Infoletter
Dear Colleagues,
We are undertaking a number of steps aimed at improving life at the faculty. To keep you informed firsthand, we have prepared this overview. You will find information about what has happened at the faculty and what changes are planned. If you still want to know more, do not hesitate to contact us and ask, we will be happy to answer you.
Faculty Management
Current state and near future of building renovations and moves to new premises at faculty
Recently, our facuty has acquired two new buildings for its use. We purchased Building O from the Faculty of agriculture and technology (FZ) USB (former chemistry building of FZ USB) and obtained permission from the rectorate to use part of Building VTP (former JAIP headquarters, the colorful block behind the canteen). We also acquired the former academic dormitory in Building B from BC CAS.
To make full use of these buildings, all three must undergo extensive renovations.
Building O
The faculty management decided to renovate the ground floor (1st floor) of Building O for the needs of all administrative departments of the faculty - this will include the dean's office, economic department, personnel department, foreign department, quality department, project department, promotion department, study department, IT, and part of the technical department. This should lead to more efficient work and communication, as well as sharing information and resources. The current classrooms and offices on the ground floor of Building O are in an unusable state.
On the 2nd floor, the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics will be relocated from Building B. On the 3rd floor, the Department of Medical Biology will be relocated from Building C. On the 4th floor, an archive for FSci and the USB rectorate will be established.
The faculty has a valid building permit, and the selection of the construction contractor is currently underway. Construction is expected to start in February 2025, with a construction period estimated by designers to be 16 months. Completion is therefore expected in spring 2026.
Building C
After the dean's office, KMBG, and KME move to Building O, the former dean's office spaces in Building C will be renovated into classrooms, seminar rooms, and practical rooms. The spaces previously occupied by KME on the 3rd floor will be renovated for the needs of the Department of Parasitology and the Department of Physics. There will also be a reduction in the size of the BSL-2 area and the removal of the animal facility.
Building B and Dormitory B
The vacant spaces in Building B (ground floor and Dormitory B) will be used to relocate some employees currently housed in Dormitory K3 and the ground floor of Building A, including the entire Department of Mathematics and employees of the Department of Ecosystem Biology.
The spaces in Dormitory B, where temporary seminar rooms were built this year, will be renovated according to the needs of the departments housed in Building B.
Building VTP
The entire Department of Computer Science will be relocated from Dormitory K3 to the two renovated floors of Building VTP (1st and 2nd floors) and will share the space with the IT Center of the USB rectorate, which will be located on the 3rd floor of this building.
USB already has a valid building permit for the renovation of Building VTP, the construction contractor has been selected, and the contract was won by Swietelsky s.r.o. The renovation period is estimated to be 12 months.
Activity Signpost
If you want to have an overview of what the individual departments of the Dean's Office provide for our faculty, take a look at the latest update from 09/2024, which describes who is responsible for what. You can find it at this link: "Roster" is visible only to logged in users
Travel Orders Since 04/2024, electronic travel orders have been established. Everything about how they work and what needs to be processed can be found here: https://www.prf.jcu.cz/cz/fakulta/dokumenty/cestovni-prikazy.
Purchases at the Faculty
In autumn 2024, we prepared a new version of the rules for purchasing goods and services, including DNS for chemicals or laboratory consumables. Details can be found here: https://www.prf.jcu.cz/cz/fakulta/dokumenty/vyberova-rizeni
Property
A new electronic property record system is now in operation, which will make it easier for you to classify, transfer, and dispose of property. How to do it can be found here: https://www.prf.jcu.cz/cz/fakulta/dokumenty/majetek
Laptops in Stock
Since the end of 2024, we have a new "Laptops in Stock" system. You can get a laptop quickly and without unnecessary waiting. See the overview of available models: https://www.prf.jcu.cz/cz/fakulta/ostatni-pracoviste/it/ntb
If you like something, just fill out the form: https://www.prf.jcu.cz/images/PRF/fakulta/dokumenty/vnitrni-predpisy/metodicke-pokyny-tajemnice/zadost-o-prideleni-notebooku-ze-skladu-it-prf_priloha-formular.xlsx
Insurance Discount for Pensioners
Since January 2025, we have introduced a 6.5% insurance discount for working pensioners. If you are already of retirement age and receive an old-age pension, be sure to find out the details. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to write to the personnel department:
Change in Meal Allowance from 2025
From the new year, the meal allowance is no longer credited to the meal voucher card but directly to the bank account in an increased amount of 50 CZK/day. It is up to you whether you have lunch, dinner, or treat yourself to something completely different.
