Study rules

Study rules and study catalogue

Students follow the rules described in the study catalogue of their respective matriculation year. The study catalogues of each matriculation year can be found at the links below:

Study Catalogue 2018/2019 (page 22)
Study Catalogue 2017/2018 (page 21)
Study Catalogue 2016/2017 (page 27)
Study Catalogue 2015/2016 (page 9)
Study Catalogue 2014/2015 (page 10)
Study Catalogue 2013/2014 (page 10)
Study catalogue 2012/2013 (page 10)

The general rules of study are as follows:

Method of study (credit system)

a) The EVN study programme at the Department of Environmental Studies is designed as a single-subject study programme or as a combined study programme, where you choose Environmental Studies as your major or minor. The standard period of study is 3 years (six semesters). It is implemented on the basis of a credit system.

b) The compulsory courses (A credits) form the basis of the field of study and must therefore all be taken compulsorily. If a student has already taken any of the compulsory courses in the course of a previous study in another discipline, he/she may be recognised by the teacher of that course. Compulsory elective courses (B credits) are taken according to the student's study interest. Optional subjects (C credits) are chosen by the student beyond the subjects included in the ENS study programme, from the offers available at any MU faculty. He/she may earn 5 credits for them. Courses that are offered in parallel in more than one field of study can only earn the relevant credits once - they can be taken in one field of study.

c) Courses may be taken in any sequence. Exceptions are follow-up courses - assuming knowledge from another course. This sequence of enrolment, as indicated in the study catalogue or in the MU IS, must always be respected. The optimal order of enrolment of study courses is recommended in the Study Catalogue.

d) Bachelor's students must take at least 1 course in English.

e) To be eligible to sit for the State Baccalaureate Examination, a student must obtain at least 90 credits.

f) Fraudulent behavior, especially plagiarism of review and final papers and theses, is contrary to the moral principles of the academic community. It will be sanctioned according to the standards established by Masaryk University.

Communication between students and teachers

a) In addition to lectures and seminars, teachers shall schedule tutorials (at least 2 tutorials per week).

b) The head of the department appoints a teacher-advisor for studies, to whom students can turn for study matters (in the ENV programme this is Ing. Zbyněk Ulčák, PhD.).

c) Organizational matters are handled by the department assistant.

Practice

The internship is carried out according to the rules determined by the study plan. More detailed information is available here.

Bachelor thesis seminar

a) Enrolment in the Seminar for Bachelor's Thesis I shall be made in the expected penultimate semester of study. The student is obliged to enrol in the Bachelor Thesis Seminar II in the semester in which he/she intends to submit the Bachelor Thesis, the prerequisite being the successful completion of the Bachelor Thesis Seminar I.

b) Seminar for Bachelor Thesis II is completed by submitting the Bachelor Thesis for defence. Only then are the credits for the seminar counted. ATTENTION! Thesis supervision must be discussed in good time, well in advance. In the first contact, the validity of the topic can be confirmed (hasn't the topic already been assigned? or defended? - check the list of topics already assigned, clarify the degree of difficulty, etc.). Then follows a rather long phase (lasting months rather than weeks!) in which the student prepares to develop the THOUGHT. A well prepared topic is a prerequisite for successful further work.

Submission of the bachelor thesis

a) The deadline for the submission of the BP is set by the departmental timetable, for the BP it is approximately three weeks before the defence.

b) The MU Study Regulations make it obligatory to submit the BP in electronic form. The Department requires the submission of 2 copies for the purpose of preparing reports, defence and internal archiving. Thermal binding and ring binding are possible. The deadline for the personal submission of the thesis to the department secretariat coincides with the insertion of the text into the IS and is announced in the departmental timetable for the relevant semester.

c) The BP is not accepted if it does not meet all the prescribed requirements (see point 5).

d) The department (faculty, MU) does not cover any costs related to the preparation and implementation (reproduction of questionnaires, travel, data acquisition, data analysis, etc.), guidance (if the work is conducted by an external person), consultation, etc.

Bachelor thesis defence

The defence of the BP is a commission and public. The thesis is assessed by the opponent and the head of the BP. The opponent is appointed by the department.

a) Course of the defence
1.) Presentation of the BP (five to ten minutes of the graduate's speech). It is to inform the committee about the reason for the choice of the topic, the basic results (the opponents usually do not deal with the interpretation of the content of the thesis in their opinion), or further possible research on the topic. If interesting, mention the main difficulties in the elaboration. It is often interesting to say "what I would do differently now".

Notes:

Do not comment on the reviews at this stage!
ATTENTION! Anyone who exceeds the ten-minute time limit will be interrupted. It is advisable to keep to five minutes, especially to allow for discussion, which tends to be interesting.

2.) Reading of the supervisor's report
3.) Reading of the opponent's report
4.) Response to the testimonials - the core of the defense. It is not always necessary to respond to all comments. But it is necessary to prepare the responses - the panel, together with the assessors on site, will decide what can be omitted from the testimonials.
5.) Assessors' responses
6.) A discussion in which the members of the committee, as well as other participants, discuss the work with the student.
7.) A committee meeting without the student and guests present.
8.) Announcement of the result of the defence (it is possible to do it in groups, e.g. in the morning and in the afternoon).

b) Evaluation
The committee decides whether the thesis meets the requirements and its classification at the defence. In general, the text of the thesis and the course of the defence are decisive for the committee, while the opinions of the supervisor and the opponent have an advisory voice. The final classification of the thesis may therefore differ from the proposals of the supervisor and the opponent!
Note: Students are advised to familiarise themselves with the structure of the department's proposed opponent's opinions during the development of the BP. This allows for a better understanding of what will be emphasized in the evaluation of the BP.

Guidance on how to write reviews (especially for external referees) can be found HERE.

State Final Bachelor's Examination

Detailed information can be found on the State Final Examination subpage.