How the Study System Works

Two semesters, winter and summer. Each has 13 weeks of classes followed by a 6-week examination period. Winter classes start in mid-September, summer classes around the third Monday of February.

Most courses have mid-semester tests, usually around weeks 6 to 8, and final tests in week 13. Do not plan travel during the semester and exam period.

Check the Academic calendar.

Each course is worth a number of ECTS credits reflecting its workload. You earn them by passing the course.

• Bachelor’s: 180 credits over 6 semesters
• Master’s: 120 credits over 4 semesters

That is about 30 credits per semester. Failing one course does not affect credits you have already earned.

Alongside credits, you have credit vouchers. Think of them as a budget you spend every time you enrol in a course.

• Bachelor’s students start with 216 vouchers: 180 for the curriculum, 36 in reserve.
• Master’s students start with 144 vouchers: 120 for the curriculum, 24 in reserve.

Vouchers are spent on every attempt, whether you pass or not. Passing turns them into credits; failing spends them for nothing. The reserve exists so that you can repeat a failed course or study something extra.

One rule catches people out. At the start of each semester, the system checks your progress and deducts vouchers if you are behind: you need at least 20 credits after your first semester, 40 after the second, 60 after the third, and so on. Fall behind repeatedly, and you run out of vouchers – and without enough vouchers to finish the curriculum, your studies are terminated. You have 30 days to appeal.

You can check your balance any time in InSIS under Student’s Portal → E-study record.

We register your compulsory courses for the first semester. Language and elective courses are up to you. From your second semester onwards, you build the whole timetable on your own.

• Follow your recommended study plan (Bachelor’s / Master’s). It sequences courses so that prerequisites come in the right order and the workload stays balanced. You are free to depart from it, but every departure tends to create work later – and you have to complete the required credits in each course group either way.
• Registration comes first – you say which courses you want. Registration for the winter semester runs during the summer, and for the summer semester in January. Watch the registration and enrolment schedule; the dates are fixed, and there is no catching up afterwards.
• Always register a specific time, room and lecturer, not just the course. A course registered without them does not count.
• Enrolment then runs in three automated rounds, each followed by a manual round. Compulsory courses are allocated first, then compulsory electives, then electives. Where a seminar is over capacity, priority goes to students who need the course in a higher course group, then to those with more earned credits.
• Register only what you actually intend to study. Whatever the automated enrolment assigns you, you are expected to complete. If you do not, those credit vouchers are lost.
• You can adjust your timetable during the first week of classes. After that, it is fixed.

You register for exams yourself in InSIS. Each course usually offers several dates, so you can space them out – but book early, capacity is limited.

Courses are completed either by a pass/fail credit or by a grade. To pass a graded course, you need at least 60% of the total assessment, which may combine coursework and a final exam.

Two things to know about 4+: you cannot receive it twice in a row in the same course, and if you take your first attempt on the last exam date of the period, there is no date left to retake it. Sit your exams early.

Each year group is divided into one or two seminar groups, so you attend most classes with the same people and your lecturers know who you are. If anything about your studies or the organisation of the programme is unclear, write to the programme coordinator at ids@vse.cz – that is what we are here for.