New Benefit from 2025 From January 2025, you will receive another advantage—a monthly contribution of 400 CZK for pension savings or supplementary pension insurance. You have already received more detailed information by email, but if something is not clear to you, please write to
Better Training for Newcomers
We have launched a process at the faculty to help assess whether our newcomers have received proper training. This will help them get to know the team and processes more quickly. The personnel department will be happy to provide more information at
News at the Personnel Department
Last year, there was a complete renewal of the personnel department. The work style, task distribution, and team structure have changed. Whenever you need anything, simply write to the common address:
Don't Forget the Adaptation-Integration Course!
If you are a non-EU foreigner, you are required to complete an adaptation-integration course within one year of obtaining a long-term permit. All important details can be found here: Adaptation courses. You can also call directly at +420 778 423 510. The course is held once every two months, lasts 4 hours, is held on Saturdays, and the fee is 1500 CZK. Plan it in advance to make sure everything is in order!
Ing. Veronika Macková
Faculty Manager
Statistics of the Doctoral Studies
As of today, a total of 36 students have been admitted to the doctoral study program since January 1, 2024. 39 students have successfully completed their doctoral studies, and a total of 16 foreign doctoral students' exchange trips have been supported by special scholarships.
Doctoral News - What Has Happened and What's Planned
In early October, a pilot two-day Teaching Crash Course was held, intended only for doctoral students and funded by PPSŘ. The feedback from the 16 participants was very positive. There are plans for a one-day didactic workshop that will follow up on this course.
In November, the 1st edition of the successful Welcome Mixer event took place, aimed at both social and academic integration of newly admitted students with senior colleagues, including international postdocs.
At the end of January, the first meeting of the Director and Coordinators of the JU Doctoral School took place. This school oversees the doctoral study program across all faculties of JU, and its goal is to raise the standards of doctoral programs' quality, unify the processes and practices of individual faculties, and create a coherent support system for doctoral studies.
Currently, we are focusing intensively on preparing for changes in doctoral studies brought by the amendment to the Higher Education Act, especially regarding the guaranteed doctoral income. These changes are related to the following updates:
- Current measures for admission to the Doctoral Study Program, which now includes a mandatory attachment concerning the dissertation project and the financial assurance of doctoral income.
- Modification of Measure D127, which increases the financial support requirements for students.
In connection with the planned changes, we have successfully conducted a recruitment procedure for an economic officer for the study department. From February 10, Mgr. Eva Holá, Ph.D. will join as the new economic support.
doc. RNDr. Eva Nováková, Ph.D.
Vice-Dean for Doctoral Studies
Events
This year, we have several big events planned. The Open Day took place recently, the program was fantastic, and we thank everyone who participated. We once again had talks about study, programs of departments, a student tea room, a photo corner, and compared to last year, we added lectures on bachelor's study programs. The next event we are looking forward to is Earth Day at the end of April. Then, we plan to participate in the Science Fair (Veletrh vědy) in Prague this year (we are looking for lecturers for the science show), June Day with Faculty of Science for primary and secondary schools (last year we had almost 500 students), and the Researchers' Night (last year, 900 people came to see it). We also had our student representative at the post-graduate education fair Gaudeamus in Brno and Prague. We collaborate with the Longlife learning deparment on other events.
Social Media
Our department manages the faculty's Facebook and Instagram, where you can find information about what's happening at the faculty. Since Instagram is primarily used by students, we decided that students should be the ones to create content for it. Therefore, we have a group of students (Instateam) who plan and create content for our Instagram account. It works great; the number of followers is steadily growing. Currently, we have about 1,750 followers on Instagram, and Facebook has nearly 2,200 followers. We supported video invitations for the Open Day with paid advertising, which had over 36,000 views.
