2022 SUMMER SEMESTER

The form filled in: 15/148 (very sad…)

Please, list here your courses and write your experience with them. Did you notice any differences compared to your home university? (The most useful answers were selected.)

  • More essays than exams
  • Sometimes the organisation was not very good especially for the two first courses (ERASMUS – Czech for Foreigners – Beginners II, Ecology in inter-disciplinary research.) However teachers are nice and comprehensive.
  • More accessible than courses at home university probably because of Erasmus students (Conservation Biology, Parasitology, Czech for Beginners I).
  • Yes, there are much more practicals here, which is amazing. Also, I almost only had oral exams.
  • All courses were really interesting, good quality teaching (I studied Biochemistry)
  • The Erasmus courses were much easier than the ones in my home country and all the professors were very helpful (Chemistry of Atmosphere, Chemometrics, Organic synthesis and organocatalysis, Organic chemistry and biological processes, Toxicology).
  • BIOLOGY SECTION:
  • Advanced reading: easy, just 3 presentations and attendance to classes
  • Advances in cell biology: passionate teachers, always ready to answer to questions and develop our critical mind by reanalysing the articles we were presenting
  • Advances in immunology: very interesting, interactive class
  • Botany field trip: very nice, diverse, also good free time opportunities, a lot of memorizing Latin names, taking botany of vascular and non-vascular plants before would be better
  • Botany of non-vascular plants: okay, practical included (microscopy)
  • Conservation biology: Passionate teacher, I really enjoyed the course; good teacher, only presentation and essay to pass class
  • Crustacean biology and diversity: a lot of information about phylogenetic trees of crustaceans to remember for exam, quite hard.
  • Cytometry: very hard, a lot to do, but if you do something you pass. The teacher was amazingly didactique. He taught me a lot and was open for discussion. The exam brought me a lot because when he saw we didn’t understand he took the time to reexplain during our presentations. This course demanded a lot of work, but I didn’t regret taking it.
  • Developmental biology – a practical course: The teachers were not really present during this course and basically, we had to handle most of the practical by ourselves.
  • Diversity in marine fishes: courses were an interesting, but also some phylogenetics were complicated. Exam was oral and she didn’t expect any phylogenetics.
  • Environmental informatics: I got to know how to use different softwares for modelling.
  • Ethology and sociobiology: I was quite disappointed about this course as I didn’t feel the teachers brought much more inputs than the articles we had to read.
  • First aid class (en.): really good, interesting, fun and super important to get. You can get a certificate for first aid formation. During weekend.
  • Fish ecology: a lot of information in short time, trips to museum were nice & informative
  • Histology: nice lecturer, but too long and no slides presented. Interesting course, a lot of information similarly to French class, however the expectation (and the form of an oral) for the exam here are much lower.
  • Histology Practical: great, fluorescent microscopes
  • Ichthyology field course: very fun, recommend it if you do the fish ecology or diversity of marine fishes course.
  • Immunology: I learnt a lot, but I would give this course more credits as it requires a big amount of work.
  • Immunology – a practical course: I learnt a lot in this practical, I was glad having taken it.
  • Introduction to bioacoustics: I had never heard about this subject before, and I did enjoy a lot learning more about it.
  • Model organisms in developmental biology: I learnt a lot in this course.
  • Molecular Applications in Zoology: Better suited for first-year students of Bachelor, I would say. The exam was quite hard and written.
  • Molecules of life and Mutations: We had a lot of teachers for this course which I found amazing as all of them could give us their insights. All were very opened for discussions, and I felt like I could learn to use a few softwares for protein modelling and to better understand how a mutation can affect a protein and its interactions.
  • Neurobiology: It really liked the teacher but, as for immunology, it requires a big amount of work and not enough credits given for it.
  • Parasitology: a lot of problems with cancelled classes and not getting informed. Exam very hard to pass, some questions were not explained.
  • Plant systematics: very small course, went a lot outside to study the plants which was nice. Exam was quite hard.
  • Population biology of plants: I really enjoyed the way it was taught. The teacher was passionate and was trying to share her passion. We could do presentations and get some feedbacks to improve, we got sometimes for discussions and some nice feedbacks of essays.
  • Population ecology and species protection: online course with online test.
  • Practical basics of scientific work: very useful course for me as the teacher (who was passionate and always ready to help) shared many resources for scientists that I didn’t know about, and I could get much better insights on what scientific work means and tools we can use in our work.
  • Practical course in animal and human physiology: I didn’t find it that useful, but I think really nice for 1st year Bachelor.
  • Skills in pedagogy, communication and self confidence in science: I was surprised by what the course actually offered when I started attending the class, but I found it interesting as a class about self-development and getting better at presenting and learning to step up.
  • Specialised field course in zoology: One week away from university. I really appreciated the change and the life in community.
  • Zoology field trip: interesting, but some days were way too long (9-23)
  • CHEMISTRY SECTION:
  • None of the students commented their chemistry subjects.
  • GEOGRAPHY / GEOLOGY SECTION:
  • Image and Laboratory spectroscopy, Analysis, mapping and visualization of urban and regional development, Environmental Informatics, Machine Learning in Geosciences and Remote sensing of planets. The difference with my home university was huge. The level of teaching was really poor, seems like teachers/professors lack any kind of pedological skills, the courses are badly constructed, the tutorials don’t teach students anything (since you just mimic whatever the teacher is doing) and either the courses/classes are way too easy or really hard (i.e. Machine Learning). Some teachers were helpful but some professor (i.e. Analysis, mapping and visualization of urban and regional development) had a terrible, condescending way of communicating with students that was really old fashioned and made people uncomfortable. Overall all the courses sounded really interesting and had a lot of potential to be beneficial, but the execution just wasn’t successful at all.

