Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague
|
Jinonice building in Prague | |
Former names | IZV UK |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Established | 2000 |
| Dean | doc. PhDr. Ladislav Benyovszky, CSc. |
| Students | 2326[1] |
| Undergraduates | 1605[1] |
| Postgraduates | 608[1] |
| 113[1] | |
| Location |
Prague 50°03′15″N 14°22′07″E / 50.054296°N 14.368604°ECoordinates: 50°03′15″N 14°22′07″E / 50.054296°N 14.368604°E |
| Website | http://fhs.cuni.cz/ |
Originally founded as the Institute for Liberal Education of Charles University in 1994, the Faculty of Humanities Charles University gained full academic autonomy in 2000. It was established to provide study programs at the Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D. levels previously not available at the university. Its main research and academic focus is the Humanities and Social and Cultural Anthropology. Located in a new, award-winning campus-like facility of Charles University in the Prague district of Jinonice, the school has 200 faculty members and approximately 2 000 students.
A pioneer since its inception, the faculty was among the first at Charles University to adopt the Bologna Accords. In addition, it utilizes advances in e-learning and academic tracking technologies to allow distance learning for both traditional and non-traditional students, increased student/teacher communication, and web courses. Furthermore, the school is highly supportive of student mobility and encourages participation in various types of exchanges (the LLP ERASMUS exchange program, summer school programs, bilateral agreements at the university as well as school level, etc.) thus increasing the diversity of students in Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies (program in English) and its other classes.
Under the leadership of Dean Professor Jan Sokol, Ph.D., the former education minister and nominated candidate for the presidency of the Czech Republic in 2003, the school developed several progressive programs answering important transitional needs. The foundation of its work is the Bachelor's Programme in Liberal Arts and Humanities, offering students unprecedented individual choice in course selection in both theoretical and applied arts of philosophy, history, the social sciences, and languages. Since June 2007 the new dean has become Docent PhDr. Ladislav Benyovszky, CSc.
The Faculty of Humanities offers advanced degrees in General Anthropology, Civil Society Studies, Social and Cultural Ecology, E-Culture and Semiotics, Management and Supervision Social and Health institutions, Gender Studies, Oral History and Contemporary History, Historical Sociology Studies and Ph.D. program in Anthropology, Applied Ethics and Environmental Studies. Finally, there are two research and educational institutions operating within the Faculty of Humanities: the Research Center for Personality Development and Ethnicity, the Rehabilitation Institute for the Visually Impaired, and the Cabinet for Civic Democratic Education.
The first dean of the faculty was prof. Jan Sokol. The second dean of the faculty is doc. PhDr. Ladislav Benyovszky, CSc. since 2007.
Locations of FHS CU
Main work location of Faculty of Humanities CU is in Jinonice district, U Kříže 8, 150 00 Prague 5. There are two detached work locations. First in Hůrka district, Husníkova 2075, 158 00 Prague 13 and the second in Máchova street 7, 120 00 Prague 2.
Study Programmes
Bachelor Degrees
Humanities
Field of study: Liberal Arts and the Humanities
Characteristics of Study Field
The bachelor's degree study of Liberal Arts and the Humanities (SHV) is a university field of study in the humanities that is centred around philosophical, historical, and cultural and social anthropology. The programme's significant feature is a widely opened study schedule that allows for students' individual abilities and interests. Every student completes mandatory courses in general humanities and social sciences and passes comprehensive exams relevant to each field. By properly choosing other courses during their study, they can gradually specialise and focus either on further (Master's) study in any of the relative theoretical branches, or on the practical use of acquired skills.
The study programme is divided into two segments, the theoretical segment and the application segment, and into six sub-modules: the theoretical segment includes the social science, the historical and the philosophical modules; the application segment includes the communicative, the creative and the qualified skills modules. The head of each particular module is responsible for the selection and for the quality of offered courses. It is customary that each student chooses a so-called tutor (a teacher of FHS UK) at the beginning of or during their studies. The tutor helps students to choose relevant courses and later the theme of their diploma thesis, of which they are the supervisor of. Choosing a tutor is not compulsory, but highly recommended, as they aid in the easier and more successful orientation in the study programme.
