Academic ranks in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia

Academic ranks in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia.
Overview.
Special
Administrative
Honorary ranks
Professorship.
The title of professor is a pedagogical-academic title ("pedagogicko-akademický titul") awarded to university teachers holding a Ph.D. degree or equivalent who excel in a specific field of science and have special merits in both research and university teaching. Excellent scientists who do not teach at a university (but work in a research institution, for example) do not receive the title of Professor. The title of professor is indicated in abbreviation in front of a holder's name, e.g. prof. Jan Švejnar or prof. MUDr. Josef Koutecký, DrSc.
The title of professor is awarded to a particular person on the basis of the recommendation by a university, in particular, by its Scientific Committee ("vědecká rada"), which is accredited to do so by the Accreditation Commission ("akreditační komise") of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (Czech Republic) ("Ministerstvo školství, mládeže a tělovýchovy"). The recommended nominee is promoted to professorship by the president of the Czech Republic through the Minister of Education (art. 76 of Higher Education Act, act No. 111/1998 Col). The system of awarding of the title of professor means that the title is not bound to a position at a university, e.g. a director of a department, and vice versa – one is not required to be a professor to hold a high-ranking position at a university. A university must have a certain number of professors and docents among its staff to receive accreditation for its study programs, but these need not necessarily be heads of departments or university faculties.
According to the Higher Education Act, No. 111/1998 Col. the nominee’s qualifications are assessed by at least five professors, specialists in the field or a field similar to the field in which the nominee is to be pronounced a professor. At least three of these professors must be from universities other than the nominee's one. An important precondition set by the law is that the nominee must already have the title of Docent. (The procedure of qualification, "habilitační process", leading to the awarding of the title of docent is similar to the one leading to professorship. Docents are pronounced by the head of the university, "rektor", accredited to pronounce docents in a particular field.)
The ranking system of teachers at Czech universities:
Other professors.
In the past, there were two titles of professor recognised in Czechoslovakia (predecessor state of today's Czech rep. and Slovak rep.):
Awarding of both of these titles was regulated by law before the World War II. The title "středoškolský profesor" ceased to exist after the war. However, on most of the secondary schools in Czech Republic and Slovakia students still address their teachers as professors ("profesoři") out of tradition.