GAUDEAMUS® 2011

18th year of the Gaudeamus Fair has been inaugurated on the 1st November in the exhibition hall F at the Brno exhibition grounds. Mrs. Valerie Raymond, ambassadress of Canada in the Czech Republic; representatives of the European Commission; representatives of Czech Ministries, Government institutions and Universities were present at the ceremony.

The 18th year of the Gaudeamus Exhibition was held in the exhibition hall F, one of the most modern facilities of the Exhibition grounds in Brno. The area of the hall is bigger than 8 000 sqm. Despite this size, the hall was totally full of students at some times Exhibitor’s booths were located inside the hall, the area outside the hall was used by the University of Defence for presentation of the state-of-the-art military vehicles and by the University of Pardubice for presentation of their development prototype of a car using modern steering and control systems.

The 3rd year of the Best booth contest was held during the fair in 2011. The booths were rated by an independent commission of high school students. The Czech Technical University in Prague won the contest this year. The modern design of the booth and mainly the communication abilities of the University’s team were well rated.

Second place belonged to the European Commission’s presentation of the Youth on the Move initiative. There were presentations, lectures, discussions and various performances promoting youth mobility, education, work and travel through Europe. This program was very well rated among the visitors of the exhibition.

The all new booth of the Technical University of Ostrava won the third place. Wining schools were awarded certificates to be displayed at their booths. All aspects of the school’s presentation were rated and were part of the evaluation. The aim of the competition was to determine how well the schools communicate with visitors and how attractive the presentations are for them.

In 2011 the Gaudeamus Fair hosted the second year of the “Let’s Play With Technology” accompanying program. 7 biggest Czech technical universities participated in this program. Their aim was to promote technical fields of study among the students. Students could see and experience for themselves all the presented curiosities. The universities presented chemical experiments, robots, DNA analysis, natural processes, technical innovations and many more.

Palacky University’s and University’s of Economics in Prague booths were among the most remarkable. Both booths were designed to maximise communication space and to effectively address and attract as many students as possible. This approach proven to be very effective and met with the high interest of students during the whole exhibition.

The oldest and the most prestigious Czech university – Charles University in Prague presented itself in the all new booth this year. The university presented all of it’s seventeen faculties. The university also participated in the “Science for Life” program, presenting many interesting scientific finding directly at the booth. The booth maximised the communication space, but this was not enough. It was the most visited place of the whole fair.

30 359 visitors came to the Gaudeamus exhibition in 2011. Most of them were 3rd and 4th year high school students. The hall was full all day and all week long. All exhibitors were more than satisfied with attendance. The students were attracted to the accompanying programs and to the well designed booths of the prestigious universities, such as: Charles University in Prague, Masaryk University, Mendel University in Brno and the University of Defence.

Mrs. Valerie Raymond, ambassadress of Canada in the Czech Republic and Mr. Pierre Lévy, ambassador of France in the Czech Republic granted their personal patronages over the Gaudeamus Exhibition in 2011. Both Countries presented themselves at the fair. They presented study opportunities, work possibilities and travel programs in both countries. Apart from France and Canada, most foreign schools came from Switzerland, Germany and Finland.

There were two lecture halls at the fair, with room for 1 000 people together. Both halls were equipped with quality audio-video systems for presentations. The lectures are the most visited program at the exhibition every year. More than one third of visitors came to see the presentations of participating schools.

The University of Defence had the most unconventional presentation. Students could see and experience military vehicles, shooting simulator, hostage rescue, martial arts demonstrations and more. The demonstrations were performed by the students of the University of Defence.