The Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen will complete the university campus by 2022

Plzen - The Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Plzen will complete a new university campus in three years. It will consolidate the entire education of future doctors, who currently have to travel between many buildings scattered throughout the city. The completion of the campus, costing 1.5 billion crowns, was initiated today by the faculty dean Jindřich Fínek and the rector of Charles University Tomáš Zima, next to the university hospital. The completion of the main building of the campus follows the first phase, which was finished five years ago. There are over 2000 medical students studying in Plzen, including 500 foreigners.

After the completion of the campus, the faculty will gain a facility designed specifically for modern education in general and dental medicine for the first time in more than 75 years, Fínek told ČTK. The faculty currently resides in historical buildings, where there used to be a children's home, a farming school, a regional political school, or the headquarters of the Nazi NSDAP party during World War II; it also uses historic villas previously owned by expelled Jewish owners. "Students who start studying with us and are not from Plzen need a map of the city to navigate," said the dean.

The new building, named the University Medical Center, will have three lecture halls, 23 rooms for practical training and seminars, examination rooms with outpatient clinics, 29 laboratories, a simulation center, study rooms, and additional spaces spread over six above-ground floors. The dean's office and library will also move here, and there will be a canteen as well.

"All theoretical departments will move here, which is important not only in relation to the university hospital but also in relation to the Biomedical Center, as almost all our notable educators are also active at the Biomedical Center," said Fínek. According to him, the concentration of workplaces will streamline operations, simplify the sharing of laboratories and equipment, and expand collaboration among the faculty's departments. The historical properties that the faculty will vacate will then be offered for sale.

The first phase of the new campus construction began in 2012. Three new buildings were created, where five theoretical departments and two buildings of the research Biomedical Center are already operational. The costs of the first phase, including equipment, were 462 million. There is consideration for a third phase costing approximately 100 million crowns, which will include the construction of a modern sports hall and simultaneously the headquarters of the Institute of Physical Education, which will be the only one remaining outside the new campus after the completion of the current phase.