International Exchange

There was a meeting for international students in the first week of the summer semester 2024. Presentation from the information meeting is available here.

A leaflet with a brief summary from the information meeting is available here.

Timetable for the upcoming winter semester 2023/4  is available below in Useful Links and Documents (with a map of the department, etc.)

The Department is as old as the re-established university. It started its educational and research activities in 1946 as one of the topmost institutions pursuing the classical model of modern philology, comprising language, literature and cultural studies. This profile has been maintained to the present. In the current European educational context the scope of its interest has been broadened by the offer of applied and theoretically less rigorous programmes, such as English for Translation and Interpreting.

Number of teaching staff: 25

Number of students: BA and MA: 700; PhD: 15

Main research areas:

Language: All fields of English linguistics, particularly experimental phonetics, phonetics and phonemics, formal grammar, functional grammar, lexical semantics, stylistics, lexicology, lexicography, translation studies, pragmatics.

Literature: All fields of English and American literature, with special interests in literature of the American South, African-American literature, Romanticism, Postmodernism, British and American poetry, British and American novel, Irish literature and film, bibliography of American literature, science-fiction, etc.

Cultural Studies: British and American Studies, Irish Studies, Comparative Cultural Studies. 

Postal address: Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University, Křížkovského 10, Olomouc, Czech Republic, CZ-779 00 (see map here)

Department Chair: Dr. Ondřej Molnár (ondrej.molnar@upol.cz)

Secretary: ing. Kamila Večeřová (kamila.vecerova@upol.cz)

Erasmus Plus Programme Co-ordinator: 

• Incoming student mobilities: Mgr. Helena Tylšarová (helena.tylsarova@upol.cz)
• Outgoing mobilities, bilateral agreements, teaching mobilities: Dr. Markéta Janebová (marketa.janebova@upol.cz)

CEEPUS: Dr. David Livingstone (david.livingstone@upol.cz)

Degree programmes for international students: Dr. Šárka Šimáčková (sarka.simackova@upol.cz)

Contacts and office hours of other members of the department (for the plan of the department, see below in “Useful links and documents”)

English language requirements: Please note that all courses form part of degree programmes in English Studies either at the Bachelor’s or Master’s degree levels. Students therefore need an appropriate level of English language proficiency to be able to follow the courses and pass the exams (BA programme: at least a B2 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages; MA programme: at least C1).

• A Statement of Proficiency must be uploaded in the online application form. We accept international exam certificates such as IELTS, TOEFL, FCE, CAE, Duolingo, etc. Students with other certificates need to get in touch with the English department coordinator.

We do not offer any classes suitable for students with language levels lower than B2.

Knowledge of Czech: International students (Erasmus and CEEPUS, etc.)  are not expected to speak Czech. The language of instruction of the majority of courses is English, but in some cases – particularly in translation or interpreting courses – a knowledge of the Czech language is necessary. For further information see the list of courses offered by the department at the bottom of the page.

Academic prerequisites: Bachelor's-level classes  require previous knowledge of English Studies (at least introductory courses into the study of literature and/or linguistics). Master’s-level classes all require advanced competence in English as well as previous knowledge/expertise from a Bachelor’s degree in English Studies (literature and/or linguistics). 

• A Transcript of Academic Records must be uploaded in the online application form.

The academic year is made up of two teaching semesters consisting of 13 weeks and examination periods (5–6 weeks). Every semester is followed by the main examination period.

The winter teaching term lasts usually from the last week of September until the week before Christmas, followed by an exam term beginning in early January and ending in early February. The summer teaching term lasts usually from early February until mid-May, and is followed by an exam term which lasts May and all of June.

The majority of courses last one semester. Courses are divided into lectures and seminars. One class-hour lasts 45 minutes; most of the courses take place once a week and consist of two classes (90 minutes).

Students are obliged to comply with the required attendance policy (usually a maximum of 2 absences per semester) and to submit assigned work on time. Assigned work may have the form of oral presentations, reports, written essays, group projects, etc. Students are informed about the form of evaluation and exam requirements during the introductory class for each course.

For more information on the subjects available to students from abroad, see the documents and links below.

The number of credits awarded by the Department of English and American Studies corresponds to the number of ECTS credits (European Credit Transfer System). Taught courses are usually awarded by three or four credits each. Comprehensive examinations are usually awarded by one or two credits each.

