The Magna Charta Universitatum (MCU) is an international declaration of the fundamental values of universities. The document is based on four key principles: Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy, Inseparability of Teaching and Research, and Openness and Dialogue. According to the MCU, teaching and research must be independent of political and economic influences, universities have the right to decide their own direction, and they are places of free inquiry and rejection of intolerance. Students actively engage in the pursuit of knowledge.
The Magna Charta Universitatum was first signed in 1988 on the 900th anniversary of the founding of the University of Bologna. In 2020, an updated version of MCU 2020 was adopted, reflecting current global challenges without abandoning the original values.
The University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice was accepted as a newly accepted signatory in 2024. On 13 November 2025, the Vice-Rector for Development, Pavel Král, attended the signing ceremony at King's College London on behalf of the University of South Bohemia.
"With this signing, we at our university have committed ourselves to be guided by the fundamental principles of the MCU and will continue to do so," described the significance of the USB's affiliation to Vice-Chancellor Král.
Together with USB, 63 other universities have added their signatures, 36 of them for the first time. This brings the total number of signatories to over 1,000. Specifically, by doing so, USB declares its commitment to academic values, strengthens its international credibility and partnerships, and demonstrates that it is a responsible actor in society, fostering space for free thinking and innovation.
The signing itself was preceded by a conference that offered a global perspective on the functioning of universities around the world. "Although universities are each different, have different histories, focuses and operate in different parts of the world, they all address similar challenges. The experience of American universities, which are currently worried about their independence, has given a new dynamic to the mutual sharing of knowledge," added JU Vice-Rector Pavel Král.
