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With what vision are you taking over the leadership of the Faculty of Health Care Studies? What would you like to focus on during your tenure?

I would like our Faculty to be a quality educator, a sought-after place for our students to study, a reliable partner and a good employer for all its staff who are passionate about their work. Therefore, I would like to focus not only on the maintenance and further development of our study programmes, but also on the related staff stabilisation and support for the professional growth of our employees. Providing adequate facilities and equipment for teaching is an integral part of these efforts.

The Faculty of Health Care Studies has appeared frequently in the media in recent years - not always with positive connotations. Can you come up with a concrete plan to bring the faculty back into good standing?

Our faculty has been and still is a respected part of the university, making a significant contribution to the education of future health professionals and forming an indispensable link in the health care system. Our staff are among the top experts in their professions, so it is very unfortunate that their work has been overshadowed to some extent by some events and cases from the past. My priority is to move the faculty forward and focus on its further development - that is the way to build for the long term. At the same time, however, I will not tolerate anything that could damage our faculty in the future.

Are you planning any new study programmes, projects or development activities that could take the faculty forward?

Our current priority is to complete the accreditation of the new Master's degree programme in Applied Physiotherapy. This step will significantly expand the study offer and increase career opportunities for our current students as well as for other interested students - as there is an extraordinary interest in this programme. At the same time, I would like us to start systematically preparing the conditions for the establishment of another follow-up master's degree programme, which would build on our existing bachelor's programmes and thus enable their graduates to continue their studies smoothly. However, closely related to this is the need for staffing and technical support, which we must now intensively address. As I have already mentioned, our faculty has a number of top experts who are actively involved in solving project challenges and cooperating with domestic and foreign institutions. This area also deserves strong support, as it is of key importance for the further development of the faculty.

What do you see as the greatest strengths of the Faculty of Health Care Studies of the University of West Bohemia and what would you like to strengthen or change?

Thanks to the quality work of our teachers and close cooperation with partner institutions, there has been a high interest in studying at our faculty for a long time. We are well aware of this, and therefore we want to enable the admission of more applicants from September onwards. However, this step brings not only new opportunities but also challenges related to the need for dynamic faculty development. In this context, strengthening the infrastructure is one of the key areas on which we must now focus intensively. If I had the opportunity to make a radical change or to fulfil one wish for our faculty, I would without hesitation wish for brand new teaching facilities that meet current global standards and the needs of modern medical education. Although not realistic at this time, our goal remains to maximize the modernization and development of our current facilities and anything else we might acquire in the near future.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges currently facing health care education and how does the faculty plan to respond to them?

The challenges we face are many. The healthcare system is an extremely dynamic environment, where what was the norm just yesterday often does not apply. The demands on non-medical health students, as well as on health professionals themselves, are constantly increasing. At the same time, the conditions for the implementation of education in these fields are becoming more stringent. We need to be able to respond flexibly to all these changes, but at the same time we should actively enter into the preparation of these changes and participate in their direction. In this context, it is crucial to systematically build and deepen cooperation with partner institutions - not only healthcare institutions, but also others that can contribute to the development of our educational environment.


PhDr. Jiří Frei, Ph.D., MBA (*1981) has been working at the Faculty of Health Care Studies of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, specifically at the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, since its establishment in 2008. In 2013-2015 he held the position of Vice Dean for Research and Creative Activities and in 2023-2024 he was the Head of the Department. He is the guarantor of the General Nursing curricula and has a particular expertise in nursing in the context of emergency or intensive care, pre-hospital emergency care, management and research in nursing.