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Study Guide for New Students

Dear New Students

We are pleased to welcome you to the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University. We highly appreciate that you have chosen our Faculty for your studies and we firmly hope that you will not regret your decision.

Before you start your studies, we would like to give you some useful advice that might help you get better oriented in the first months of your studies and to remind you of the most important rules to be observed during the studies at Masaryk University (MU).

At the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University, there also holds the unpopular yet universally valid saying:

IGNORANCE OF THE RULES IS NO EXCUSE FOR BREAKING THEM.

Information System (IS)

During the studies at MU, communication with the electronic information system of Masaryk University (is.muni.cz) is of utmost importance. Some of you may already have got acquainted with it when applying for the study. The is.muni keeps your study records, contains information on the individual courses and their timetables, and also study materials for some of the courses. Through the information system you are also going to register for your examinations. IS also serves to reach fast contact with students by means of electronic mail (e-mails). Therefore you are advised to get accustomed to regular weekly checks of the news in IS and of the electronic mail.

Credit System

Studies at MU are pursued under the credit system. A prerequisite for advancing to the study in the next semester is always the acquisition of at least 20 credits. Since, however, you have to obtain a total of 360 credits for the six years of your studies, it is mostly necessary that you obtain more than 20 credits for a semester. How many credits each course has can be found in the Course Catalogue section of the is.muni and/or in the printed Faculty Calendar which you have received during the enrolment. Credits are always acquired only after the completion of a course, i.e. after the respective course-unit credit has been granted or the respective examination passed. For this semester you have got all courses already enrolled by the Office for International Studies, but from the next semester on you can decide even yourselves whether or not you enrol in a particular course.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites are of importance for enrolling in courses in all semesters except for the first. This means that the condition for enrolling in a particular course is the acquisition of a course-unit credit or the passing of an examination in another course or in other courses of the preceding semesters. Typically, you may enrol in the seminar in Anatomy II only if you have obtained the course-unit credit in Anatomy I; enrolment for the course of Physiology in the third semester is conditional on passing the exams in Biology and Biophysics; the course of Pathological Anatomy in the third year may only be enrolled if you have passed the exam in Anatomy, etc. The prerequisites for the particular courses can again be found in the IS Course Catalogue or on the website https://www.med.muni.cz/en/students/faculty-calendars or in the printed Faculty Calendar.

Examinations

The examinations in individual courses may be oral, written, or combined. Participation in an exam is conditional upon obtaining course-unit credits in related courses, i.e. in the corresponding practical classes or seminar for the given course.

In the first three years of study, examinations may only be taken during the examination period. For each examination you have one regular date and two remedial dates, i.e. altogether three dates. In accord with the MU Study and Examination Regulations, a regular date has to be used in the examination period immediately following the instruction in a course. If you fail to make use of it during this period, you receive automatically entered what is called the “administrative F” grade (= unacceptable), which means that the first date has expired for you. The unused (remaining) remedial dates can also be used during the examination period of the following semester, of course provided that the instructor has offered a date. However, offering dates in the following examination period is not a duty for the examiners and, in any case, the number of such dates is lower. Thus, you have only three dates available for each examination. Therefore be cautious with them and do not waste them unnecessarily.

A typical wrong example: A student has failed to pass the exam in a course within the regular date. As s/he is convinced that his/her knowledge is sufficient and the teacher is wrong, s/he applies for the same exam in two days (in a week). Once again s/he fails to pass the exam because s/he has overestimated his/her knowledge again. And all at once there is only one date left for him/her. Unless s/he has learned his/her lesson from the previous situation, s/he is likely to easily waste the date again, without being a hundred per cent prepared. So if you want to make sure that you are sufficiently prepared for an exam, just consult your knowledge with the teachers still before the exam.

If you fail to pass the exam in a course during the examination period of the given semester or during the examination period of the following semester, then you must enrol in the course as in a repeated one in the next year. However, you must pass the exam in a repeated course already during the examination period of the given semester for which you have enrolled in the course.

Please also take notice of how the dates of your exams are scheduled and plan in due time when you are going to enrol for them. Do not be confident that when you have learned everything necessary you are sure to find a date. Also, do not bank on that the exam dates will be prolonged until instruction of the next semester has been in progress, or that the teacher will grant you an individual date. Exam dates are only scheduled in the examination period.

A very typical situation which occurs during the examination period is that students always postpone the dates of their exams. So, for example, the January dates of the autumn semester exams are often vacant, while a date in mid-February, when the examination period ends, is demanded by 150 students and over. Naturally, not all applicants for late dates can be satisfied and those for whom no date has been left tend to lodge complaints. However, such complaints are not accepted by the management of the Faculty if the total number of dates scheduled in the course of the examination period has been sufficient.

We therefore advise you to choose a different strategy: learn intensively already during the semester and apply for the first exam dates right away. Then you will have time for your recreation at the end of the examination period.

Qualification for Enrolment on the Next Semester of Studies

A very important condition for advancement to the next semester is the passing of examinations in repeated courses.

An example: In the examination period of the autumn semester of the 1st year, the student should pass his/her exam in Biophysics (Chemistry). S/he does not pass the exam in the regular or the first resit date, and makes an unsuccessful attempt to pass it on the second resit date in the examination period of the spring semester. Then s/he has to enrol for the course as for a repeated one in the autumn semester of the following academic year and has to pass the respective exam by the end of the autumn examination period. If s/he fails to pass the exam, his/her studies are terminated. When repeating an exam-bound course the student no longer enrols in the corresponding practice course or seminar, if s/he has obtained a course-unit credit for them.