Did you receive enough information before your arrival to Prague?

Did you experience any problems during your stay in Prague? (The most useful answers were selected.)

  • Get sick because the air is much drier than in my home region.
  • I didn’t like the dorm I was firstly sent to, so I moved to another one.
  • I didn’t know about deadlines of enrolment of courses, and that it’s not possible to drop them afterwards.
  • Some teachers dropped their exam dates suite spontaneous, that’s also something I didn’t know.

What would you like to tell the next generation of incoming Erasmus students? (The most useful answers were selected.)

  • ACCOMMODATION: Be careful when looking for a flat, never pay in advance. Even the Erasmus in Prague agency is unreliable. Don’t be too stressed about deadlines. Make a list of all the things you have to do. Print everything out when you need something from any official Czech post and don’t expect them to speak English. Never use the Euronet cash machines.
  • ACCOMMODATION: For dormitories. maybe check the place before to make sure that you are not too far from the city/ don’t mind being far from the city if the dormitory in question is far.
  • MONEY: Don’t go to Euronet ATM to change money, it is quite a bad deal.
  • UNIVERSITY: They should not take too difficult courses because if the learning method is too far from the one of their home university, they will struggle a lot and their stay will be less nice
  • UNIVERSITY: Learn some Czech, Czech people do appreciate at least that we are trying to speak their language and lots of Czech people don’t speak English.
  • UNIVERSITY: Usually every course has a page in Moodle, also if they don’t write it in sis
  • LIVING IN PRAGUE: Nemocnice Motol (hospital) has people speaking English so if you need a hospital I would advise going there.
  • LIVING IN PRAGUE: Relax at first and then you will be able to enjoy the entire experience. Enjoy Prague.
  • LIVING IN PRAGUE: I would emphasize that Prague is a wonderful city to do an Erasmus but say that in pedagogical/academic I wouldn’t expect to gain that much.
  • Get out of the Erasmus bubble and meet some local students.

2021 WINTER SEMESTER

The form filled in: 33/106

Please, list here your courses and write your experience with them. Did you notice any differences compared to your home university? (The most useful answers were selected.)

