Collegium Carolinum (CC) concerns itself with the history and culture of Czechia and Slovakia in the European context, and especially in relation to East Central Europe. Concentrating on this geographical focus, in which we are the only institution in Germany to specialise, we bundle the expertise available in Germany on Czech and Slovak matters for research and teaching as well as providing a networking space.

The CC is divided into an Academic Association, made up of leading national and international researchers, and a Research Institute, which is supported by the Academic Association. The Institute is financed by the Free State of Bavaria as well as by third-party contributions, the latter having made up an average of about 30 to 40 percent of our budget over a long number of years.

In addition to our domain-specific tasks, the Institute also defines its role as the conduct of research projects on transnational issues that embed the history of the Czech Republic and Slovakia within a wider cross-border context. The bulk of our research projects combine study of issues relating to political, social and cultural history. The Institute's research is structured into a number of specific categories, including ethnicity, confession, migration, and examines the relevant ordering concepts and practices from a historical perspective. The Research page provides more detailed information on this area.

Through its journal Bohemia, as well as the Sudeten German Dictionary and the Biographical Lexicon, Collegium Carolinum provides a range of basic services for international research on the topic of East Central Europe. In addition, Collegium Carolinum manages the academic library housed in the Sudetendeutsches Haus, which – with its approximately 170,000 media items – represents the world's largest collection of Bohemica outside the Czech Republic.

CC is an affiliated institute of the LMU Munich. Its academic staff teach regularly at the LMU as well as at other Bavarian universities. The Institute maintains a variety of cooperative relationships in the Czech Republic, especially through its Prague offices, as well as in Slovakia.