Student Life
Your student life will be what you make it! It may sound clichéd, but the Faculty offers a lot of activities that you can take part in passively as audience or actively as organisers.
Events organised by the Faculty of Science
The Public Relations Department (“OVV”) organises numerous events for students and the general public during the year. These include the Museum Night at FSc, the Science Is Beautiful photography contest, and the presentational Faculty of Science Ball at the Žofín palace. The Faculty balls also include bestowing the Velemlok (Giant Salamander) awards on the best teachers for the previous academic year. Upon producing your student card, you can visit the Faculty museums and collections free of charge (including the Botanical Garden’s greenhouses (except for exhibitions), the Chlupáč Museum of Earth History and the Hrdlička Museum of Anthropology,https://www.natur.cuni.cz/eng/museums-and-collections).
Events organised by the Student Chamber of the Academic Senate
The Student Chamber of the Academic Senate (“SKAS”) organises several events throughout the year to form the community life of the Faculty. An important annual event is the brigade to clean up the Albertov hillsides. It takes place every spring on the land between the small and large Albertov steps. At the beginning of the academic year, there is also a regular Naturalists to Ourselves event, where students get acquainted with faculty societies, the Academic Senate and the faculty leadership. All this in a very friendly and informal atmosphere with refreshments.
Student Associations and Activities
A student association is an organization or association of students formed to promote and represent student interests at the faculty. The society functions as a community of people who come together to share similar interests. Students can either join existing societies or start their own society.
It is possible to join a society by contacting its representative by email or directly to the contact address listed for the particular society on the faculty's website. Some societies have a website that gives the exact procedure for joining the society. It is also possible to attend one of the events organised by the Faculty to promote the societies and join in person.
All you need to start a society is an idea for an activity (either specific or more general), a name for the society, a logo and 3 students to run the society. Once these 4 conditions are met, just write to the society coordinator who will help with the official formation and publication of the society in the faculty list. Societies can apply for financial support from the faculty up to 10,000 for their activities. The rules for support are listed on the Faculty website in the Student Societies section.
There are many societies at the Faculty of Science that bring together students of certain interests. The societies are either focused on a particular activity or organise a variety of events. A large number of societies focus on sports activities. Students can join a sports team and either play for fun or join a university league. The hockey players of HC Nature have a great success and regularly rank first in the university league. Students can also join basketball, floorball or volleyball teams.
Other societies aim to popularise science, mainly to high school students, for whom they organise correspondence seminars, clubs, lectures and more. The main biological societies are the Correspondence Seminar of Bioscience, the Arachne Association and the Fluorescence Night. The chemical ones include the KSICHT (Correspondence Seminar Inspired by Chemical Topics).
Many clubs have as their primary goal the improvement of student life on campus. The faculty is involved in the Vines Theatre Club or the Hiking Club, which organizes trips around the Czech Republic for students of all sections. Geologists organise, for example, a Shutroscope, or a competition for the opening of geologically themed photographs, within the GAS (Geological Art Society) or an orienteering run around the faculty and campus within the EGEA (European Geography and Young Geography Students Association). The EGEA also organises travel lectures and exchanges with students from other European universities. Other associations include the Erasmus Club, which organises cultural and educational events for students coming from abroad under the Erasmus programme.
Many societies are focused on students of one section, but there are also non-exclusive societies, e.g. the Přífuk Society, which organises the PříFest OpenAir science festival and other student events. The Přífuk society also offers students the opportunity to implement their ideas for student events without the need to form a new society by covering this initiative. Other non-exclusive societies are Hydrant and GAL (Geological Academic League).
All societies and descriptions of their activities are listed on the faculty website under student societies (https://www.natur.cuni.cz/fakulta/studentske-spolky).
Culture at student-friendly prices
In addition to discounted last-minute tickets, which are highly affordable provided there are still vacant seats half an hour before the performance at the National Theatre, Švanda Theatre, and Divadlo Bez zábradlí, or standing tickets (Činoherní klub – CZK 50), students can also use the highly useful Faculty of Arts Student Council News Feed (a SML system; Czech only). If you register and pay a small annual fee, you can take advantage of several discounts intended for SML system members. You can choose the clubs from whom you want to receive information e-mails (Music Club, Film Club, Theatre Club, discussions with guests, etc.) and book your tickets to selected events using the system. The CU Film Seminar (Czech only) presents the current production at Celetná 20 every Tuesday. Visitors need to register; each registration is valid for one semester.
For music festivals, one event worth mentioning is certainly the free-of-charge Strahov Open Air, which is usually held at the turn of September and October, and the non-commercial Studentský Majáles festival. Make sure you visit the Faculty of Arts’ Celetná student club in Celetná Street at least once during your studies.
A cult-status Faculty amenity, the Mrtvá ryba (Dead Fish) bar at Benátská 4 (behind a large steel door) is where you will meet many university friends and teachers. Subject to an arrangement, certain areas can be reserved. Mrtvá ryba is situated in the same building at the FSc Rybička Kindergarten (Czech only), so that students with children can easily combine parenting and student life at the Faculty.
Mrtvá ryba student pub: facebook.com/Mrtv%C3%A1-ryba-187716801292837/
List of student associations and current news at FSc: natur.cuni.cz/fakulta/studentske-spolky/ (Czech only)
Faculty of Arts Student Council News Feed: sml.strada.ff.cuni.cz (Czech only)