A qualifying thesis is a student work that a student must produce in order to successfully complete a Bachelor's or (continuing) Master's degree. In the bachelor's thesis, the student demonstrates that he/she is able to independently solve a specific task in the field of computer science and apply the knowledge acquired during the studies.

The topic of the thesis is primarily determined by the student in consultation with the selected teacher. You and your supervisor will write the "Qualifying Thesis Assignment Protocol", which can be found here, sign it and have it signed by your supervisor and the Head of Department.

Recommended procedure:
1. Selection of a potential trainer from the list of UAI employees (in exceptional cases (by agreement) an external UAI collaborator may also be a trainer).
2. Contacting the supervisor and arranging a meeting to determine the topic of the thesis. At this stage, the student should already have an idea of at least the area of interest to which the qualification thesis will be directed
.
Concretization of the topic, with the professional view of the potential supervisor as to whether the issue has the potential of a defensible qualification thesis.
4. Writing the first version of the assignment protocol of the final thesis (by the supervisor) and sending it to the student. This process may have several iterations.
5. Agreeing the final form of the assignment protocol and delivering it to the IAI Secretary to begin the signing process.
6. Collecting the signed assignment protocol and delivering it promptly to the PřF Studies Department.

For more detailed information please visit:

https://www.prf.jcu.cz/cz/fakulta/dokumenty/opatreni-prodekanu/p5

Final thesis template in MS WORD format - download.

Organization of the SZZ at KI

1. To ensure the course of the SZZ, a committee is proposed and approved, which consists of sub-committees for individual subjects. Each student takes an examination in two compulsory subjects and in a subject determined by his/her professional field of study.
2. Course selection: the
   following courses are compulsory for the field of Applied Informatics: theoretical foundations of informatics and information and communication technologies. The candidate chooses the third subject, which has the same name as his/her field of study. Theoretical Foundations of Informatics and Information and Communication Technologies are also compulsory subjects
   for the double-degree study of Informatics. There are, however, two differences from Applied Informatics:
1. The subject Information and Communication Technology has different test circuits.
2. If the candidate chooses two subjects from the second field of study, then in the field of Informatics he/she chooses only one subject from the subjects Theoretical Foundations of Informatics and Information and Communication Technologies.
3. CI will prepare a schedule of students for each exam.
4. Students take oral examinations in individual subjects before a sub-committee for the subject. Each sub-committee will work independently according to a timetable to be prepared by the CI. The chair of the sub-committee is responsible for testing all students according to the timetable and completing the examination report.
5. The examination report must include the questions the student has drawn, the final mark together with the number of points awarded and the signatures of the examiners.
6. In the event that more than one examiner will be examining a given subject, it must be specified which subjects each examiner will be examining, including any substitution.
7. Each student takes out 2 questions during the course exam and answers them afterwards.
8. Immediately after the examination, the chairman of the sub-committee will tell the student whether he/she has passed or failed, but will not give a grade. If the student has failed, it is up to the student to decide whether or not to continue.

Timetable

1. The exams will be conducted in two separate blocks within one day with a one hour lunch break. A maximum of 6 students will be scheduled in both the morning and afternoon blocks. Therefore, a maximum of 12 students will be tested in one day.
2. The morning session will run from 8am to 12pm and the afternoon session will run from 1pm to 5pm. If fewer students are scheduled in a block, the schedule will be adjusted accordingly. Thus, the lunch break is scheduled from 12 noon to 1 pm.
3. Each block will begin with the introduction of the committee and the registered students and will end with the announcement of the examination results of all students who have taken the examinations in the given block.
4. A total of 30 minutes per student is counted for a partial examination in one subject. This time will be used as follows: 20 + 5 minutes to answer the 2 questions the student has drawn and any additional questions from the committee members. Supplementary questions should be directed mainly at the context and overlap of the topic under examination. The aim is definitely not to compete who is the greater expert and to waste time with unnecessary discussions. The remaining 5 minutes are for the committee to deliberate on whether or not the student has passed the exam and to announce this result to the student.
5. Each member of the board shall make a proposal of the examination grade and the proposed number of points and record it in a prepared table. At the end of the block, the committee will deliberate and determine the final grades and point counts for all students who were included in the block and these results will be recorded in the minutes. An alternative approach can be imagined in that the final result of a student will be determined immediately after his/her examination.
6. A short break of about 15 minutes for a snack can be planned during each session. This is at the discretion of the sub-committee and also depends on the number of students enrolled in the block.
7. The remaining time after the end of the work of the sub-committees will be used to prepare the final reports of individual students and to announce the overall results for the block.

The Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia has received accreditation for a unique study program in the South Bohemian region, "Artificial intelligence and Data Science" (MAID).

It is a cross-border joint degree program taught in English, whose graduates receive two degrees (Mgr. (CZ) and M.Sc. (DE)). This program was developed in close cooperation between the University of South Bohemia (USB) and the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT).

 The study program focuses on the phenomenon of artificial intelligence in conjunction with data analysis. What makes it unique is its orientation towards the applied sector, not only by completing a compulsory internship, but also by taking a semester-long AI.Lab course, where students verify the application of AI methods in practice.

 The first winter semester is always taught from October in České Budějovice, the second summer semester from March in Deggendorf and the other two semesters are chosen by the student according to his/her priorities. It is also possible to start studies in the summer semester in Germany.

 The MAID is a professionally oriented study program that was created in cooperation with the most important companies in the region, but also with the support of the South Bohemian Chamber of Commerce (JHK). The creation of the study program was supported by the cross-border cooperation program between the Free State of Bavaria and the Czech Republic, the EUS OBJECTIVE 2014-2020.