Attendance at Instruction

Of very high importance is also attendance at the instruction; while attendance at lectures is not compulsory (though recommended), attendance at practical courses and seminars is compulsory and recorded. Non-attendance at compulsory instruction has to be excused at the Office for Studies of the Faculty of Medicine, which registers the respective apology notice in the Information System. The teachers will only enable you to compensate for your absence if it has been excused. Apology notices have to be delivered at the Office for International Studies no later than by 5 days since the absence; apologies delivered later may not be acknowledged by the teacher. Unexcused non-attendance at compulsory instruction is a reason for refusal to grant a course-unit credit. Non-attendance at a previously booked exam has to be excused in a similar way.

Well, these are about the most important rules whose non-observance might result in complications for your studies at the Faculty right at their beginning.

However, we urgently advise you to get acquainted also with other provisions of the Study and Examination Regulations (e.g., under what conditions the studies may be interrupted, what the grading scale is, etc.).

Also please get acquainted in good time in the individual courses with the requirements for the granting of course-unit credits and the way in which the examinations proceed.

Whenever in doubt please do not hesitate in time to contact the Office for International Studies or your Vice-deans for the studies.

Physical Training

In the 1st - 6th semesters students must enrol in two courses of Physical Training in an extent of 2 hours per week. They can choose from university courses (see Faculty Calendar or https://www.fsps.muni.cz/cus/kontakty).

Where You Can Find Us

Most of the instruction for first-year students takes place on the premises of the University Campus in Kamenice 3, Brno-Bohunice. The older part of the premises houses the Dept. of Anatomy, the building of the Morphology Centre contains the Depts. of Biophysics, Histology and Embryology, and the Dept. of Nursing Care. The newly erected part houses the Depts. of Biology, Biochemistry, Physiology, Languages, Ethics, Pathological Physiology.

Also, the most part of lectures will be held on these premises.

Some lectures can be held in the lecture halls in the “old” building of the Faculty of Medicine at Komenského náměstí Square 2, and in the Surgery Lecture Hall of St. Anne’s Faculty Hospital in Pekařská Street.

A further space for your studies will be offered to you by the modern and generously constructed University Campus Library (UCL, in Czech KUK). Here you can find ample facilities for your study, a great number of online connected computers, and the possibility of borrowing books either as presence/reference/ loans or short-term loans to take away. Registration in the library is carried out on student ISIC card basis. These cards will be given to you only in the first week of the semester; therefore you cannot borrow books in the library as yet.

ISIC Card

Under the new Czech Act on Higher Education our University is obliged to provide students with statutory student identity cards evidencing their student status. To this effect, Masaryk University has decided to introduce multi-purpose ISIC chip. These cards can be used e.g. in contacts with the City Public Transport Company, with the University Library, the University Canteen and also as a regular ISIC card at the same time (for establishing the student status abroad, discounts etc.). The issue of the cards is sponsored and thus free of charge for students. The card will be valid from September 2020 to the end of the year 2021. After that, its validity will be prolonged with the validation sticker which can be collected in the Office for International Studies.

Digital photographs for the ISIC cards are taken at https://it.muni.cz/en/services/photographing-for-id-cards 

Payment for Medical Treatment

Students from EU countries receive basic medical treatment free of charge; that is medical treatment ultimately paid for by their health insurance plans. This, however, only relates to care covered by the Czech health insurance companies and to doctors and medical facilities financed from public sources. If you are a student from a country outside the EU, you must pay for your treatment in cash; you can then use the receipt to obtain reimbursement from your health insurance company.

Public transport

The public transport system in Brno is quite comprehensive and reliable. The many tram, bus and trolley bus lines allow you to get quickly to any part of the city throughout the day and the evening. Several trams and buses run through the night as well, at one-hour intervals. You can buy individual tickets for the public transport system at most newspaper stands, in some food stores and from machines located at key stops; the price of the adult transfer ticket is 20 Kč (15 min.) and 25 Kč (60 min.). You must stamp the ticket as soon as you enter the vehicle, using one of the small devices attached to the vertical poles near the doors. Most students, however, prefer to purchase a monthly or quarterly pass, especially since there is a considerable student reduction. One-month stamp for the student bus pass costs 275 Kč and three-month stamp costs 685 Kč. You will need one photo, ISIC card or confirmation from the Office for International Studies of the Faculty of Medicine MU.

Brno municipal transport office (Dopravní podnik města Brna, http://www.dpmb.cz), Novobranská 18 (behind hotel Grand), Brno.

Working days:

6:00–19:00

Saturdays:

8:00–15:30

Student Meals

For taking your meals, you can make use of any canteen and cafeteria with daily offers of meals run by the MU Accommodation and Catering Services (SKM). At present, the campus itself has three cafeterias with daily offers of meals; a short trolleybus ride can take you quickly to the canteen in Vinařská Street. In the city centre, close to the old building of the Faculty of Medicine at Komenského náměstí Square 2, there is also a canteen at Moravské náměstí Square 9. MU students take their meals through their catering account and a valid ID card issued to the account (ISIC card). By means of this card, they authorise in the canteens. The card is activated by depositing money on your canteen account, at any cash counter of the catering services. Here you can also have your password generated for administrating your catering account (ordering meals, history, etc.) via the Internet. For additional information on student meals and accommodation please consult the SKM web pages on the address https://www.skm.muni.cz.

In conclusion, we would like to wish you that you may find the studies at our Faculty agreeable, that you may be successful, and that you may also prosper in other areas of your life.

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