Full-time study

Immediately after enrolment, applicants are obliged to contact their supervisor and the management of the training workplace to which they are, for organization purposes, assigned, and to agree on the course of study, attendance at the workplace and other (e.g. teaching) duties. Within the space available at the workplace, a full-time student will be assigned an individual working place.

Part-time study 

Applicants are obliged to contact their supervisor immediately after enrolment and agree on the course of study and other obligations.

Individual Study Plan

Study obligations and activites that the student has to complete during the doctoral study are defined in his/her ISP. The fullfillment of ISP is checked by the annual evaluation every year. The number and composition of component examinations for PhD students is suggested by their supervisor. The final examination in the study is the state doctoral examination (usually at the end of the second or beginning of the third year of study), then only the defence of the PhD thesis follows (at the end of the study, usualy at the end of the fourth or during fifth year).

The credit system is not used for Doctoral studies at FAS. In compiling ISPs, the following structure of prescribed course is generally followed.

The block of compulsory general study units includes mainly subjects that DSP students must learn regardless of the formal classification of these subjects in study courses. They include the basics of scientific work and principles of scientific ethics, familiarization with the methodology of dissertation writing and presentations at seminars. They also include the State Doctoral Examination and the preparation of the dissertation and its defence. Another compulsory course is a foreign world-wide language (most often English), which is not the student’s native language, the output level of the course being C1. For full-time students, this also includes adequate participation in the teaching activities of the department if this is the student's training workplace.

Students have to register at least three specialized courses in the block of compulsory professional study; their specific number is appropriate to the focus and scope of the dissertation topic. Courses can either be selected from the list of DSP courses offered (see Chapter 7), or they are created ad hoc according to the focus of the Doctoral thesis. Other compulsory professional study units may include, but are not limited to, creative activities and internships (see below).

After approval by the supervisor, students also have the right to enrol on any course taught at UWB, which then becomes part of their individual study plan.

When drawing up the plan, it is necessary to take into account that all the prescribed examinations must be completed before submitting the application for the State Doctoral Examination and the schedule must be drawn up accordingly.

As the credit system is not used for Doctoral studies at FAS, the courses are not listed in the IS/STAG information system. Abstracts of courses can be found on the Faculty website in the section list of courses. 

Requirements for Creative Activity

In addition to specialized courses, the ISP also includes the general topic of scientific research and independent creative activities. This topic is the basis for the development of the Doctoral thesis.

In addition, the ISP establishes ongoing responsibilities related to creative activities, in particular publishing activities (in conference proceedings, peer-reviewed journals, IF journals), participation in professional seminars, domestic and international conferences, and presentations of their own results in domestic and international forums. These obligations reflect the practices of individual scientific disciplines in the given field and the specific study programme.

The prescribed outputs are monitored continuously and during the Doctoral student's annual evaluation by the Field Board.  The maintenance of set standards is verified during the dissertation defence; the documentation is a mandatory prescribed supplement of the dissertation itself.

Requirements for Attending Internships

Completion of short-term/medium-term study internships at a foreign workplace, other forms of student mobility (summer schools, workshops, etc.), foreign language teaching lectures, or participation in an international project are also   other possible parts of Doctoral studies. If these activities are prescribed in the ISP, they become a mandatory component which is also taken into account in the dissertation defence.

Supervisors and teachers of individual Doctoral programmes/fields are key members of research teams in NTIS departments and research programmes.  They cooperate intensively and long term with many universities and research institutions around the world. Students of Doctoral study programmes at FAS are thus automatically and naturally involved in this international cooperation, including short-term and long-term stays at partner workplaces abroad.

Other Duties

For full-time students, an additional study obligation is adequate involvement in the teaching process (or other teaching activities) of the department in which the student is based. Full-time students participate in teaching activities on the basis of an agreement between the supervisor and the department management. The form and extent of a student's involvement in teaching (i.e. their teaching obligation) reflects both the annually updated needs of the training workplace and the student's other activities which are prescribed in their individual study plan for the given year. Students are involved exclusively in courses where the core part consists of professionally led lectures, and ensure the part of exercises. Changes in the extent (i.e. increase or decrease) of a student's teaching duties are agreed upon with the management of the department by the supervisor, who determines the working mode of the Doctoral student.

 Full-time students may also be involved in a Faculty project up to a maximum of half-time. Work on the project is subject to the approval of the supervisor and the head of the guaranteeing department. For part-time students, the workload time is not limited.

Generally, no duties outside those on the ISP may be delegated to students at the expense of completing their study plan and preparing the dissertation for defence.