Master's in Ecology

This page provides you with the basic practical information to help you find your way in Czechia:

Master's in Ecology

First enrolment

Please, arrange your residency affairs in time and start gathering all required documents as soon as possible (even before admission). Note that your admission cannot be completed until we receive an appropriately authenticated copy of your Bachelor's certificate. Even a smooth visa procedure takes months, and late delivery of required documents hinders the process.

• Postponed enrolment is allowed in case of prolonged visa procedure, but you are to apply for this in advance (or within 5 days after the set date at the latest), otherwise you would be expelled.
• The dates for next academic year are announced in April. Before the update is done, you can expect similar dates as in last year.

See all dates in academic calendar.
Most information can be found on the faculty website.
STAG is a University database of courses, their lecturers, schedule, theses etc. You will be provided password to enrol or see your study details, but you can browse almost all parts (except students' details) without login.

Fees

• Net tuition fee: 500 EUR* per year
  
• A few additional minor fees (e.g. 100 CZK for issuing the University ID card etc.)

* The fee for study in foreign language has been recently set at the University level to 3000 EUR per year, but the Faculty of Science will largely compensate it to all students. 2500 EUR reduction is guaranteed to all students fulfilling their study obligations as a scholarship. The dean may decide to waive even larger part of the fee upon request. Students study according to the rules valid at their admission, therefore there is no change in the fee (500 CZK per year) for the current students including students admitted in November 2023.

The main fees are given by the Statutes of the University (Articles 27 and 28).

Scholarships and grants

Scholarships for all students during the whole study:

• Extraordinary scholarship for support of students of study programmes conducted in English language. 2500 EUR per year will compensate most of the tuition fee to all students fulfilling their study obligations.
• Accommodation bursary about 540 CZK monthly (~22 EUR) (paid quarterly) is intended to cover part of living costs for all students with permanent residence outside the České Budějovice district. There are a few other conditions (e.g. students whose living costs are already covered by other scholarships are not eligible), but usually all students of this programme receive it.

Premium scholarships for excellent students in the second year of study depending on the achievement in the first year:

• Students with excellent study results can receive 2,000 CZK monthly (~80 EUR) during their second year. For this, students must reach 60 credits and GPA<1.2 in their first year. This scholarship is awarded automatically.
• Top 20 students across all BSc. and MSc. programmes of Faculty of Science with excellent study and research results get a bonus of 1,200 - 3,000 CZK monthly (~48 - 120 EUR) for publishing in Impact Factor journals or presenting at a conference while maintaining very good study results (60 credits in last year, GPA<1.5). Apply by 15 October or 10 March.
• Dean's price for the best Master thesis of 5,000 CZK (~ 200 EUR).

See the provision of the dean for details of the scholarships. The amount of accommodation bursary is updated yearly by the rector.

Applicants from some countries can also apply for a scholarship of Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. This scholarship is out of our control, see detailed information on the ministry website or contact Czech consulate in your country.

Students' research can be supported by several grant agencies; the most relevant for this study programme is Student Grant Agency (SGA) of the Faculty of Science.

Study plan

You are to enrol for courses before the start of each semester. You need to get min. 120 credits during your study, which implies you should aim at min. 30 credits per semester to finish your study in time. It is usual to enrol a bit more courses in the first semesters to have more time for your thesis in the last semester.

There are two obligatory courses (type A) in this Master's programme: "Master Thesis, Practical Part" for 13 credits (in each semester except the first one when it is facultative-obligatory - type B) and "Ecology Colloquia" for 2 credits (once per year, recommended in 2nd and 4th semester). In addition, you are to enrol any courses to get over the 30 credits per semester. When compiling your study plan, remember that you are to enrol facultative-obligatory courses (type B, "core courses") for min. 53 credits during the whole study. (There was a recent change in the study plan: the old plan until 2021/2022 defined Master Thesis as type A in all four semesters and min 40 credits from B courses, while in the new plan since 2022/2023 the Master Thesis in the first semester was changed to type B and therefore the min number of credits from B courses increased.)

See Study and Examination Regulations of USB and Provision of the Dean for more details.

• List of courses obligatory and recommended for this Master programme (updated for Summer semester 2023/24)
• List of language courses.
• Database of all courses: STAG (check for updates here since the previous links may not be regularly updated)

Enrolment takes place in two steps (see the dates in academic calendar).

• Electronic enrolment (Jun, Jan) - You select in STAG which courses you would like to attend in the next semester. Courses where too few students enrolled may be cancelled, which is announced in the news on the main faculty website short after the end of enrolment.
• Confirmation of enrolment (Sep, Feb) - You are to present yourself at the department of study affairs to confirm the list of your courses. You can make minor justified adjustments, e.g. remove or replace courses that were cancelled.

