Chair (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, Greek ''kathedra'', "seat", Polish ) is an equivalent of an

academic department An academic department is a division of a university or school Faculty (division), faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, universities tend to use the t ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. Originally, a

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

is the chair or throne of a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, a symbol of the bishop's teaching authority in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Poland

University organisation in Poland comprises the following units: :

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

(''Uniwersytet'') :: Faculty (''Wydział'') :::

Institute An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

(''Instytut'') ::::Chair (''Katedra'') ::::: Department (''Zakład'') ::::::Research group (''Pracownia, Zespół'') Usually degree programmes are conducted within the framework of institutes. However, some specialised programmes may be conducted by independent chairs, while programmes with large variety of disciplines involved (especially medical and legal studies) may be conducted directly by a faculty—in this case, faculty may be composed of chairs with no institutes in its structure. Interdepartmental individual programmes exist at some universities, where a programme of studies is agreed individually with student's supervisor and courses from various faculties, institutes and chairs are available.

Czech Republic

''Katedras'' were introduced in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1950 as a result of the centralization of higher education under the influence of the system of higher education in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1990, after the collapse of Communism, the academic self-government was restored and institutions made the decisions about their structure themselves.§ 29 odst. 1 zákona č. 172/1990 Sb., o vysokých školách

References

{{reflist Academia in Poland Academia in the Czech Republic he:קתדרה (אקדמיה) pl:Katedra_(jednostka_organizacyjna)