Admission Procedure in PhD Programmes (2021/2022)

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Admission Procedure

Information on the Admission Procedure

To apply for one of our doctoral study programmes you must hold or be working towards a master's diploma and have the necessary abilities for research. The latter consists mainly of the knowledge of the chosen field, English language, and the ability of independent creative work as well as teamwork. The assessment of these abilities is based on the documents submitted with your application and on the entrance examination, if the latter is not waived (see below). The entrance examination has two parts – examination in the expertise in the field and examination in the English language.

The admission procedure commences with the submission of an application form.

• Application's submission till April 30, 2021
• Entrance examination dates: June 17, 2021 – June 18, 2021
• Alternative entrance examination date: June 25, 2021, can be requested for serious reasons only
• English language proficiency must be demonstrated till April 30, 2021, in exceptional cases till September 30, 2021
• A document certifying completion of a university education at Master's level needs to be delivered as soon as possible after the application submission, and in any case no later than September 30, 2021; for students graduating between September 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021, the deadline is extended till October 22, 2021.

Admission for studies

Admission for studies will be granted to the applicants, who

• Submitted a complete application form together with all obligatory attachments before the deadline,
• they were granted an entrance examination waiver or they successfully passed the entrance examination,
• they were granted a language examination waiver or they successfully passed it

Invitation to subject entrance examination

The invitation to the subject entrance examination will be sent to those applicants, who

• submitted a complete application together with its obligatory attachments 2, 3 and 4 before the deadline,
• paid the application fee,
• did not obtain the confirmation of the waiver of the subject entrance examination before mid-May 2021.

The invitation to an entrance examination is delivered through the University Electronic Information System. In mid-May all applicants without a waiver receive an invitation to take the entrance examination from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. If the Faculty approves the waiver, the invitation ceases to apply.

Entrance examination

The entrance examination consists of two parts, subject and language one. The subject part of the entrance examination takes the form of a discussion about the chosen study programme. The committee gives the applicant three questions related to the chosen study programme. The committee judges the correctness of the answer, the knowledge of the field and overall readiness for doctoral studies. Each answer is evaluated on the binary Pass/Fail scale. The applicant must obtain three passing grades. If the applicant has chosen one of the thesis topics offered by the faculty and has obtained an approval of a future supervisor, or if the committee accepts the annotation of the applicant‘s own topic, the applicant will successfully pass the exam with only two passing grades from three questions. The language entrance examination consists of a test for which the applicant may obtain a maximum of 100 points. The exam verifies that the applicant has an adequate command of the English language, i.e. at least at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). This is an equivalent of 50 points. All applicants with a score between 50 and 79 points who will complete all other necessary admission requirements will be obliged to include an English course for PhD. students offered by the Faculty as an obligatory part of their individual study plans.

Waiver conditions of the subject entrance examination

The subject entrance examination may be waived for applicants who have chosen one of the thesis topics offered by the faculty and obtained an approval of a future supervisor, and for whom at least one of the following conditions applies:

1. Their work has been recognized in the SVOČ competition in computer science, mathematics, or teaching of mathematics (for study programmes in the fields of Computer Science and Mathematics);
2. their work has been recognized at the Czech-Slovak Student Conference on Physics (for study programmes in the field of Physics);
3. their original scientific work on a relevant topic has been published, or has been accepted for publication, in a reviewed medium indexed by MathSciNet, SCOPUS or ISI Web of Knowledge databases;
4. they have finished a master's study programme in the field of Physics, Computer Science, or Mathematics in the academic year 2020/2021, and their grade in each part of the state final examination is „excellent“ or „very good“ (for study programmes in the field of Physics, Computer Science, and Mathematics);
5. they have gained at least 120 credits in the master's study programme in the field of Physics, Computer Science, or Mathematics in academic years 2019/20 and 2020/21, and their average study grade (according to the Code of Study and Examination, Art. 8, Par. 13) is at most 1.5, where 1=„excellent“, 2=„very good“, and 3=„satisfactory“ (for study programmes in the field of Physics, Computer Science, and Mathematics);
6. they have achieved other results testifying their ability for doctoral studies.