Thesis topic and supervisor

You are to find a supervisor and agree on a topic of your thesis during the first semester. Take your time to browse websites of academic departments of the Faculty of Science (mainly Botany, Zoology, Biology of Ecosystems) and institutes of Biology Centre CAS (mainly Entomology 1, 2, Hydrobiology), or Institute of Botany CAS in Třeboň. Talk to several people. Finally, the supervisor will confirm whether you have successfully passed the course "Master Thesis, Practical Part". Find your supervisor in time, so that you can start working soon and the supervisor is happy to confirm your work.

You need to fill a form for assignment of Master thesis and submit it to the Department of Student Affairs. At the same time, you enrol the obligatory course Master Thesis, Practical Part with a code of the department where your supervisor is based (usually KBO/881, KZO/881 or KBE/881), so that you are registered at the right department.

Links to working groups

Submit your thesis

The thesis is submitted to STAG about 1 month before the end of teaching period of your last semester. Please, check the exact date in the academic calendar in advance. Other requirements (format, mandatory sections...) are described in detail in Provision of the Dean. Your supervisor will advice you not only on the content but also the form of the thesis. You should also see several submitted theses to see examples of the form (freely available in STAG). Hardcopies are not required since 2021. Together with submission of your thesis (on-line in STAG), you are to visit the Department of Student Affairs to apply for the State Final Exam.

End of study

At least three days before the final state exam, you are to come to the Department of study Affairs to check your study results and close your study (make sure in advance that you have got all grades in STAG).

The study ends with state final exam, which has two parts. First, you are to defend your Master thesis at a committee of lecturers. Second, a similar committee of lecturers will examine you at an oral theoretical exam, which has three parts:

• Fundamentals of Ecology
• a field of student's choice: Plant Ecology, Animal Ecology or Ecological Statistics
• Theoretical Background of the Master Thesis Topic and Methodology

The diploma (Master's degree certificate) is handed over the students at a graduation ceremony, which usually takes place about 1.5 months after the final state exam. In case you need to leave Czechia or apply for PhD earlier and/or do not want to take part in the ceremony, ask the Department of Student Affairs when you can pick it up.

Seminars

• Ecology Seminar - Tuesday 16:20 in B2 - info at Department of Botany
• Kokomo Seminar - Wednesday 12:00 in seminar room of the Entomology institute - ask Kateřina Sam (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) to add you in the mailing list (may run online on zoom).
• Zoology Seminar - Students - Wednesday 13:15 in B3; hosts - Wednesday 15:00 in B3; some students and most hosts present in English, info at Department of Zoology
• Ecology Colloquia - obligatory course, not scheduled. You are to attend the previous seminars as well as present the plan of your thesis (in 2nd semester) and results of your thesis (in 4th semester).

Non-standard situations

The standard procedures were briefly mentioned above, but you may encounter exceptional situations. Please, always refer to the official documents of the Faculty and University or contact the Department of Student Affairs. Here is just a brief outline:

• Enrolment: You are to enrol every semester in a standard date. If you missed enrolment, your study would be terminated. You can enrol later but you have to apply for it in time and justify it properly. You may also want to enrol earlier (e.g. in case a field trip overlaps with the standard date of enrolment).
• Courses: You register for courses at enrolment, but you can make changes later. Changes done within three weeks of the study period are easy (simple email to the Department of Study Affairs). A properly justified application in STAG is required after the third week. You cannot unregister from block courses (e.g. field trips) after the course has finished.
• Credits: You need to get min. 120 credits during your study, which implies you should aim at min. 30 credits per semester. However, the minimum number of credits per semester is 20, not to get expelled. You are allowed to have less only in case you have already more than 120 credits (typically last semesters of "longer study"), and in case of a special study plan (e.g. in case of serious health reason). Also, remember you must get min. 53 credits from the facultative-obligatory courses (type B).
• Failed courses: If you fail a course, you do not get the credits. It has no other implications, if you still meet the minimum criteria on the credit gain by other courses, unless you fail an obligatory or facultative-obligatory course (i.e. type A or B) when enrolled for the second time.
• Length of study: The study takes two years. Most students finish in time, but various life situations may lead to longer study.
• study longer by <1 year: no application needed, no tuition is paid (just the usual 500 CZK/year fee for study in English). You simply do not register for the final state exam at the end of your second year and regularly enrol for the next semester (at least Master thesis XXX/880 for 0 credits as a placeholder). You keep the student status and you must follow usual study rules.
• study longer by >1 year: similar to previous point, but you pay an additional tuition fee (approx. 25.000 CZK per semester)
• suspended study: you can apply to suspend your study for up to two years. During this time, you lose the student status, i.e. you do not need to follow any study rules, as well as you have no advantage related to your residency in this country. After solving your life situation, you can continue in the study. You need to apply for suspension and termination of suspension, usually before start of semester.
• Pregnancy/maternity: you can apply for a special study plan or you can suspend your study (in that case, your study can be suspended for longer than the usual 2-year limit).