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Masaryk University and the Faculty of Social Studies
Masaryk University
Founded in 1919 as the second university in the Czech Republic, Masaryk University - named after T. G. Masaryk, the first President of Czechoslovakia - today is one of the fastest developing universities in Central Europe, with more than 43 000 students studying in nine faculties including over 1200 fields of study. Masaryk University links high requirements for original research with systematic efforts to create the conditions for quality university education, corresponding with the demands placed on the qualifications by the employment market in a modern society. The introduction of the three-year Bachelor's and two-year Master's degree model, as well as of a university-wide credit system based on the principles of the European Credit Transfer System has ensured greater flexibility and helped foster the internationalization of curricula. The fact that the university has been awarded two European quality labels - the ECTS label and the DS label - in the past two years, provides evidence that MU meets the standards that are required of the best European higher education institutions. Masaryk University was the first university in the Czech Republic to accept applications electronically. Within its 90 years of existence,
the university has been the alma mater of 134,000 alumni.
MU places a strong accent on international cooperation. Throughout the recent decades it has established solid and stable links with a number of prestigious foreign universities and research institutions. The university is a member of Compostela Group of Universities and Utrecht Network, and it is involved in numerous mobility programmes - Erasmus LLP for Europe, and Erasmus Mundus, ISEP and other schemes for cooperation with Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Besides the international programmes, MU has connections with a large number of institutions around the world, which enables its students to select from a wide variety of mobility options throughout the course of their studies.
MU and its International Student Club (ISC) provide a comfortable environment for international students to study and live in. The ISC provides plenty of opportunities for students' social activities, while the university offers numerous study and leisure facilities, such as several sports grounds and premises, libraries, computer centres (some open 24/7), etc.
The EUNIS Elite Award winning information system of Masaryk University smoothes the administration of studies, and facilitates the learning processes. To its students and employees, the university can offer superb facilities from research laboratories, modern libraries, computer rooms and specialized centres. Students can find accommodation in 9 dormitories located in quiet areas of the city.
In September 2010, Masaryk University ranked 56th among the Top 100 universities in Europe according to
Webometrics ranking.
Masaryk University promotional video (MU website)
Faculty of Social Studies
The Faculty of Social Studies was established at Masaryk University in Brno in 1998. Until then, the social sciences had been part of the Faculty of Arts. The emergence of the independent faculty affirmed Masaryk University as an international center for sociological, psychological and political science research. The Faculty’s Department of Sociology was founded in 1921 and is one of the oldest workplaces of its kind in Europe.
The faculty focuses on both education and research in the fields of Sociology, Political Science, International Relations, European Studies, Psychology, Media Studies and Journalism, Social Policy and Social Work, and Environmental Studies, with the recent additions of Gender Studies, Social Anthropology and Strategic and Security Studies. It is fully committed to linking educational activities with its own research projects. Individual degree
programs are based on the internationally recognized credit system (ECTS) and are divided into Bachelor's, Master's, and doctoral levels. Degree
programs are continually being adapted in response to changes in society and its needs.
The Faculty achieved membership in two international degree
programs. Since 2005, Masaryk University is a member of the consortium that offers the interdisciplinary
European Master’s
Program in Human Rights And Democratization (E.MA) and from the 2008/2009 academic year, it was admitted into joint European PhD. on Social Representations and
Communication. It offers several graduate programs in English.
Each year, several international conferences featuring contributions from prominent
scholars take place. The opportunities for students and employees to study and work abroad are increasing from year to year: the Faculty’s numerous LLP/ERASMUS agreements with partner institutions all over Europe, and Masaryk University’s membership in international networks (Utrecht Network and the Compostella Group) and programs (Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window, ISEP, etc.) lead to other possibilities for studying abroad.
Contacts have been established with a wide range of universities in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and Australia.
University Development
 Masaryk University is undergoing dynamic development. Since 2000 the university has completely reconstructed several of its premises in the center of the city (including the new building of the Faculty of Social Studies) and has almost finished a new, modern teaching and
research area at the university campus Brno-Bohunice. The Faculties of Medicine, Sports and partly the Faculty of Sciences already benefit from this unique teaching and research complex. The university has also established the first Czech polar station in Antarctica.
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