Faculty of Humanities, Charles University

The Faculty of Humanities is the youngest faculty of Charles University. Founded as the Institute for Liberal Education (Czech: Institut základů vzdělanosti) in 1994, the faculty gained full academic autonomy in 2000. The first dean of the faculty was the former Minister of Education Jan Sokol. Sokol ran for President of the Czech Republic in the 2003 election but lost to Václav Klaus. He was replaced in 2007 by Ladislav Benyovszky. The current acting dean is Marie Pětová. In 2013, Czech President Miloš Zeman refused to approve the professorship of anthropologist Martin C. Putna at the faculty for Putna's involvement in Prague Gay Pride in 2011. After numerous protests from academic and broader circles, Zeman capitulated. Putna was appointed by the Minister of Education Petr Fiala in June 2013.

The faculty's main research and academic focus is the humanities and social and cultural anthropology, including ethnomusicology, continental philosophy, gender studies, contemporary history, intellectual history and oral history.

For undergraduates, the faculty offers a BA program in Liberal Arts and Humanities (Studium humanitní vzdělanosti). This program corresponds to the concept of liberal education. The student must achieve 60 ECTS credits in each year; they can freely choose lectures, seminars, etc. from the offer of the FHS and other faculties of Charles University. In addition, during the course of study, each student must pass three comprehensive exams in philosophy, history, and social sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology, and economics), translate a professional text from the chosen foreign language (English, German, or French) and defend a bachelor's thesis.

For master's students, the faculty offers MA programs in Anthropology, Deutsche und Französische Philosophie (taught in German), History of Modern European Culture, Semiotics, Gender Studies, Historical Sociology, Master Erasmus Mundus EuroPhilosophie (taught in German and French, joint degree with Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Coimbra, Université catholique de Louvain, Université Toulouse 2 – Jean Jaurès, University of Memphis, Universidade Fédérale de Sao Carlos, and Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Oral History - Contemporary History, Social and Cultural Ecology, etc.

For doctoral students, the faculty offers three- or four-year PhD programs in Applied Ethics, Historical Sociology, German and French Philosophy (taught in German and French), General Anthropology, Semiotics and Philosophy of Communication, Social Ecology, Europäische Kulturzeitgeschichte (taught in German), Civic Society Studies, etc.

The IZV was located in the building of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Legerová street. At the same time as the faculty was founded in 2000, it moved to the new building of the Charles University in U Kříže 8, Jinonice, Prague 5, with two separate facilities, one in Hůrka district, Prague 13, and another at Máchova street 7, Prague 2. The faculty moved to a new building in Libeň, Prague 8 in 2020. The new building won a national architecture award in 2021. Two research and educational institutions are operating within the Faculty of Humanities: the Research Center for Personality Development and Ethnicity, the Rehabilitation Institute for the Visually Impaired, and the Cabinet for Civic Democratic Education. Its three-floor library is located beneath the university building on Jan Palach Square by Staroměstská metro station.

Jan Sokol Ladislav Benyovszky Martin C. Putna Jaro Křivohlavý Petr Vopěnka Miloslav Petrusek Bedřich Moldan