It is necessary to apply for the waiver and prove that the applicant satisfies some of the above conditions, by no later than May 31, 2021 in case of points 1,2,3,5 and 6, and by June 20 in case of point 4.

Conditions for a language examination waiver

The language examination will be waived if the applicant fulfills at least one of the following waiver conditions: A. The applicant spent at least two years of his/her previous education at secondary or university level with English as the sole language of instruction in one of the following countries: Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, South Africa, UK or USA. B. The applicant does not need to take the language examination of English if (s)he has already passed one of the following exams (in some cases we recognize the exam only with a minimum score or level):

• General State Language Examination in English in the Czech Republic
• examination in English at Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics (including the entrance examination from English for Ph.D. studies)
• TOEFL (ITP) – 627 points
• TOEFL (iBT) – 95 points
• IELTS – min. 7 points
• Cambridge English Certificate: C1 Advanced
• Cambridge English Certificate: C2 Proficiency
• Unicert – min. level C1
• LanguageCert: C1 Expert
• LanguageCert: C2 Mastery

The language examination waiver and the compliance with one of the conditions mentioned above must be requested before April 30, 2021 (or, in exceptional cases, before September 30, 2021).

Application Form Requisites

APPLICATION SUBMISSION

Applications are to be submitted electronically via the Student Information System of Charles University at https://is.cuni.cz/studium/eng/prijimacky/. The amount of fee is 720 CZK for electronic application. You need to fill in the application form, confirm it, and submit it in the system. Electronically submitted applications do not need to be sent in paper form. After the completion and submission of an electronic application, the information system generates a 6-digit ID number for each applicant; this ID should be given in any subsequent correspondence about the application with the Department of Student Affairs. In the application the applicant chooses a study programme, and states an expected doctoral thesis topic and chooses an advisor. We recommend discussing these at the department concerned before submitting the application. Without these choices, the application will be considered incomplete.

ATTACHMENTS TO THE APPLICATION

A. Obligatory

1. a document proving the completion of a master's study programme; A document certifying the completion of a university education at Master's level needs to be delivered as soon as possible after the application submission, and in any case no later than September 30, 2021.; for students graduating between September 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021, the deadline is extended till October 22, 2021. This is not required from students and graduates of the Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. Those applicants, who completed their education at a university abroad, must deliver one of the following documents: a document about a general recognition of equality or validity of a foreign university graduation certificate in the Czech Republic (so called „nostrification“), or a foreign document about a foreign university education if it is automatically recognized in the Czech Republic, according to its international agreements, without further official processing (university diploma from Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia), or a foreign document about completing university education which will be assessed by the faculty itself (no fee is being charged). 2. two letters of recommendation 3. a brief CV 4. a letter of motivation B. Optional

• An application for a waiver of the subject or language entrance examination and its attachments
• A brief annotation of a desired thesis topic in case that the applicant has not chosen a thesis topic offered by the faculty

APPLICATION FEE

An application fee must be paid for each app lication. The fee is 720 CZK for electronic application. The fee is to be paid by the application submission deadline to the bank account below with the 6-digit ID applicant number as a `specific symbol'. The fee can either be paid in EUR or in CZK. The application fee is non-refundable. The fee can be paid by postal order or by bank transfer. When paying by bank transfer, the applicants are obliged to pay any additional fees charged by the banks (esp. when paying from abroad). Bank details for the application fee: Bank: Komercni banka Account number: 21210277/0100 IBAN: CZ49 0100 0000 0000 2121 0277 SWIFT: KOMB CZ PP Variable symbol: 1 Specific symbol: ID number of the application

If the application is not completed and confirmed, or the application fee is not fully paid in due time, and the deficiencies are not corrected in the additional time permitted, the faculty will officially terminate the admission procedure.

