The Department of Geological Engineering is one of the historically oldest departments at VŠB-TU Ostrava, established in 1879.
Nowadays, the department provides theoretical and practical tuition of geological disciplines, both basic (mineralogy, petrography, paleontology, structural geology, etc.) as well as applied (engineering geology, geophysics, drilling, deep drilling, oil and gas extraction and others.), at all levels of studies listed below.
It is the guarantor of the study programme Geological Engineering and it is accredited in the Bachelor's, subsequent Master’s, and in the doctoral study. Graduates will find employment in geological, exploration and mining organizations, in companies engaged in exploration and documentation work in the field of engineering-geological and geotechnical problems, water protection and use, use of earth heat, oil and natural gas extraction and underground gas storage, etc. Also, in the state administration, especially in the field of environmental geology, as team members of state geological service, etc.
Since 1997, the department has been teaching new branch - the Geoscience and Industrial Tourism in the bachelor’s degree. The branch was created as a reaction to changes in mining, when a rapid decline in mining appeared, in particular underground mining, and there was a space for re-use of mine workings to create mining open-air museums. The wide range of geosciences is based on a long tradition of interconnection of basic sciences with technical application in mining and industrial practice.