Profile of Graduates
The graduate of Liberal Arts and the Humanities acquires knowledge in many disciplines of the humanities (philosophy, sociology, psychology, history, anthropology and economics) and an interdisciplinary, thorough practical knowledge of at least one foreign language, including the capability of professional translation, the ability of critical thinking and of sophisticated speech and writing. Great emphasis is placed, above all, on self-reliance and responsibility training and on individual creative work, which allows for further effective education and flexibility under the changing conditions on the labour market. The graduate acquires qualifications for a wide range of employments, for example in the fields of state administration and self-government, in non-profit organisations, in education, in research activities for various institutions or in consulting in the multicultural sphere and in humanities-oriented institutions. The graduate with a predominantly theoretical specialisation acquires during their studies not only a solid base in the general humanities, but also expertise in any of above- mentioned humanities disciplines, and thus will be adequately prepared for further studies in many branches of the humanities on the master's level. The graduate with a predominantly applied skills specialisation may be employed in the fields of public relations, advertisement, media etc., thanks to their acquired knowledge of, for example, creating research projects, text editing and preparation, information processing and creating company presentations.
Master Degree Programmes
Humanities
Field of study:Gender Studies
Characteristics of Study Field
The philosophy of Gender Studies at the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University in Prague (FHS CU) rests in offering the opportunity for a systematic academic study of theoretical and methodological tools for researching and exploring gender issues in historical perspective, with a consideration of cultural and ethnic aspects of a given topic. The programme offers a range of gender related courses open to all interested students at FHS CU and other schools and universities. In the M.A. programme, the students confront a wide spectrum of theoretical, methodological and practical questions related to gender as one of the main organizing principles of human societies; gender and sexual symbolism and contextualization; historical and contemporary position of women and men in various societies; the influence of feminist and queer theories and methods in research and science; and other diverse aspects of gender. We also offer introductory courses on the B.A. level.
Information of the graduates’ acquired skills
The M.A. programme in Gender Studies is specifically conceptualized in a way so that the students of this field obtain knowledge and skills and deepen their understanding of gender constructions and principles functioning in society. The students should be able to critically and in complex ways evaluate the roles and meanings of these constructions in the overall organization of society. Likewise, they should be able to assess and analyze the consequences of the gender roles, constructions and stereotypes for both contemporary and historical position of women and men in society. The goal of the program is to familiarize the students with gender analysis in diverse academic fields and practical areas of social life in order to get them ready for professional careers in wide range of professional fields, including state administration, social policy, social and medical care, social and legal work, education and academic work.
Graduates of the M.A. programme in Gender Studies will find their careers in state and non-governmental organizations, especially in institutions and organizations concerned with social questions, family matters, domestic and public violence, human rights and equal opportunities, development of civil society, sustainable development, labor law, and others. In their work, individual, teamwork or leading roles, in roles of mediators of conflict resolution, in research, education, planning, applying methods of social change they will be able to inspire advanced gender sensibility and use applied gender analysis with gender differentiated attitudes. They will be able to contribute to so-called "gender mainstreaming", i.e. to the integration of gender differentiated attitudes and principles to the fundamental social-political and cultural structures of the society. They will be able to develop and cultivate principles and environment of social justice in wide sense of the term, support gender balance, equality and human and civil rights to difference and gender and sexual autonomy. From the point of national and international view, graduates of our program should become the bearers of merging of legal practice of the Czech Republic with the European Union. Graduates of the programme will also be able to find their careers in theoretical and pedagogical teams in academia and thus contribute to the development and broadening of gender studies on an interdisciplinary level, in both research and teaching.
Field of study: General Anthropology - Integral Study of Man
Characteristics of Study Field The two-year Master program is conceived in terms of a multidisciplinary approach to the study of man. It offers students acquaintance with the latest theoretical and methodological developments in the fields of socio-cultural, historical and philosophical anthropology and in human ethology. These fields at the same time represent specialization modules of the study program. Each student participates at the core specialization module of socio-cultural anthropology which she/he completes by an optional second specialization module. From the combination of the two modules each student selects the major field in which she/he will eventually write her/his Master thesis. The socio-cultural and linguistic anthropology module offers courses in three key domains of anthropological inquiry: Power and exchange, Social organization and Symbolic forms. This underlies the perspective that all social and cultural phenomena contain aspects of power relations, socially generated forms of action and their representation in various symbolic orders. We encourage ethnographic research of inequality, the social life of things and global/transnational movements of people and of other contemporary themes. The historical anthropology module focuses on two main domains: the theory and history of historiography with emphasis on analytical tools and conceptual frameworks and on historical anthropology proper as the inquiry into the experience of particular historical agents, on marginal groups, the history of body and gender history. The philosophical anthropology module introduces into the major theoretical concepts of man, covering philosophical traditions from the antiquity to the present with special emphasis on phenomenological thought. This should allow students to embrace anthropological knowledge in a larger general framework. The human ethology module teaches students to interpret social phenomena from evolutionary and comparative perspective. The leading perspective builds on the coeval significance of the biological constrains and the cultural nature of human beings. Particular focus is on research regarding mate choice, sexuality and nonverbal behavior.
