Honours for Palacký University: UP Rector Miller Awarded at Central European University

A prestigious award was brought to Olomouc from Hungary by UP Rector Jaroslav Miller. Central European University (CEU), celebrating the 25^th anniversary of its existence, nominated him among its 25 most important alumni who were bestowed with the Alumni Impact Award.

Historian Jaroslav Miller, an alumnus of the UP Faculty of Arts, extended his study at Central European University in Budapest in the mid 1990s. “It is my second alma mater and as such it is very close to my heart,” says today’s UP Rector.

The Budapest university selected only twenty-five personalities out of the 13,000 alumni who graduated during the twenty-five years of its existence. They have one thing in common: not only that they have been successful alumni, they also hold positions of high importance and are able to influence public life in various countries. “I have entered the company of several ministers of defence and finance, successful businessmen, and respected intellectuals,” said the rector.

The status, influence, and possibility to actively participate in public debate – all that constituted only one criterion for being granted the award. “The other one was the extent to which the awarded personalities and the institutions they manage promote the ideas of open society, human rights, charity, and so forth,” said Jaroslav Miller, and admitted that he had been taken aback about how well-informed they were on the activities conducted by Palacký University abroad. “I really did not expect them to be so familiar with what our university does in these areas. We have made a very positive impression last year when we put together a humanitarian team at the beginning of the refugee crisis and provided aid in Hungary and Serbia. Our support for Ukrainian students has also been appreciated. The quality and the range of activities conducted by the Department of Development Studies also have a very good ring to them here. So the fact that Palacký University has been perceived as a very active institution played a major role in their decision to award me. Therefore I would like to thank all UP students, academics, and employees, because they have been awarded together with me,” concluded Jaroslav Miller.

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