Admission Procedure

Information on the Admission Procedure

To apply for one of our doctoral study programmes taught in English you must hold or be working towards a master's diploma and have the necessary abilities for research. The latter consists mainly of the knowledge of the chosen field, English language, and the ability of independent creative work as well as teamwork. The assessment of these abilities is based on the documents submitted with your application and on the entrance examination, if the latter is not waived (see below). The entrance examination has two parts – examination in the expertise in the field and examination in the English language. The admission procedure commences with the submission of an application form.

• Application's submission till December 15, 2021
• Entrance examination dates: January 19 and 20, 2022
• Alternative entrance examination date: January 27, 2022, can be requested for serious reasons only
• English language proficiency must be demonstrated till December 15, 2021
• A document certifying completion of a university education at Master's level needs to be delivered as soon as possible after the application submission, and in any case no later than February 28, 2022.

Admission for studies

Admission for studies in one of our doctoral study programmes taught in English will be granted to the applicants, who

• Submitted a complete application form together with all obligatory attachments before the deadline,
• successfully passed the entrance examination or they were granted an entrance examination waiver,
• successfully passed the language examination or they got a waiver of it

Invitation to subject entrance examination

The invitation to the subject entrance examination will be sent to those applicants, who

• submitted a complete application together with its obligatory attachments 2,3 and 4 before the deadline,
• paid the application fee,
• did not obtain the confirmation of the waiver of the subject entrance examination before December 19, 2021. The invitation to an entrance examination is delivered through the University Electronic Information System. On December 19, 2021 all applicants without a waiver receive an invitation to take the entrance examination from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. If the Faculty approves the waiver, the invitation ceases to apply.

Entrance examination

The entrance examination consists of two parts, subject and language one. The subject part of the entrance examination takes the form of a discussion about the chosen study programme. The committee gives the applicant three questions related to the chosen study programme. The committee judges the correctness of the answer, the knowledge of the field and overall readiness for doctoral studies. Each answer is evaluated on the binary Pass/Fail scale. The applicant must obtain three passing grades. If the applicant has chosen one of the thesis topics offered by the faculty and has obtained an approval of a future supervisor, or if the comittee accepts the annotation of the applicant‘s own topic, the applicant will successfully pass the exam with only two passing grades from three questions. The language entrance examination consists of a written test. The applicant may obtain a maximum of 100 points. The exam verifies that the applicant has an adequate command of the English language, i.e. at least at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). This is an equivalent of 50 points. All applicants with a score between 50 and 79 points who will complete all other necessary admission requirements will be obliged to take the exam English for PhD students (NDZK001) offered by the Faculty as an obligatory part of their individual study plans. The Faculty also offers courses (NJAZ068, NJAZ116, NJAZ069, NJAZ117, NJAZ092, NJAZ118) as preparation for this exam.

Waiver conditions of the subject entrance examination

The subject entrance examination may be waived for applicants who have chosen one of the thesis topics offered by the faculty and obtained an approval of a future supervisor, and for whom at least one of the following conditions applies:

1. Their work has been recognized in the SVOČ competition in computer science, mathematics, or teaching of mathematics (for study programmes in the fields of Computer Science and Mathematics);
2. their work has been recognized at the Czech-Slovak Student Conference on Physics (for study programmes in the field of Physics);
3. their original scientific work on a relevant topic has been published, or has been accepted for publication, in a reviewed medium indexed by MathSciNet, SCOPUS or ISI Web of Knowledge databases;
4. they have finished a master's study programme in the field of Physics, Computer Science, or Mathematics in the academic years 2020/2021 or 2021/2022, and their grade in each part of the state final examination is „excellent“ or „very good“ (for study programmes in the field of Physics, Computer Science, and Mathematics);
5. they have gained at least 120 credits in the master's study programme in the field of Physics, Computer Science, or Mathematics in academic years 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22, and their average study grade (according to the Code of Study and Examination, Art. 8, Par. 13) is at most 1.5, where 1=„excellent“, 2=„very good“, and 3=„satisfactory“ (for study programmes in the field of Physics, Computer Science, and Mathematics);
6. they have achieved other remarkable results testifying their ability for doctoral studies.

