achieved 551-560; Palacký University in Olomouc, 651-700. A total of 16 Czech universities were ranked.

The full list of rankings and a description of the QS methodology can be found on the QS World University Rankings 2023 website.

A research team from the UCT Prague’s Department of Water Technology and Environmental engineering, in cooperation with corporate partners, has developed a new digital tool for automating operational and technological response measures for wastewater treatment plants (WTPs). This tool, Water Scan Toolbox (WST), is a cloud-based application that leverages predictive knowledge about the quantity and quality of incoming wastewater to assess WTP loads.

The tool has three pillars: a predictive model for assessing the quantity and quality of wastewater, a database of event scenarios for various operating conditions with an assumed WTP load, and a decision matrix for selecting operational and technological measures for various events. WST reduces operational risks, especially during periods of torrential rain, and increases the efficiency of water treatment by enabling WTPs to prepare in advance for such events.

WST has been tested on WTPs serving populations with tens to hundreds of thousands, and results from testing show that this tool effectively predicts WTP loads and recommends appropriate measures for reducing operational risks. The tool works particularly well for WTPs serving 10,000 inhabitants or more, where the monitoring of selected process variables and their use in centrally-controlled automation is economically advantageous.

Water Scan Toolbox, developed with partners from CTU in Prague, Prague Waterworks and Sewerage (Pražské vodovody a kanalizace, a.s. [PVK]), and VDT Technology, represents a step forward in the operation and management of wastewater treatment plants. By providing predictive information on the quantity and quality of incoming wastewater, the tool enables WTP operators to make informed decisions and to take preventive measures to reduce operational risks. Use of this tool by wastewater treatment plant operators should improve both efficiency and environmental outcomes while reducing costs.

Water Scan Toolbox is now available for wastewater treatment plant operators and managers worldwide. For more information, visit the project website

MarbleMat, a spin-off of UCT Prague (details) led by founder Ondřej Rychecký, has been selected to the group of successful start-ups in the EIT Food Accelerator Network 2023, in the Food as Medicine category.

The technology underpinning MarbleMat’s commercial activity consists in the encapsulation of liquid oil droplets (“oil marbles”) for use in the pharmaceutical and food industries.

Over 400 startups have gone through a rigorous and comprehensive review process to assess their innovative potential, commercial viability and positive impact on our food system. "We are extremely grateful not only to the startups for trusting us with their application, but also for the tremendous effort from our EIT FAN community, 100+ evaluators, corporate partners and hubs, who have supported the selection process. At EIT Food, diversity, including gender diversity, and inclusion are considered key to the success of food systems innovation. With this in mind, I’m delighted to share that 30% of the EIT FAN programme applications came from female founders. It’s great to see this percentage increasing each year.” said Marie Russier, Programme Manager of the EIT FAN.

The award, given by the European Commission to scientific and research organizations, recognizes excellence in strategic HR development.

On 4 January 2023, the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, received the HR Award following several years of preparation. The European Commission gives the award to R&D organizations for excellence in strategic HR development while, at the same time,  committing them to implement and keep the highest standards in providing employee care and career development services.

Obtaining the HR Award certificate should benefit not only UCT Prague as an R&D organization, but all our employees as well. Our common goal is establishing and sustaining an exemplary academic working environment—transparent, motivating, and fair—enabling all employees to fully develop themselves.

Our commitments stated in the HR Award Action Plan are to be fulfilled during the next four years of implementation. Related activities will take place across the University involving the Rector’s Office, all the faculties, and other university units. The expected benefit of the HR Award is also to open up topics that have been neglected up to now for various reasons, as well as to foster discussions that will hopefully involve employees from all career levels, including both the scientific/academic and administrative/support staff.

Thanks to the ongoing improvement of processes related to human resource policies, UCT Prague will also become an even more attractive employer on an international scale. The award will improve UCT Prague’s reputation as an innovative R&D institution.

• Details, Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) at UCT Prague

The Welcome Office organised the second guided tour of the sights of Prague for our foreign students and researchers, which took place on Saturday 20/05/2023.  This time we visited the wonderful premises of the Strahov Monastery in Prague, its gallery, we looked into the ancient libraries and the halls with the exhibition of old collections of curiosities. 

A detailed explanation of the history of the monastery and interesting exhibits was again given by our former UCT graduate Ing. Martin Belohradsky.

The tour of the monastery was attended by 27 of our foreign students and scientists, including the six-year-old daughter of our Indian scientist Dr. Amutha Subramani. Everyone really liked it, as can be seen from the attached photos, and our foreigners expressed their interest in continuing these guided tours of Prague.

Are you interested in more information or do you have any ideas for planning other cultural events? Feel free to write us to welcome@vscht.cz