First year student’s handbook

A selection of insights crucial for surviving the first year in university (and beyond).

Dear Colleagues, First Year Students!


Welcome to the Faculty of Science, Charles University. We believe that you will be happy with your decision to study at our Faculty. Several years ago we faced the same challenge you are facing today. We had come to an unknown university environment and many of us had also come to a new town. Following the years spent at our alma mater, we now know that the Faculty of Science gave us more than just boring hours spent in lectures – it gave us, first and foremost, new friendships, experiences, and memories; things that are always in abundance in our Faculty. The school instilled in us a sense of understanding and a relationship with nature, while also letting us experience times of trouble and stress. For this reason, along with our Faculty colleagues, we have prepared this handbook to make things easier for you and to give you basic information to ensure a successful start to your university life in Prague.


This brochure will give you information about your new school – from common academic agendas to extracurricular activities. Please treat this brochure as indicative – it is necessary to follow detailed regulations and the Karolinka, especially with respect to study law. Several years ago a group of senators prepared a simplified interpretation of study regulations to help you navigate study legislation. You can find everything related to this on the Faculty website. The aim of this First Year Student’s Handbook is to offer you a basic overview and direct you to sources of additional information. You will find the handbook useful throughout the entire period of your studies at the Faculty.


Should you have any questions or problems, you can always contact your student representatives in the Academic Senate of the Faculty or tutors. Do not forget that, in addition to your duties, you also have your rights. You can help shape the Faculty of Science together with us.


Daniel Vašek

Chairman of the Student Chamber, Academic Senate, FSc CU


Dear Students,

 

Congratulations on completing your high school studies successfully and on being admitted to study at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, which – being the fifth oldest Faculty at Charles University – one of the oldest, most prestigious, but also the most demanding schools in our country. We are pleased that you have chosen "Natural Science at Karlovka" from the wide range of options for your university studies. Welcome to the campus, welcome among us!

By your interest in natural sciences, which you have shown by submitting your application, together with your successful admission to the Bachelor's degree programmes, you are also becoming the continuators and spreaders of the traditions of natural science research at Charles University. We hope that during your studies you will not only acquire a lot of new knowledge and skills that you will apply in your life, but together with the teachers you will also succumb to the desire to discover the previously unknown, and often the urge to be useful to nature and society.

During your studies, you will make new friendships with fellow students and teachers, at home or abroad if you head for a study stay at one of our dozens of partner universities during your Bachelor's studies. Let your studies be a personal challenge. We hope that studying will give you the fulfilment and inspiration needed for creative work and personal development, and that you will enjoy it.


You are holding in your hands a handbook created for you by your older colleagues – students and members of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Science. They have filled it with information that will make navigating a new environment easier for you and help you understand what studying at a university is all about. The handbook summarises everything that its authors consider important based on their own experience. Everything else will be up to you. Please respect the instructions given to you by the guarantors of your programmes and all your teachers, and also pay attention to the regulations regarding studies, information, and methodological guidance from the Faculty’s Department of Student Affairs. If you experience problems fulfilling your academic duties, we recommend you try and find ways of solving these, as well as contacting the officials at the Department of Student Affairs and the student advisors (called tutors), as well as the guarantors of their programmes. The Faculty is ready to help those who find themselves in a difficult life situation.


Do not hesitate to get involved in student life at the Faculty. Be sure that you can gain a great deal of information and experience by joining student networks that transcend individual years and programmes of study. This will make studying easier for you.


We hope you regard your choice to study at the Faculty of Science as the challenge of your life and are happy with your studies and duly complete them. And once that happens, we will be happy if you continue to remain friends with your alma matris.

 

Prof. Jiří Zima

Dean

 

doc. RNDr. Milada Teplá, Ph.D

Vice-Dean for Study Concept

 

Assoc. Prof. Pavel Chromý

Vice-Dean for Education


Contents

prof. RNDr. Jiří Zima, CSc.
Dean

doc. RNDr. Milada Teplá, Ph.D

Vice-Dean for Study Concept

doc. RNDr. Pavel Chromý, Ph.D.

Vice-Dean for Education 

Daniel Vašek
Chairman of the Student Chamber, Academic Senate, FSc CU