It is necessary to apply for the waiver and prove that the applicant satisfies some of the above conditions, by no later than December 15, 2021 in case of points 1,2,3,5 and 6, and by January 15, 2022 in case of point 4.

Conditions for a language examination waiver

The language examination will be waived if the applicant fulfills at least one of the following waiver conditions:

A. The applicant spent at least two years of his/her previous education at secondary or university level with English as the sole language of instruction in one of the following countries: Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, South Africa, UK or USA. B. The applicant does not need to take the language examination of English if (s)he has already passed one of the following exams (in some cases we recognize the exam only with a minimum score or level):

• General State Language Examination in English in the Czech Republic
• examination in English at Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
• TOEFL (paper) – 550 points
• TOEFL (computer) – 213 points
• TOEFL (internet) – 80 points
• IELTS – 6.5 points
• Cambridge ESOL CPE
• Cambridge ESOL CAE
• Cambridge ESOL FCE – (Grade A, B, C)
• City & Guilds International ESOL IESOL and ISESOL, expert level
• TELC (The European Language Certificates) – TELC English level C1
• UNIcert – level C1
• Melab – 77 points
• Examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in English (ECPE)
• Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) – 605 points
• International ESOL and Spoken ESOL – Expert LanguageCert and Mastery LanguageCert

The language examination waiver and the compliance with one of the conditions mentioned above must be requested before the deadlines mentioned above.

Application Form Requisites

APPLICATION SUBMISSION

Applications are to be submitted electronically via the Student Information System of Charles University at https://is.cuni.cz/studium/eng/prijimacky/. The amount of fee is 720 CZK for the electronic version and 770 CZK for the paper version. You need to fill in the application form, confirm it, and submit it in the system. Electronically submitted applications do not need to be sent in paper form. After the completion and submission of an electronic application, the information system generates a 6-digit ID number for each applicant; this ID should be given in any subsequent correspondence about the application with the Department of Student Affairs. In the application the applicant chooses a study programme, and states an expected doctoral thesis topic (from those offered by the programme). We recommend discussing these at the department concerned before submitting the application.

ATTACHMENTS TO THE APPLICATION

A. Obligatory

1. a document proving the completion of a master's study programme; A document certifying the completion of a university education at Master's level needs to be delivered as soon as possible after the application submission, and in any case no later than February 28, 2022. This is not required from students and graduates of the Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. Those applicants, who completed their education at a university abroad, must deliver one of the following documents: a document about a general recognition of equality or validity of a foreign university graduation certificate in the Czech Republic (so called „nostrification“), or a foreign document about a foreign university education if it is automatically recognized in the Czech Republic, according to its international agreements, without further official processing (university diploma from Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia), or a foreign document about completing university education which will be assessed by the faculty itself (no fee is being charged). 2. two letters of recommendation 3. a brief CV 4. a letter of motivation B. Optional

• An application for a waiver of the subject or language entrance examination and its attachments
• A brief annotation of a desired thesis topic in case that the applicant has not chosen a thesis topic offered by the faculty

APPLICATION FEE

An application fee must be paid for each application. The fee is to be paid by the application submission deadline to the bank account below with the 6-digit ID applicant number as a `specific symbol'. The fee can either be paid in EUR or in CZK. The application fee is non-refundable. The fee can be paid by postal order or by bank transfer. When paying by bank transfer, the applicants are obliged to pay any additional fees charged by the banks (esp. when paying from abroad).

Bank details for the application fee: Bank: Komercni banka Account number: 21210277/0100 IBAN: CZ49 0100 0000 0000 2121 0277 SWIFT: KOMB CZ PP Variable symbol: 1 Constant symbol: bank transfer 0308, postal order 0179 Specific symbol: generated by the Student Information System

If the application is not completed and confirmed, or the application fee is not fully paid in due time, and the deficiencies are not corrected in the additional time permitted, the faculty will officially terminate the admission procedure.

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• Application Form
• Admission Procedure Status
• Study Programmes and Branches
• Charles University Admission

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