Czech academic system

The Academic Year

The Academic Year is divided into two semesters. The autumn semester starts in the middle of September and ends in mid-January with a Christmas break at the end of December. The spring semester starts after the examination period in the middle of February and ends in May and is followed by a second examination period.

Study conditions and verification of studies

An applicant becomes a student on the day of enrolment. Registration is performed on the dates set by the dean. Students are obliged to register for each semester at the Study office of the faculty.

Each student takes responsibility for their studies with support from the faculty. Study programmes consist of different forms of teaching and include: lecturers, laboratory work, group work, projects, seminars as well as independent study. Students are expected to buy recommended course literature.

The curriculum of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering consists of several types of courses:

compulsory courses are courses you must take to complete the chosen program, you don’t have a choice of courses - these courses are mandatory and you must enrol and pass them to be awarded the degree.
compulsory elective courses are courses which aim to make the connection between expertise and action. You will be provided with the list of compulsory elective courses from which you must choose courses to meet your study requirements
elective courses you can choose freely according to your personal interests from a list. Courses that are not listed must be approved by the study tutor upon written request.

A student who has not successfully completed a course may register for the same course again but not more than twice. If the second registration for a compulsory or compulsory elective course again concludes with the student receiving a fail grade, the studies are terminated.

Credit system

In order to quantify the study load of individual courses, a unified credit system is applied. Credits obtained within a study program are added up; the cumulative number of credits serves as a tool for study assessment. At CTU Prague we use a credit system which is compatible with the ECTS credit system where one academic year of full time studies is equivalent to 60 higher education credits and 1.5 credits is equal to 1.5 ECTS credits.

Each semester, students are expected to take 30 credits' worth of courses. Nevertheless, the minimum amount of credits that each student has to obtain in order to qualify to the next semester is 15 credits for Bachelor's degree students and 20 credits for Master’s degree students per semester in the first year of study and 20 credits per semester for both levels in following years of study.

What is ECTS?

ECTS, the European Community Course Credit Transfer System, was developed by the Commission of the European Communities in order to provide common procedures to guarantee academic recognition of studies abroad. It provides a way of measuring and comparing learning achievements, and transferring them from one institution to another.

The ECTS system is based on the principle of mutual trust and confidence between the participating higher education institutions. The few rules of ECTS, concerning Information (on available courses), Agreement (between the home and host institution) and the use of Credits (to indicate student workload) are set out to reinforce this mutual trust and confidence.

ECTS credits are a value allocated to course units to describe the student workload required to complete them. They reflect the quantity of work. In relation to the total quantity of work required to complete a full year of academic study at the institution each course requires attending lectures, doing practical work, listening to seminars, self-studying — in the library or at home — and examinations or other assessment activities. ECTS credits express a relative value.

In ECTS, 60 credits represent the workload of a year of study; normally 30 credits are given for a semester. It is important to note that no special courses are set up for ECTS purposes, but that all ECTS courses are mainstream courses of the participating institutions, as followed by home students under normal regulations.

It is up to the participating institutions to subdivide the credits for the different courses. ECTS should be allocated to all the course units’ available — compulsory or elective courses. Practical placements and optional courses, which form an integral part of the course of study, also receive academic credit. Credits are awarded only when the course has been completed and all required examinations have been successfully taken.

Grading scale:

Grade	Definition
A	EXCELLENT: Outstanding performance with only minor errors.
B	VERY GOOD: Above average with only some errors.
C	GOOD: Generally sound work with a number of notable errors.
D	SATISFACTORY: Fair but significant shortcomings.
E	SUFFICIENT: Performance meets the minimum criteria.
F	FAIL: Considerable further work is required.

Examinations

Examinations form an essential part of your assessment at the faculty. At the beginning of each course, the lecturer will give you detailed information about the examination procedure. The forms of examinations might differ course to course but the most common form of assessment at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering will be a written examination in the form of a test and/or an oral examination together with the presentation of a paper to test your knowledge as well as your presentation skills. The exam could follow a list of questions in a prepared format, or it could be a more informal and open discussion. In some courses you will be asked to prepare a group paper / project which is usually assessed during seminars towards the end of a course. Near the end of each course you will be given instructions with a timetable for exam period.

The preconditions for admittance to the final state examination:

Bachelor's study program: accumulation of 180 credits in the prescribed structure
Master's study program: accumulation of 120 credits in the prescribed structure

Final examination

All programmes lead towards The Final State Examination which consists of two parts, each with a separate evaluation:

Thesis defence - lasts about 20 minutes. The thesis is evaluated through the overall quality and significance of your written work. Within your oral defence you should be able to summarize the main aims of the papers and give clear answers about your findings. After passing the oral defence you become a “candidate” for the degree if you pass with no more than one dissenting vote.
Oral examination in technical subjects - during your last semester of study you should receive a list of topics for the final examinations. On the day of your examination you will randomly draw a topic with a preparation time of about 30 minutes in order to prepare notes and comments for your drawn topics. After the “preparatory” time you will be invited to speak to the committee which might give you additional questions on your topics.

Final State Examinations are held twice a year, at the end of each semester. Students are examined by a committee that comprises of 5 academics from your home faculty as well as from external educational institutions.

Before your Final State Exam

Hand in two hardbound copies of your thesis and submit your electronic version to “Electronic Thesis and Dissertation”
Submit signed copies of the Agreement regarding the Terms of Use of the Qualification Thesis.
Fill in the Application Form for the Final State Examination and hand it in to the programme administrator
Double check that all your grades have been recorded
Meet the submission deadline! Late submissions cannot be accepted!

Termination of studies

Your studies are usually terminated by a successful completion of your study program by passing the final state examination.

Your studies could be also terminated if:

you did not receive enough credits for your particular stage of study
you have decided to drop your studies

The termination of studies means that you are no longer a student at the faculty and thus cannot continue to go to classes, submit work, sit for an exam or use facilities for enrolled students.

In case you no longer wish to continue your studies, you need to inform the Study Office, either in person or by sending a registered letter and hand in your student card.

Nevertheless, we highly recommend you to talk to your tutor first before making the final decision to leave the faculty.