Abstract
The title of (full) professor is a scholarly and academic title which may be attained in the Czech Republic by a candidate who successfully fulfilled all requirements of procedure at a respective public university and has been appointed to the rank of a university professor by the President of the Czech Republic. The procedure for the granting of full professorship has been a demonstration of self-governance of a respective university since only a public university accredited to hold such procedure may conduct the procedure for granting professorship in a particular area of study.
On the other hand, the Higher Education Act entrusts the President of the Czech Republic with the power to decide regarding the proposal of the Research Board of a public university and to appoint a particular candidate to the rank of a university professor. The proposal is submitted to the President of the Republic via the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports who is entrusted by the Act with the power in certain cases to return the proposal to appoint a candidate to the rank of a university professor back to the Research Board of the respective university.
The article analyzes the statutory regulation of the procedure for granting full professorship and statutory rules for the appointment; the author includes relating constitutional issues, namely the role of the President of the Czech Republic and other administrative bodies in the procedure. The article identifies and analyzes recent case law in this area before administrative courts focusing on cases where candidates were proposed by Research Boards of their respective universities, but the President has refused to appoint them.