Information about the graduates’ acquired skills The graduate of any of the specialization modules of this Master program acquires a high-level command of methodology and theory of the selected specialization as well as a capacity to conduct independent research project focusing on various social and cultural phenomena in the past and present. They should be also able to examine and analyze socio-historical processes in a comparative perspective. She/he may also gain skills to assess human behavior in both field and laboratory environment. Graduates of this master program find employment opportunities in the academia as well as in various advisory and expertise positions, particularly in the non-profit sector and government.
field of study: Oral History - Contemporary History
Characteristics of Study Field
The aim of this study programme is to train university educated experts in the field of contemporary history and oral history on the master's degree level. It follows up on bachelor's study programmes in the liberal arts and humanities, and focuses on contemporary history from a broad interdisciplinary, geographical and temporal perspective. This field of study allows students to profile themselves in two segments. The historical specialisation offers students not only basic courses in the subject, but also specialisation in specific topics discussed in the international and the interdisciplinary context. The methodological specialisation is aimed chiefly on the theoretical and practical issues utilising oral history and other qualitative research methods in researching the recent past. In both specialisations, the study programme is based not only on the acquisition of theoretical and methodological knowledge in a variety of related fields exploring this topic (not only history and anthropology, but also politics, sociology, social linguistics, psychology, social geography etc.), but also provides adequate opportunities to actively take part in researching the surveyed topic (in the form of essays, involvement in research projects, participation in conferences).
Information of the graduates’ acquired skills The graduates have a chance to become not only narrowly specialized experts with employment in scientific field and in research activity in academia, but, thanks to their knowledge, skills and experience, they also have the option of applying themselves in the sphere of formal and non-formal education in institutions of the university and non-university type, as ordinary or directing staff in state and political administration at the central, regional or local level, in expert groups in the EU (European Union), in the UN (United Nations) agencies network, in the field of monument preservation and generally in the field of cultural heritage preservation (e.g. in historical institutions, museums etc.]; furthermore, in the position of the modern archive managers and workers responsible for files in the national archives, but also in business and corporate archives. Of course, they may find employment in the private sector as employees of non-profit organisations operating in the sphere of adherence to and the general protection of human rights, in the area of monitoring gender rights or the rights of minorities, or they may specialise in specific social support and counselling for selected individuals or groups of the population. Furthermore, the graduates can work as ordinary employees or as the managers, respectively, in the management of domestic, European and global political (or economical) institutions and organisations, such as creative workers of printed,electronic or audiovisual media or as professional analysts and experts in the consulting field.
field of study Civil Sector Studies
Characteristics of Study Field
The study program Civil Sector Studies provides graduate-level training in the field of civil society and non-profit organizations. Program graduates are expected to acquire broad orientation in theoretical and methodological approaches as well as practical skills and capabilities essential for successful and flexible integration into the labor market. The standard length of study in this field is two years (i.e. 4 terms). The course of study consists of a theoretical basis, essentials of practical application and training in economy and legal matters as well as the study of other subject. These subjects are the themes to be discussed at final state examinations. Classes are evenly spread over the first three terms, the forth term allowing more time for practical training and writing of a thesis.
Information about the graduates’ acquired skills Information about the graduates’ acquired skills Civil Sector graduates are experts who are well trained in basic contemporary theories on civil society in terms of social sciences. These graduates can also practically apply sufficient knowledge of economics and law. They have a good overall knowledge of the political system as well as the system of interest mediation both in the Czech Republic and the European Union. They also understand the making and development of public policies within both national and international frameworks. The graduates will have acquired invaluable managerial, organizational and communicative skills in the field of management, control and running of non-governmental non-profit organizations (NGO’s). These skills are applicable in practice. Civil Sector Graduates are able to project, provide for, and publicly and purposefully promote philanthropic and humanitarian ends of NGO’s, private entities and state institutions. Drawing on the scientific knowledge provided by sociology, economics, political and legal sciences, they have a sufficiently wide scope of the latest approaches to the civil society and NGO’s, which can be used for conceptualization and leadership in the civil sector. Last but not least, civil sector graduates are involved in current social and political affairs, both at home and in European or world contexts, emphasizing the promotion and latest trends in the sphere of the civil society and NGO’s.
field of study:Historical Sociology
Characteristics of Study Field
The aim of the study programme of historical sociology is to cultivate research activities and the education of experts with a specialisation in the issues of long-term social processes and trends that have a significant impact on life of contemporary societies. Above all, it deals with the problems of modernisation and social change, globalisation trends and influences, integration and disintegration processes, relationship of continuity and discontinuity, religious and cultural pluralism, linking the global to the local, identification of the chances and risks of social development, analysis of conflict situations and the possibility of overcoming them. The need for understanding of all of these issues invokes the need for the development of adequate theoretical and methodological approaches, and also of the specific training of university students.
