The Bakala Foundation is a family foundation established by

Zdeněk Bakala Zdeněk Bakala (born 7 February 1961) is a Czech entrepreneur and investor. He is a stakeholder in mining, energy, financial businesses and owns the media company Economia, the publisher of '' Hospodářské noviny'' and ''Respekt'' magazine amon ...

and Michaela Bakala. It was founded in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

in 2007 originally as Zdeněk Bakala Foundation (in Czech "''Nadace Zdeňka Bakaly"'') and it was renamed to The Bakala Foundation in 2014. The foundation’s main focus is on

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. ...

. Through the ''Scholarship'' program, Bakala Foundation supports the attendance of Czech students at

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

abroad. It has also financed other projects in the Czech Republic, such as the ''Kaplicky Internship'' for young architects or ''Achilles Data'' and ''Journey'' for young journalists.

Programs

Scholarship

Through the ''Scholarship'' program, Czech students have an opportunity to obtain financial support in the form of a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

for their studies at foreign universities. Support is available both to students leaving

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

and applying to study at a university and to students already at a university who need support to continue with their studies. Approximately 25 % of applicants seek education in the

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

s and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at th ...

, about 20 % choose

applied science Applied science is the use of the scientific method and knowledge obtained via conclusions from the method to attain practical goals. It includes a broad range of disciplines such as engineering and medicine. Applied science is often contrasted ...

and 10 % opt for art school. A majority of scholarship recipients study at universities in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

– mostly at Harvard,

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

and other

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schoo ...

institutions – and in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

where they most often attend

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

. The scholarship can cover their expenses including tuition, accommodation and living costs, with the exact amount depending on a range of factors. Upon meeting certain criteria, selected students may receive financial support for the complete duration of their course of study. The students’ scholarship applications include an

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

, motivation letter and references. The shortlisted applicants are invited for a second round of selection consisting of an interview. In 2016, there were 213 scholarship applicants, 22 progressed into the second round and 13 were awarded a scholarship.

Kaplicky Internship

The ''Kaplicky Internship'' is a competition for students of architecture in which the main prize is a three-month

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

with one of London’s big architectural studios. The competition, named after the late Czech architect

Jan Kaplický Jan Kaplický (; ; 18 April 1937 – 14 January 2009) was a Neofuturistic Czech architect who spent a significant part of his life in the United Kingdom. He was the leading architect behind the innovative design office, Future Systems. He was b ...

, the is organised in collaboration with the

Design Museum The Design Museum in Kensington, London exhibits product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural design. In 2018, the museum won the European Museum of the Year Award. The museum operates as a registered charity, and all funds generate ...

in London and the Kaplicky Centre Endowment Fund and is open to works submitted by final-year students of architecture curricula at Czech colleges and universities.

2015

The inaugural competition was won by Ondřej Michálek, a graduate of the

Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (AAAD, cs, Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze, abbreviated VŠUP, also known as UMPRUM) is a public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. The university offers the study d ...

. The victory earned Ondřej Michálek an internship with the London-based studio of

Eva Jiřičná Eva Jiřičná (born 3 March 1939) is a Czech architect and designer, active in London and Prague. She is the founder of the architectural atelier ''Eva Jiricna Architects'', operating in Britain (at first as ''Jiřičná Kerr Associates'') fro ...

. His winning design was inspired by the growth of mycelium and other living organisms. Subsequently, he examined the territorial implications of applying their rules of growth at a specific moment and in a certain location as the “Pavilion of Growth”.

2016

The winner in the competition’s second year was Petra Ross, a graduate from the Faculty of Arts and Architecture of the Technical University in Liberec. She won a three-month internship with the London studio of

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

. The 2016 jury of experts comprised M. Arch, Melodie Leung from Zaha Hadid’s studio, Mr.

Deyan Sudjic Deyan Sudjic (born 6 September 1952) is a British writer and broadcaster, specialising in the fields of design and architecture. He was formerly the director of the Design Museum, London.LSE"Advisory board" retrieved 17 May 2013 Life and caree ...

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, director of the Design Museum in London, and the project’s guarantor, doc. Ing. Arch. Vladimir Krátký from the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University (ČVUT).

Achilles Data

''Achilles Data'' is a three-month course of investigative journalism designed for students and media graduates from the Czech Republic.

Journey – Journalism Bootcamp

''Journey'' is an intensive international journalism course for media students from the Czech Republic and other countries. Journey's workshops are concerned with data collection and analysis, and reporting. Lecturers have included

Seymour Hersh Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American investigative journalist and political writer. Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he receive ...

Jesse Eisinger Jesse Eisinger is an American journalist and author. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2011, he currently works as a senior reporter for ProPublica. His first book, ''The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to ...

, Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber.

The Bakalas’ other philanthropic activities

The Bakalas have supported a number of nonprofit organisations in the Czech Republic and abroad, such as The Aspen Institute Central Europe,

Václav Havel Library Václav () is a Czech male first name of Slavic origin, sometimes translated into English as Wenceslaus or Wenceslas. These forms are derived from the old Slavic/Czech form of this name: Venceslav. Nicknames are: Vašek, Vašík, Venca, Venda For ...

, the Centre for Contemporary Art DOX in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and London's Design Museum.

References

{{Reflist Foundations based in the Czech Republic 2007 establishments in the Czech Republic Organizations established in 2007