There had been opportunities for higher education in the country connected with the monasteries and collegiate churches; but none of these had the power to grant degrees, and a college degree was one of the requisites for candidates to some of the highest offices in the State. As there was no university in the whole of the German Empire, students aspiring to those honors were obliged to journey either to Paris or to Bononi in Italy, either of which incurred much hardship and great expense.
As Charles had obtained his education in Paris, he modeled the new university after the one in Paris. There were four faculties—Theology, Jurisprudence, Medicine, and Philosophy. The permanent head of the university was the Archbishop of Prague; but a rector was elected every year, who had direct supervision of the different faculties. The head of each faculty was a deacon, also elected for a year. The elections were carried on by nations of which there were four; viz., Bohemian, Bavarian, Polish, and Saxon. The Bohemian electors included Hungarians, Moravians, and other Slavic peoples; the Bavarian, all Germans; the Polish, students from Silesia and Russia; the Saxons, Danes and Swedes.
At first the professors delivered lectures in their own houses; those of theology, in some of the churches. The same year the university was organized, a college was built which provided lecture halls for twelve professors.
The university had a direct influence upon public education; for whoever desired a degree was required not only to pass all the examinations, but to spend two years in teaching in some of the parish schools