Online Campaign
Since February, our online application campaign is run for the second year. This year, we joined USB's visual campaign, which is already running online for some time. If you don't see it, it's because it is age-targeted at potential students and their parents.
Website
We are gradually making the faculty website more user-friendly. We have made the web pages for bachelor's study programs more attractive, and now we will do the same for master's programs, where some are still missing. These pages are linked to flyers and bookmarks with overviews of study programs that we distributed at Gaudeamus and the Open Day. A traditional weakness is the English version of the website, which we are starting to work on reviving.
3D Tour
As you know, last year we had buildings A, B, and C scanned for a 3D tour. It is almost ready; we are currently checking the accuracy of the descriptions and the status of rooms being closed or open. Then it will be placed on our website. It is intended to serve as a navigation system for our employees and students (upon login), visitors can view the educational spaces where we want to place interactive elements.
Staff Changes
At the end of the year, Vilém Tláskal left our department, and he was replaced by new colleague Jáchym Běhoun.
RNDr. Magda Zrzavá, Ph.D.
Vice-Dean for Public Relations
Allow me to inform you about two significant changes related to the preparation and submission of projects and their implementation. You can find a more detailed text on the Project Department's website.
The first change is the introduction of a methodology for contractual wages for so-called highly competitive projects, i.e., projects of which only a few are obtained throughout the Czech Republic. Examples include ERC, GAČR JUNIOR STA, GAČR EXPRO projects, etc. You can find it on the faculty website in internal regulations. We believe that the wage limits for these projects will be one of the inspirations for you to submit them in the future. The limits are valid from January 1, 2024, so please adhere to them in the project.
2) The second change is the unification of conditions for various types of projects within Measure D117. For many projects, there is a so-called refund, which was usually applied to GAČR projects. However, this refund was not provided to the implementers of all projects. Therefore, Measure D117, which adjusts the refund system, has been amended.
The new procedure for calculating the bonus has been adjusted as follows:
If the total overhead in the project, adjusted for potential faculty co-financing costs, exceeds 15% of the direct costs, the project is entitled to a bonus.
The bonus amount is determined as the amount of these adjusted indirect costs, from which an amount corresponding to 12% of the total direct costs will be deducted (i.e., you get everything above 12%).
You can find the Document D117 on the faculty's website.
Furthermore, considering the persistently low success rate of faculty projects in GAČR calls, it would be reasonable to consider a greater focus on applied research and EU research priorities, a brief graphical overview of which can be found on the Project Department's website. A new section dedicated solely to ERC projects has also been added there. In the field of applied research, cooperation with the university's KTT and the South Bohemian Innovation Support Agency (JAIP) is developing.
In the context of expanding scientific collaboration opportunities beyond the EU, the rectorate's Office for Science and Research (Mrs. R. Láníková) is ensuring the university's UEI, which will enable the submission of projects to US grant agencies.
As part of the campus modernization and cost reduction, the construction of a photovoltaic-covered parking lot near Building C is planned, including the creation of charging stations, of course, with the possibility of use by employees. The reconstruction of the roofs on Buildings B, O, and VTP (with the possibility of partial green roof creation and photovoltaic addition) is also planned. Considering these plans and the beginning of extensive reconstructions of Buildings O and VTP, a new addition to the Project Department has been made – construction and reconstruction manager J. Čermáková.
Lastly, a warning. After repeated unpleasant experiences with project preparation at the last minute, where it is not possible to sufficiently prepare the project proposal, including its budget, and potential errors can significantly complicate project implementation, we strongly emphasize the need to adhere to the deadlines for announcing the intention to submit a project, budget preparation, etc. If these deadlines are not met, it will not be possible to submit the project.
RNDr. Ján Štěrba, Ph.D.
Vice-Dean for Development
The past period has brought several significant events in the administration of studies. One of them is the end of the old accreditations and the need to transfer all students from them to new accreditations. The change affected a total of 221 students in all levels of study programs. The transfer is set up in such a way that students are as minimally affected by the change as possible, meaning they, for instance, do not have to extend their studies.