Information about the graduates’ acquired skills
Information of the graduates’ acquired skills In their studies, the graduates of this study programme shall acquire theoretical historical-sociological knowledge from the social, cultural, religious, political and economic sphere, professional skills based on managing the basic approaches of quantitative and qualitative historical-sociological research methodology and qualifications for employment both in the academic sphere, i.e. at universities and research institutions, and in the non-academic sphere: in state administration and self-government, NGO’s, agencies, consultancy firms, educational institutions, cultural organisations and in the media.
Media and Communications Studies
field of study: Electronic Culture and Semiotics
Characteristics of Study Field The study programme is based on the concept of the equivalence in the significance of the sources and the recipients of meanings, while also highlighting the multiplying effects of communication channels - media, digitalisation, and virtual reality. The knowledge gained allows the employment of graduates’ especially in the management of the cultural and social spheres, in the administration of the media and culture, in education, and anywhere, where there is an emphasis put on communication competences, especially using interactive media. The programme is structured into four specialisations: semiotics, media and communications, society and culture, interactivity and media. It is a combination of the basic mandatory core common to all students, with mandatory selective and elective lectures, and a specialised /diploma/ seminar.
Information of the graduates’ acquired skills The graduate is well-educated, equipped with language skills and with broad theoretical knowledge in the theory of semiotics, communications, media and interactivity, with a sufficient analytical background and the ability to name and define the subtle connections and contexts between the transport and the translation of various forms and means of communication. The graduate is able to analyse a variety of social and symbolic systems, processes and relationships, to describe their resources and contexts, as well as to point out areas of potential informational deficits and collisions, including the possibility of proposing adequate solutions. Graduates of the programme are educated experts in the field, with a wide range of knowledge in the areas of the contemporary philosophical and social aspects of communication, the sociology of culture, semiotics, the anthropology of advertising and of electronic media with regard to the role and impact of tele-technologies, hyper reality, and the digitalisation of communication resources and environments. Graduates master the basic techniques and skills of the field of interactive media, technology of interactivity and media-making programs.
Social Policy and Social Work
Field of study: Management and Supervision in Social and Health Care Organisations
Characteristics of Study Field This study programme utilises general knowledge and skills developed in the fields of management, sociology of medicine and social work, and with the assistance of experts in these particular fields, applies these skills and knowledge to the health and social services field. Students build a theoretical base in methodology, management and supervision, learn to recognise the influence of factors of the external and internal environment on the conduct and the control of organisations, and learn how to analyse it. They shall discover what an effective organisation looks like in terms of its organisational development and the development of human resources. They learn to plan and elicit support for organisational change in given social or medical organisations. They shall be acquainted with the specific problems of health- and socially-disadvantaged groups and their status as service clients, with clients’ rights and with work ethics in the social and health sector. They shall master several methods of implementation/ management of change with regard to the clients’ rights and to the effectiveness of services. Students shall, under the direction of and in co-operation with the contact person in a given organisation, continuously evaluate the implementation of the process of change in relation to the defined objectives. It is expected that the thus-prepared experts shall be valuable assets to the development of new trends in the management of the health and social sector. The lecturers are experts who come often directly from practice, and who gained their own experience in the development and implementation of new professional methods and approaches in the Czech Republic.
Information of the graduates’ acquired skills The graduate is a specialist in the field of helping professions, who on the basis of a broader academic base of the humanities and management has an orientation in European systems of health, welfare and social policy. He understands their development processes, sees the connection between social factors and economic environment and their implications in the decision-making of managerial staff and is able to fully analyze any social or health organisation. The graduate focuses on the specific needs of health- and socially-disadvantaged client groups, on their rights and the ethics of health and social professions. They have an overview of the problems of management and supervision of social and health establishments, understands the role of supervision work in management and the possibilities of the utilisation of supervision to improve quality. The graduate is prepared for interdisciplinary co-operation in teams and for co-operation between managers and external supervisors. They can propose, support and evaluate organisational changes, using the appropriate research methods and then monitor its effect. They may be employed as managers of governmental and nongovernmental social and health institutions and workplaces, as employees in state and public administration in the health and social sector or as supervisors in the same sectors. Graduates may work in the health industry as non-medical health and care workers according to public notice no. 96/2004 Coll., or in social service industry as social workers according to the act 108/2006 Coll.
