Brief History of TBU
Is half a century a long period or not? The tradition of higher education in Zlín that is nowadays represented by our University dates back approximately to a period of fifty years ago.
Although Tomas Bata University was established as of 1 January 2001, first students were studying here as early as in 1960. In that year a branch of the Slovak University of Technology was founded in Zlín, at which mainly chemical technology and engineering technology were taught. Nine years later, in 1969, the local constituent part was operating here as an independent Faculty of Technology of the Brno University of Technology.
The 1990s brought a fresh impetus to the development of higher education in Zlín. The erstwhile Dean of the Faculty of Technology (and later TBU Rector), Petr Sáha, defined a clear vision: We will establish a university. The visions were gradually turned into reality. In 1995 the Faculty of Management and Economics was founded; in 2001 a university was formed out of the two Faculties. The establishment of other Faculties followed: Faculty of Multimedia Communications (2002), Faculty of Applied Informatics (2006), Faculty of Humanities (2007) and, finally, Faculty of Logistics and Crisis Management (2009). It was also Tomáš Baťa Jr. who actively supported the establishment of a university and who gave his consent to the higher education institution bearing the name of his father. Until his death in 2008, he had served as Chairperson of the TBU Board of Governors.
The establishment of the Faculties went hand in hand with the building of research capacities and, of course, the construction of new buildings. Thanks to the fact that the University cooperates with reputable architects, for example, with world-renowned architect Eva Jiřičná, it is able to provide education to its students in truly modern buildings equipped with state-of-the-art technology that offer ideal conditions for study and at the same time grace the town centre.