Significant innovation occurred in the admission process for bachelor's programs. Last year, with the introduction of entrance exams, automatic processing of lists was tested. The process was fine-tuned this year and extended to include sending positive admission decisions in digital form through STAG (negative decisions had to be sent by mail for legal reasons). This further step in the digitalization of the admission administration brought significant time savings for the study office staff and postage costs. At the same time, the online enrollment of accepted students was tested for the first time. Based on the experience, the system will be optimized for smoother operation next year and will also be open to follow-up programs, including the adjustment of the entrance exams themselves to increase the degree of their automation.
In the near future, two major changes visible even to employees outside the study department and students are planned in the study area. The first of them is the implementation of electronic assignment protocols for bachelor's and diploma theses. STAG already offers such a service, but in its current form, it is unnecessarily complicated for all involved. Therefore, Ing. Daniela Pevná from the Department of Informatics created a simpler application that meets the faculty's conditions. The deployment of the application into full operation is expected in February. In its framework, the maximum number of tasks will be carried out electronically, so in the vast majority of cases, it will not be necessary to print and manually sign the document. The only exceptions will be external supervisors and possibly foreign workplaces.
The second significant innovation is the abolition of the need to apply for changes within the clarifying enrollment and changes to registered courses at the beginning of the semester teaching period. From now on, students will make adjustments directly in IS STAG without the need to interact with the study department. They will have the option to modify enrollments for three weeks from the beginning of the semester, except for very serious reasons. On the other hand, students will be able to carry out clarifying enrollment online without any interaction with the study department.
Another novelty, although not a welcome one, will be the implementation of a new registry service and a significant increase in the number of documents that will need to be stored in it. The time saved by the study office staff in the digitalization of the admission process, for example, will have to be devoted to filing documents in the registry service.
The last major innovation is related to the amendment of the Higher Education Act, which is likely to come into force during the spring. From the effective date of the amendment, IS STAG will become the exclusive means of delivering written documents to students. Important documents will therefore be delivered to students there. At the same time, the deadline for submitting appeals will be shortened to 15 days.
RNDr. Tomáš Hauer, Ph.D.
Vice-Dean for study
Section of the Vice-Dean for Teacher Education
The section includes the Secondary School Teacher Education and Lifelong Learning (CŽV) sections. We prepare and implement activities at the Centre for Science Education (CPV).
Secondary School Teacher Education
In addition to traditional activities, we focus on new initiatives:
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The reform of internships has introduced the position of a guiding teacher who leads internships at secondary schools and is now paid by the Ministry of Education. We are part of a pilot verification, thereby saving faculty financial resources.
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We are preparing a transition to professional study programs according to the new framework requirements of the Ministry of Education for the preparation of future teachers.
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We have obtained accreditation for Science Teacher Education, the first master's teacher program that the Faculty of Science guarantees itself. It is the only program of its kind in the Czech Republic.
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In cooperation with the Ministry of Education, we participate in the revision of the Framework Educational Program for primary schools in the area of natural sciences integration.
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We have built a modern educational space called Science EduLab for students.
Lifelong Learning
At CPV, we prepare a diverse range of activities for students, teachers, and the general public:
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We organize day camps, summer schools, and ScienceLab workshops for entire classes.
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We offer one-day JuniUni courses for individual secondary school students.
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For teachers, we run courses, seminars, and webinars that, in addition to new knowledge, show how to teach new topics.
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We have joined the University of the Third Age (U3V) – a course on natural and cultural heritage has already taken place, and we plan a series of lectures on the Šumava region for the spring.
PřF JU Newsletter
We are the first faculty at USB to launch a Newsletter as a promotional and information channel.
If you have ideas or suggestions, contact us – we will be happy to discuss them and possibly include them in the overall concept. We collaborate on all activities with the PR Department and other partners.
We realize that secondary school teachers and students are very overloaded, and we are therefore considering adjustments to our offers to better match their current possibilities and needs.
doc. RNDr. Ing. Jana Kalová, Ph.D.
