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 decide 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.
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.