Pre-exam Credit (zápočet), Exam (zkouška) and Comprehensive Exam (komplexní zkouška): Pre-exam Credit (PC) refers to the form of assessment used to evaluate the students’ performance and participation; it is a Pass/Fail form of evaluation with no grade. It is a basic form of assessment, usually based on attendance and an essay/report/presentation. Students will not be given any credits until they meet all the requirements of the course. Students who need grades in all subjects can still take a Pre-exam Credit and then ask the teachers to give them grades (these are marked  in the "Points" section in the university evaluation system, and there is a conversion table in the Transcript of Records indicating which grade the points correspond to).

Most of the courses can be completed with a PC only, and some with a PC plus end-of-course exam (see below). The majority of exams have their own codes and are taken separately after the prerequisite course has been completed. Exams are more demanding than PCs and can be written, or oral, or both. A comprehensive exam covers topics from more than one course. Exams are assessed by grades A to F (A = excellent, E = passing knowledge, F = fail). Each exam can be repeated twice.

Optional courses are usually awarded by 3–4 ECTS credits each; the number of credits awarded for obligatory courses varies (usually 3–4 ECTS credits for a seminar, 1 ECTS credit for an exam and 2 ECTS credits for a comprehensive exam).

See the list of courses at the end for more details.

Incoming exchange students can choose any course from the list of courses available to exchange students (see below in the “Useful links” section), in accordance with the contract between both institutions. They can choose both obligatory and optional courses. BA students can only choose courses from the Bachelor’s programme, while MA students can choose courses from both the Bachelor's and Master’s programmes offered by the Department of English and American Studies. Other departments also offer courses in English, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. See www.upol.cz/en for full details.

Obligatory courses form the core of each programme (see below) and are usually available every semester. Optional courses enable students to specialise, their syllabi are connected with the research activities of the teachers and the offer varies each semester.

Students usually need to take a total of 20-30 ECTS credits to complete a semester of full-time study at Palacký University. Since our courses in English are 3-4 credits each (and take place once a week; see below), seven to eight courses is the norm.

 Given the fact that the timetable for the upcoming term changes every semester and is finalised one month before the start of the semester, the common practice for exchange students is to prepare a draft of the Learning Agreement (LA) according to the list of courses given below before departure and to modify it according to the updated timetable after arrival. During the first week of the semester, students can visit the courses they are interested in and finalise their LA during the second week. The list of courses must be consulted with the Co-ordinator at the Department of English and American Studies.

This page is intended for short-term exchange students (Erasmus+, CEEPUS, etc.)

For more detailed information on the English department degree programmes, click here

Bachelor’s Degree Programmes (Undergraduate Studies)

1. English Philology

The three-year study includes literary studies (Introduction to Literary Theory, British Literature of the 19th and 20th  centuries, American Literature from the beginnings until the 1st half of the 20th century); Cultural Studies; Linguistics (Phonetics, Morphology, Syntax, Lexicology); and practical English language skills courses. An essential part of the programme consists of optional courses, which enable students to specialise (for the structure of the programme and the offer of the optional courses see below).

2. English for Translation and Community Interpreting (ATP): taught in Czech

The three-year programme focuses on the training of prospective translators and interpreters. As most of the courses focus on translating and interpreting from Czech into English and vice versa, the list of courses available to foreign students is very limited.

Master’s Degree Programme (Postgraduate Studies)

1. English Philology

The two-year study programme includes the study of literature (Contemporary American Literature, Old and Middle English Literature) and Linguistics (Text Analysis, Stylistics, Historical Grammar). Optional courses are again an integral part of study, in which students can further specialise (for the structure of the programme see below).

2. English for Translation and Interpreting (ATP): taught in Czech

 In addition to advancing their practical skills in T & I, students take seminars in advanced T & I theory, linguistics, literature and cultural studies. Knowledge of Czech is required.

Phd Programmes

1. English Language
2. English and American Literature

For more information on the PhD programmes, click here.

• English Department information:

Timetable (English dept.) for the upcoming spring semester 2024 is available here.

List of courses and general information for incoming students (list of courses at the English dept., short annotation included)

Presentation (English dept. winter semester 2023/4) for incoming students  is available here.

Map of the department and how to find your classrooms (and other departments)

• Faculty of Arts information:

List of courses offered in English at the Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Arts coordinators

General information about the admission process at the Faculty of Arts of Palacky University Olomouc

• Palacky University information:

General information for exchange students (International Office, Palacky University)