Vice-Dean for Teacher Education
MEYS evaluation of science and research at Czech universities in 2025
This year, the evaluation of science and research results for the period 2019-2023 is underway. The Faculty of Science (and the entire university) is being evaluated by an international evaluation panel that will visit the university in June 2025. The evaluation of our faculty will be based on the materials currently processed by the Research Office. The evaluated criteria include, in addition to the quality and quantity of scientific production, the prestige of the faculty's academic staff, the application potential of research, and the societal relevance of science and research outputs.
FSc USB is one of the best university research institutions in the Czech Republic in terms of publication output, if not the best (see the Leiden ranking https://www.jcu.cz/cz/univerzita/aktualne/jihoceska-univerzita-opet-v-cele-ceskych-univerzit-podle-leidenskeho-zebricku). It is a great achievement, but unfortunately it is not visible from the outside as much as it could be.
Therefore, we would like to make the results of the faculty's scientific and research more visible. In particular, we would like to regularly place our prestigious results, supplemented by a short comment to social networks, such as X (Twitter) or the more open Bluesky, which are monitored by the media and journalists. The point is to be up-to-date and share freshly published studies or interesting applied outputs. Since the Research Office does not have the personnel capacity to monitor current outputs across the faculty and then prepare scientifically relevant texts, we offer a reward to authors who will help promote their own results. Many of us are very busy, but younger members of the author teams can also help with the preparation of the accompanying text.
The Research Office (
doc. RNDr. Jan Štefka, Ph.D.
Vice-Dean for Science
The Department for Internal Evaluation (OVH) prepared the annual report on the activities of FSci USB for the year 2023. As part of its activities, OVH intensively cooperated with program guarantors, discussed, checked, and submitted several important materials to the Council for Internal Evaluation (RVH) for consideration. Among them, for example, is the bachelor’s SP Sustainability Management program, which was expanded to include the field of Economics on the recommendation of RVH. The accreditation application (AZ) for this program was approved by RVH in January 2025. Further, the substantive proposal (VZ) of the master's SP Bioanalytical Laboratory Diagnostics in Healthcare program and the bachelor's SP Measurement and Computing Technology program were discussed. The joint degree program NMgr. Environmental Archeology in cooperation with the University of Nitra is awaiting the discussion of the VZ at the RVH in the near future. OVH also discussed changes in study plans, especially for the fields of Secondary School Teaching, Applied Mathematics, and both levels of the Biological Chemistry program.
An important piece of information is the change of guarantors for study programs, where there were changes in the guarantors of six bachelor’s, one master’s, and one doctoral SP. All these changes were approved by RVH.
In the area of accreditation processes, OVH also prepared and submitted mid-term self-evaluation reports for the NMgr. Biological Chemistry program, five bachelor’s and five consecutive master's teaching programs to RVH. Subsequently, 32 addendums related to study programs whose accreditation ends on 31 December 2024, which RVH also approved, were added to these reports.
In addition to the academic agenda, OVH actively participated in educational events, such as attending the Assembly of RVŠ VUT in Brno or the Days of Educational Activities 2024 organized by Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (MŠMT) in Prague.
The Department for Foreign Relations (OZV) actively participated in the mediation and organization of mobilities within the Erasmus+ program and inter-credit mobilities outside the EU. The main activities included ensuring student outbound mobilities for internships during July and August, as well as for the winter semester with departures in August and September. It also prepared documents for incoming students who left after the summer semester and organized mobilities for incoming students for the winter semester. OZV also took care of outbound mobilities for employees and secured the necessary documents for the settlement of their trips.
Other important tasks included updating websites in English and Czech, checking documents and mobilities in STAG for all types of mobilities, and supplementing bilateral agreements through STAG. OZV also set up, announced, and evaluated a new selection procedure for Erasmus+ mobilities for the years 2024/2025 and 2025/2026, and secured all necessary documents for an in-depth audit of Erasmus+ projects. As part of the KA107 Cameroon project, it also took care of outbound mobilities and provided documents for the payment of scholarships for Ukrainian students, including resolving the situation around the processing of the Barrande scholarship.
OZV participated in the audit of Erasmus+ projects at the rectorate of the University of South Bohemia, as well as several signings of bilateral agreements with foreign partners.
prof. Mgr. Ivana Kutá Smatanová, Ph.D.
Vice-Dean for Foreign Affairs and Internal Evaluation