Ecology and Environmental Protection
Field of study: Social and Cultural Ecology
Characteristics of Study Field The aim is to cultivate a "multi-faceted culture of development", "cultural diversity", and "multi-cultural paradigm", in other words, to find and apply cooperative strategies: economic, legal, value-oriented, ethical and other instruments, particularly based on sociological and cultural science research and utilised in public and social policy. The role of social and cultural ecology is to attempt to distinguish the unifying features of sustainable development (in economy, law, civil attitudes, democratic political pluralism, etc.) from their necessarily different implementations with respect to cultural, historical, ethnic, aesthetic traditions and to memory, and natural conditions. Social and cultural ecology, therefore, examines the application of the principles of sustainability in a particular culture, civilisation, in politics and public and social policy. Social and cultural ecology does not deal explicitly with techniques, technologies, environmentally-friendly technologies and so on. However, it inquires, for instance, on the conditions of the origin of engineering and technology; it doesn’t study their impact on individual elements of the environment, but questions their impact on the appearance of modern civilisation, modern science and human knowledge, experience and creativity. It studies nature in relation to technology in most general contexts (exhaustibility of resources, limited assimilation capacity of the environment). It searches for strategies and co-operatives methods for global problems solutions in accordance with the tenets of "Think globally", "Act Locally", "From One Earth to One World".
Information of the graduates’ acquired skills Graduates of the study programme of social and cultural ecology should be experts in the field of the social context of sustainable development, including the practical orientation in social and public life, in public and social policy. The danger of gaining mere superficial knowledge is prevented by orientating studies and subject matters to the student’s own academic organisation and their own personal profile. The desired outcome is an individual training as according to the so-called "mushroom theory": by acquiring a decent level of general insights and by being proficient in the sub-disciplines of social and cultural ecology, the graduate has the sound footing that allows for the deep methodological and practical knowledge of any specialization. The principle of three-faceted environmental education facts, attitudes and skills also applies to the university study of social and cultural ecology. Graduates may find three types of employment:
- scientific work in researching and developing strategies for sustainable development
- pedagogical academic activities in schools preparing teachers.This is reflected by the anticipated possibility of complementing the study programme of social and cultural ecology with the possibility of gaining the required pedagogical qualifications;
- as experts with a combination of environmental and -social orientations in public and political life, whether in the executive or legislative branch, state administration or self-government.
The media and management, etc., are other possible areas of employment.
PhD Study Programmes
Anthropology
Field of study: Anthropology
Postgraduate (Ph.D.) studies of Anthropology at FHS UK are realised in the fields of philosophical, historical, socio-cultural, socio-linguistic and physical anthropology. The task of the study programme is to learn the theoretical basis of the field and to master its methods and methodology of research work. The curriculum of Ph.D. students includes an exam in a living language and four compulsory exams. The concept of the study programme and the requirements of each field is determined by the department council. The study programme is organised in both the full-time and correspondence form of study.
Philosophy
field of study: Applied Ethics
The postgraduate doctoral study programme of Applied Ethics provides the opportunity for scientific work in researching the ethical dimensions and the specific ethical issues in the fields of science and technology, care for human life and health, education, mass communication, public life, state administration, economics and finance etc. to university-educated professionals with some work experience in their field. Emphasis is placed on the elaboration and the interpretation of various codices of professional regulations of action or "ethical codes" in various fields of human activity. Within the study programme, students should assume theoretical knowledge particularly in the fields of philosophical hermeneutics, philosophical anthropology, theoretical ethics and the theory of human society; and should be able to apply them in their own expertise. The curriculum of Ph.D. students includes five compulsory exams and an active knowledge of a living language; the concept of the study programme and the requirements of each field is determined by the department council. The study programme is organised in both the full-time and correspondence form of study.
Environmental Studies
field of study: Environmental Studies
The aim of the programme of Environmental Studies is to support the concept of sustainable development in form of research conducted with scientific methods. It is also supposed that the outputs of research scientific methods.It is also supposed that the outputs of research will be a major source of scientifically validated information for objective, relevant and competent decision-making with regard to the environmental issues of economic and social development in the Czech Republic. The study programme is organised in both the full-time and correspondence form of study.
Humanities
field of study: Integral Study of Man - General Anthropology
The postgraduate study programme is accredited in both the full-time and correspondence study forms. The programme offers studies aimed at philosophical, historical socio-cultural and socio-linguistic anthropology and human ethology. In general, the goal of tuition is the appropriation of the theoretical basics of the field and the mastering of its methods and the methodology of academic research.
Notes
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