More information can be found on the official website of the program: https://maid.education

Dean's Measure No. D117

regulating the system of bonus reimbursements to Faculty of Science researchers for projects and determining the method of co-financing projects

In the version of 11th of November 2024

FSci USB financially motivates successful applicants for projects with a system of bonus reimbursements, which researchers can use for any needs within the possibilities of drawing the so-called RVO funds. The system is set up to be transparent and to allow bonus funding to be awarded to investigators of all types of projects if the basic conditions for the award of the bonus are met.

Article I
Projects with the obligation to co-finance and their economic balance

For projects with the obligation of co-financing, it is necessary to provide the FSci USB Academic Senate with the D114 form and the budget, including an explanation, well in advance, at least 15 days before the project is submitted; see Dean's Measure D114. The basic rule is that the faculty should not have additional costs associated with the project.

List of possibilities of the form of co-financing to achieve an economically balanced project budget:

   1) Co-financing of the project is solved through faculty core staff
The project manager is included in the co-financing of the project if he/she is part of the research team = he/she is listed in the direct costs of the project.

   2) Co-financing of the project is solved through wages of the faculty core staff, but it is not sufficient – co-financing is paid also by the department

   3) Co-financing of the project is solved through wages of the faculty core staff, but it is not sufficient – the department is unable to pay the co-financing. It is necessary to look for other ways:

- Prove that the workload cannot be higher on the project because it is already spread over other projects (i.e., faculty saves finances within another project).
- Add an explanation from the Dean or the Head of the Department on the importance of the project so that co-financing will not be further addressed.

    4) For mobility projects (including MSCA, etc.), co-financing will always be covered by part of the organisational and administrative costs of the project, thus ensuring a balanced budget. In case of the need for additional resources to implement the project, the department provides the finances, and the Head of the Department agrees with this by signing the D114 form.

In the case where the services of an external company are used in the preparation of the project, the department contributes to these costs and part of the costs are included in the co-financing.

Article II
Determination of the bonus for the project PI

Projects with bonus for the PI

The bonus will be provided to the Principal investigator for projects where the overhead[1] after deducting any co-financing (see below) is at least 15 % of the total direct costs. To determine the entitlement to the bonus and the specific bonus amount, the following procedure will be followed:

          1)           For projects without co-financing:

If the overhead in the project is quantified as at least 15 % of the total direct costs (regardless of the method of calculating the amount of the overhead), the amount of the financial bonus to the PI (formerly called reimbursement) is determined as the amount of the indirect costs minus an amount equivalent to 12% of the total direct costs.

          2)           In the case of co-financing of the project by the faculty:

-        The amount needed to co-finance the project will be reduced by the funds saved through the employment of faculty core staff (including social security and health insurance), see Article I.

-        The resulting amount (real cost of co-financing) is deducted from the overhead. A project for which the amount of overhead so adjusted exceeds 15 % of direct costs (see examples in Annex 1) is eligible for a bonus and the amount of the financial bonus to the PI is determined as the amount of the adjusted indirect costs minus an amount equivalent to 12 % of total direct costs.

          3)           Bonus for pre-financed projects

For projects where the actual costs spent are paid by the grant agency retrospectively (pre-financing), the amount of indirect costs and thus also the bonus is always calculated from the actually paid funds/activated overheads in the next calendar year as specified above. The total maximum amount of the project bonus is calculated at the start of the project; in the event of a change in the percentage of overhead above which the bonus is determined, the amount of the bonus will be calculated for the funds that will actually be paid out from the time of the new limit. The Project Department will prepare the supporting documentation to calculate the bonus.

            4)         Project managers in the implementation team

For projects falling under the Project Department, the Principal Investigator should consider the administrative complexity of project management by including a project manager in the implementation team. For projects in which the project manager will not be included in the implementation team, including the corresponding funds allocated in the project budget, the amount of the financial bonus to the PI is determined as the amount of the adjusted indirect costs minus an amount equivalent to 15 % of total direct costs.

The percentage of overhead from direct costs, above which the bonus amount is determined, may change depending on the state of the faculty budget in the given year and is announced annually at the beginning of the year together with the percentage level of overheads.

The bonus is usually applicable to applied and basic research projects, e.g., GAČR, TAČR, InterExcellence, ERC, Horizon, etc. The bonus amount can be easily determined using the table in Annex 2.

Due to the administrative burden, the retroactive bonus is applied if it exceeds the amount of CZK 25,000.

In the case of large prestigious projects of the Operational Programmes and other prestigious projects that do not meet the limit of indirect costs, the bonus will be determined individually by the faculty management at the request of the PI.

Form of Bonus Awarding

The bonus for the researcher is always provided in the form of an increase in funds for the department within the departmental budget for the given year, and the head of the department should provide these funds to the PI without reduction.

Unsupported projects:

Projects with a high administrative burden and high faculty costs, low wages for faculty core staff, and low or zero indirect costs, such as:
-        mobility projects, cross-border cooperation projects (MSCA – CZ, usually INTERREG, etc.),
-        projects with high co-financing costs exceeding indirect costs.

Article III
Other provisions

This measure also applies to all ongoing projects that will continue in 2025 and beyond, and to new projects starting from 1^st of January 2025.

This document replaces the version for the 9^th of February 2023.
This measure takes effect from 1^st of January 2025.

In České Budějovice

prof. RNDr. František Vácha, Ph.D.
dean PřF JU

[1] Overhead or indirect costs (real activated overheads for projects) are used to cover the administrative and operating costs of the faculty during the project. Overhead refers to the part of the project budget called indirect costs, overheads, or additional costs.