Your Eminence, Cardinal Dominik Duka,
Your Excellencies,
Your Magnificence, Honorable Rector,
Magnificencies, Spectabilities and Honorabilities,
Dear academic community of the Catholic University in Ružomberok,
first of all, I would like to convey sincere greetings of the rectors of universiites and colleges and congratulate your academic community on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Catholic University in Ružomberok. I wish you successful celebrations and further successes in the coming years - numerous young people interested in studies, curious, creative and ambitious students, successful graduates, inspiring teachers and highly cited researchers, as well as satisfied employees. May the motto of your university, which is an expression of its mission - "to form minds and hearts in the spirit of Catholic morality, intellectual and academic tradition" continue to be fulfilled.
25 years is an opportunity to evaluate and we have gathered here to remember your achievements, positive stories and good news. But we also think about the future, our direction and mission. Catholic universities are a historical part of the higher education sectors of Europe. We have centuries-old universities, but also new schools that are being established. Together with public and state universities, they are based on the tradition of medieval universities. The emphasis on morality (not only Catholic), intellectual work and enduring tradition in the motto and mission of the Catholic University in Ružomberok is fully in line with today's societal needs.
Universities have been here since the Middle Ages. Even in the past, they underwent major or minor changes, they adapted to the demands of society, some principles of their functioning remained preserved, some were abandoned and many innovative elements were adopted. But probably never before have changes been so fast thanks to technological progress. For a quarter of a century, our universities have been changing/harmonizing in order to be a full-fledged part of the European Higher Education Area. Demands for change and reform and dissatisfaction with what is traditional are characteristic of our society. It seems as if the only thing that is permanent is change. Historian Yuval Noah Harari has described our reality as a time in which old stories are collapsing and new ones have yet to emerge. "None of what seemed so permanent or eternal until recently is no longer valid today" (21st Lessons for the 21st Century, 2019, p. 281-283).
The new and big challenges of today are also related to the mission of universities and concern not only the academic community, but also society. The traditional tasks of universities and their structures are constantly subject to change for various reasons, such as the declared needs for consolidation and efficiency, specialization, privatization, most recently competitiveness and the ever-growing emphasis on applied research and innovation at the expense of basic research, for which the beautiful English expressions "blue-sky" or "curiosity driven" have been used. These refer to the fact that the benefit from such research may not be immediate, but may be apparent only after decades, even later. Political and economic elites demand that universities prove their worth here and now. Another specific feature of today's times is the demand for life-long learning and up-skilling and re-skilling of people active on the labor market, as well as the competition for talents.
What to do in this situation? Indulge in fatalism and wait for instructions "from above"? Or rather accept challenges and be inspired by our partners and their positive examples. Let's keep in mind that our mission is to be leaders. We must support universities to progress. Let's support their further development - digitization and modernization, with regard to the green transformation.
In my speech, I tried to emphasize the values that are part of the motto of the Catholic university - morality, intellectual work and academic tradition, and I am convinced that they are justified today, tomorrow and 100 years from now. Finally, allow me to thank everyone who contributed to the development of the Catholic University in Ružomberok - the current management, former officials and all employees. The success of your university would not be possible without your dedicated work and without great students and graduates. The responsibility for your university lies on your shoulders.
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
dear students,
I wish you all a successful start of the academic year.
Vivat academia!
Illustration photo: CU