Vladimír Balaš
Minister for Education, Youth and Sports
Minister for Education, Youth and Sports from 29 June 2022 to 4 May 2023.
Prof. JUDr. Vladimír Balaš, CSc. was born in Prostějov. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Charles University. During his studies and practice, he attended a number of international training courses and was awarded prestigious scholarships from foreign universities. His work experience includes management positions at many major scientific institutions. He was Director of the Institute of State and Law of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and the Czech Academy of Sciences, member of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and President of the Czech Society of International Law. He has also served as a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and as a representative of the Czech Republic in UN organisations. He teaches at Czech and foreign universities. He has co-authored several important publications on international law. In 1994-1998 he was a councillor of the city of Pilsen. In 2021, he was elected to the Parliament of the Czech Republic.
Education
1974–78: Gymnasium school Litoměřická, Prague 9 – Prosek
1978–82: Faculty of Law of the Charles University
1985: International Committee of the Red Cross, Warsaw: The Warsaw Summer School in International Humanitarian Law.
1987–88: One-year scholarship at the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (specialisation – international law, jurisdictional immunities of states and their property).
1990: Successful dissertation defence, obtaining the Candidate of Sciences degree.
1990: Study stay at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva – International Humanitarian Law.
1990: The Hague Academy of International Law: Summer Course on Private International Law.
1990–91: Scholarship from the University of Michigan and one-year stay at the University of Michigan Law School – International Economic Law, Jurisdictional Immunities of States, Comparative Constitutional Law (comparative research related to the preparation of the new Czechoslovak Constitution).
2002: University of Michigan Law School, research project “Dispute Settlement in International Economic Law”.
2011: Appointed Docent of International Law.
2022: Appointed Professor of International Law.
1993–2011: Short visits as a researcher and/or lecturer at law schools in Europe and the United States (Aberdeen, Ann Arbor, Cardiff, The Hague, Helsinki, Kansas City, Manchester, Memphis, Oxford, Padua, Paris, Passau, Williamsburg).
Experience
1982–84: District Prosecutor’s Office in Prague
1984: Institute of State and Law of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (study stay)
1985: Postgraduate student at the Department of International Law, Institute of State and Law, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences
1989–90: Legal Adviser and Vice-Chairman of the International Commission of the Czechoslovak Red Cross
1991–93: Deputy Director of the Institute of State and Law of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and the Czech Academy of Sciences
1992–99: Vice-President and President (1999) of the Czech Society of International Law
1993–99: Management of the Faculty of Law, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen
1993 – Member of the Czech Committee of the International Association of Legal Sciences (UNESCO)
1993–00: Head of the Department of International Law at the Faculty of Law, University of West Bohemia
1994–02: Director of the Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences
1994–98: Member of the City Council of Pilsen
1998 – Member of the Académie Internationale de Droit Comparé
1999–2007: Member of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1999–2008: President of the Czech Society of International Law
2000 – Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague
2000 – Member of the International Law Association, Chairman of the Czech branch of ILA (2007)
2001–2005: Chairman of the Steering Board of the Asser College Europe (The Hague)
2002 – Faculty of Law, Charles University (lecturer in public international law and international economic law)
2003 – Police Academy of the Czech Republic (lecturer in public international law)
2003–2008: Member of the ILA International Law on Foreign Investment Committee (15 November 2003)
2004–2008: Representative of the Czech Republic in the FAO CCLM (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters)
2007: Member of the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington – World Bank Group)
2008: Member of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) London, UK.
2011–2017: Member of the Czech delegation to the UNCITRAL Working Group II (Arbitration and Conciliation), Settlement of commercial disputes: preparation of a legal standard of transparency in treaty-based investor-State arbitration. (from 55th session, Vienna, 3–7 October 2011)
2021: Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic (October 2021)
1990–2022: Member of the Scientific Councils of the Institute of State and Law of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Police Academy of the Czech Republic, University of West Bohemia, Faculty of Humanities of the University of West Bohemia and Faculty of Public Administration of the Prague University of Economics and Business, Faculty of Law of the Charles University
1993 – Member of the Czech Bar Association, Arbitrator of the Arbitration Court attached to the Czech Chamber of Commerce and the Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic, Vice-President of the Arbitration Court attached to the Czech Chamber of Commerce and the Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic (2016), Member of the Arbitration Commission of the Czech Ice Hockey Association (2005, 2008 – President), Member of the Arbitration Commission of the Czech Olympic Committee, Member of the IIHF Legislative Committee 2008–2012
Languages
English, Russian