  • Yes the courses are quite different than in France because we are often less than 15 in a course, and because we have more practical courses in France.
  • The main differences are the number of student in each course and the didactic method.
  • A difference with home university : too much courses with only 3 credits, that’s very hard to manage the grading system here is very valorisating.
  • In general all was good with all the subjects. Just to say that in Spain they give numerical marks for each subject (1-10).
  • In the field of teaching the courses, I did not notice any differences between CUNI and my home university. The evaluation is different that made me confused. I like to breaks during the lectures. Also, the attitude of teachers to us. I appreciate the enthusiasms of students for studying (what is absolutely different from my classmates at home).
  • We are very few in class which allows us to follow well, some classes are interesting because they are based on debates and active oral participation. On the other hand, some more scientific courses where it takes practice, training and almost non-existent and there is no correction.
  • All the courses went well, and the teaching was of high quality.
  • All the courses were very usefull and different from the one in my home university. The Charles University faculty of science is more practical-oriented.
  • I am really pleased with all the subjects I selected. Teachers were super helpful and passionate about their subjects. Not many differences, but I don’t like the uncertanty about examination dates. In my home university we recieve approximate examination dates in the beginning of the course, so it is easier to plan your studies.
  • Practical Basics of Scientific Work – good course, very useful for later work, only problem was that it was so late in the day
  • Immunology – I think the way this course was taught was not the best. The topics were not linear and sequential. What I felt was that it began with hard topics and later the teacher explained the basic ones. I dont know I just felt that it was all over the place and the teacher really needs to re-structure this course.
  • Neurobiology- I like it a lot. However it was really hard, but I think that’s normal.
  • Quaternary Palaeoecology – more practical work than I am used to, loved it!
  • Heritage of cultural landscapes: nice teacher, quite interesting, easy exam with a good grade
  • Climate change in geological earth’s history: for me the most interesting course, done by a really good teacher!
  • Contemporary Trends in Migration Studies: very interesting and lifely seminar, the teacher was very good at engaging us, left a lot of room for creativety and discussion and gave clear instructions on the requirements for the course and offered help if needed
  • Contemporary Political Geography and Geopolitics: I enjoyed the concept of changing lecturers teaching us the main ideas of geopolitcs through their research. We also received good feedback for our essays and presentations. There was an administrative problem: two versions of the same course existed and none of us knew about it and some enrolled in the wrong version leading to some trouble with the grading, it would be nice to make that a bit clearer the next time.
  • Regional Demography and Demography of Regions: Although he was nice in general, we found that the teachers attitude towards the students was a bit problematic. When asking questions he repetetly put people on the spot and kept questioning them when they were clearly uncomfortable and didn´t know the answer. When students were holding their presentations he kept interupting them, critising them in an extremely unconstructive way, bashing them for not doing or knowing something and making others feel scared to hold their presentations as well. He was a pretty unclear when giving instructions on homework or presentations, but then did not seam to understand when students misinterpreted the instructions.
  • Environmental Issues (backgrounds, examples and solutions): i wouldn´t recommend this course to geographers. Even though the discription says otherwise it uses a lot of biological terminology which is not explained and takes some biological knowledge for granted. Due to the different lecturers the upload of the lecturer presentations was pretty messy (there was no one place where we could find them all) and we basically had no information on the form of the exam whatsoever.
  • Czech Language Course Beginner I: the teacher was extremely nice and really only tought us what we needed for everyday life in Prague. She let us dicide what we found useful to learn and took a lot of time to explain everything so all of us understood it. She even took us on a little excursion around Prague and told us a bit about the city.
  • R for life – course was well executed, suited for people with no prior background in programming. Teacher made an effort to answer every question, provide students with comprehensible exercises and, most importantly, teach them, how to search for the information themselves.
  • Population biology of plants – One of my favorite courses this semester. Extremely detailed, well structured and well taught. I really liked that teacher made students to have discussions in the lectures on questions related to the topic. I think that tis made it easier to follow the lectures and learn better. Although, I think, that this course should have more credits, than it has now, due to the amount of work that was required to finish it.
  • Biological Invasions – Another one of my favorite courses. Slides were informative, course – well structurised, teaching – excellent. Not a single boring lecture.
  • First Aid Course for Foreign Students – Very well executed practical course. Gained more knowledge in it than in any government-organized courses I had to attend in my country. I think that university should make this one mandatory for every student.

Did you receive enough information before your arrival to Prague?

Did you experience any problems during your stay in Prague? (The most useful answers were selected.)

  • Enrolling in classes at the Erasmus office took some time and stress and I found it hard to find the class rooms for quite a while. But overall the courses were really well organised and engaging.
  • The emergency system, test reservation and medical procedures are sometimes hard to follow if you do not speak Czech.
  • The landlord of my first rent scammed me.
  • Biggest problem before the stay was the lateness of confirmation, that I will attend the intensive language course. I lost a lot of money on plain tickets because of that. Also, I think that it would be nice, that signed learning agreement would be sent via email as well, not only by post (I have heard stories, that learning agreement reached the wrong person as well). It arrived quite late, and I could not proceed without it with other documentation that needed to be filled.
  • The only problem during the stay probably was the fact that dorm reception did not speak English at all when I arrived (in the course of the year this situation has changed).

What would you like to tell the next generation of incoming Erasmus students? (The most useful answers were selected.)

  • Pay attention to your belongings in public because they can get stolen. Attend erasmus events to meet more people.
  • Prague is a superb city, full of energy. The Erasmus club is great. The only downside is choosing your courses well and finding out about their content beforehand.
  • Find czech people to ask in the beginning, have a flat before you come here (Facebook is useful but tedious), print everything that might be of importance, do not feel insecure if you don’t get answers to emails in the next month, just annoy them as often as you can or even better go to the office in person, learn a bit of Czech, many people don’t speak English.
  • Warn them against the ATM in Prague which give really bad exchange rates.
  • Be aware that not a lot of Czechs speak (good) English especially if you are outside the city centre or in other cities than Prague, having a translator on your phone and preparing a few scentences can help.
  • That they will need to work hard, even though they are in Erasmus.
  • If they are staying in the Hostivar dorms, they should try to get in contact with residents as soon as possible. A lot of small details about living there are not covered and reception is not friendly. Another thing that should be known – bus tickets work for every means of public transportation in Prague. I did not know that and for a week was buying ticket in Litacka and separate for metro.
  • Find your accomodation before the departure! I suggest to take a room in a dorm.