Course Enrollment
The Prague University of Economics and Business uses the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). A certain amount of credits evaluates each course according to its study workload. The system was created in 1998 to harmonize European higher education and to facilitate student mobility across Europe and the world. At the University of Economics, it was introduced in 2005.
For more information, please visit the website of the European Commission or the Czech Ministry of Education.
Within the ECTS, measuring our courses’ study workloads and learning outcomes is easier. At FIR, we evaluate these measures regularly each semester – and students’ evaluations of courses help us a lot, too.
ECTS Credits and their drawing
How many credits can I use during my studies?
At the beginning of the bachelor’s programmes, each student gets 216 credit vouchers, i.e.:
- 180 credit vouchers are required to complete the curriculum;
- 36 reserve credit vouchers.
At the beginning of the master’s programmes, each student gets 144 credit vouchers, i.e.:
- 120 credit vouchers are required to complete the curriculum;
- 24 reserve credit vouchers.
Current statistics of your ECTS credits can be displayed on InSIS (“Student’s Portal” – “E-study record”).
How can I draw credits?
- By successful completion of study duties (the corresponding number of credits will be moved to the InSIS section “Acquired Credits”);
- by unsuccessful completion of study duties (the corresponding number of credits will be moved to the InSIS section “Lost Credits”. Credits are deducted for each attempt to complete a course, with the exception of state exams.);
- by recognition of study duties (for recognition, a “recognition fee” at the value of one fifth of the recognized credits is deducted, with an exception for foreign stays or courses from the cVOR group);
- by correction of credit vouchers.
- voucher correction is a tool to maintain an appropriate study duration;
- it is performed at the beginning of each semester by deducing as many credits as missing up to twenty-fold of the number of the student´s finished semester (i.e. after the first semester, the student must complete at least 20 credits, after the second semester 40 credits, 60 credits after the third semester, etc;).
- for distance studies, this requirement is reduced to multiples of 15 – please see Article 13 (2) of the Study and Examination Rules of the Prague University of Economics and Business;
- the correction is made until the student completes the entire study plan, except for the thesis defence and state exams.
ATTENTION: Recognized credits e.g. for cVOR subjects can be found on InSIS, in the section “Credits recognized outside a study period” – these credits are not included in “Acquired Credits”!
What are the reserve credits (credit vouchers) and how are they used?
Reserve credits can be used to repeat unsuccessfully completed courses or to study beyond the curriculum.
At a time when the number of free credit vouchers is lower than the number of credits required to complete the curriculum, the student cannot continue studying. Such a situation arises when a student withdraws all his reserve credits through:
- unsuccessful attempts to complete courses;
- credit vouchers corrections;
- recognition fee;
- drawing of credit vouchers beyond the curriculum.
The student can finish their studies successfully with 0 credits, however, he must not fail any courses which would require additional credits.
What happens when I have withdrawn all my credits?
Terminating students with a lack of credit vouchers to complete their studies takes place at the beginning of each semester. Information about a student’s exclusion is first displayed on InSIS. During the following 30-day period, the student can appeal against the termination. If there are insufficient reasons for assigning additional credit vouchers, the student’s termination is confirmed.
The Dean has a right to assign additional credit vouchers. However, this is a very exceptional tool and its use is very carefully considered.
Assignment of additional vouchers can be requested electronically via InSIS Contact Center. The condition is a completed current semester, i.e. the student has all courses closed on InSIS. The issue is dealt with by the Vice-Dean for Education and Development.
Groups of courses and study plans
Structure of Study Duties at VŠE
Each student is required to obtain a certain number of credits in defined groups of courses. According to these groups, study plans are structured.
Your current study plan can be found on InSIS (“Student’s portal” – “Plan progress check”).
Be aware of groups of courses, especially when registering and enrolling in courses, as well as recognizing courses from studies abroad.
WARNING: If you study more credits than you needed in a certain group according to your study plan, you are drawing your reserve credit vouchers. However, if you generally do not lose credits, it is a unique opportunity to learn more and to study courses for your own interest. We strongly recommend doing that.
Study Plan
The recommended study plan determines the optimal course of study with respect to the continuity and capacities of the individual courses.
WARNING: Some courses may be listed strictly according to the model study plan, i.e. only once per academic year. This is usual in smaller study fields and specializations.
For compulsory courses, the prerequisites are usually defined. They indicate the conditions of the course enrolment. Usually, it is the completion of a certain course (for example, a higher level of a language can be studied after the previous test has been completed).
The prerequisites can be found in the individual syllabuses on InSIS.
The cancellation of a prerequisite can only be requested in exceptional cases (e.g. a study abroad, for which you could not register for the previous course). First, you must get the permission of the course guarantor and contact the Vice-Dean for Studies during his office hours. He will ask you to complete the registration for the given semester and, he will allow you to register for the course. Please deal with the issue early enough before the end of the registration period.
Basic groups of courses – bachelor studies
- Programme compulsory courses (oborově povinné předměty = oP) – these courses are the core of the programme and all students must take them
- Compulsory language courses (povinné jazykové předměty = oJP) – all students must take language courses, they can choose the language and proficiency level
- Optional courses (oborově volitelný = oV) – all students must take optional courses from faculty level, they can choose the individual courses
- Optional courses 2 (oborově volitelný 2 = oV2) – all students must take optional courses from university level, they can choose the individual courses
Basic groups of courses – master studies
- Major specialization compulsory courses (povinné předměty hlavní specializace = hP) – these courses are to be chosen from a list of courses specified for a given programme
- Major specialization optional courses (volitelné předměty hlavní specializace – hV) – these courses are to be chosen from a list specified for the given programme
- Faculty optional courses (fakultně volitelné předměty – fVM) – these courses are to be chosen from a list of courses available to all the programmes at the faculty
- University optional courses (celoškolsky volitelné předměty – cVM) – these courses are to be chosen from all the courses listed at VŠE. Please be aware that the study programmes at FIR do not have credit vouchers for this group. If you decide to study such a course, the credits will be deducted from your reserve credit vouchers.
- Minor specialization compulsory courses (povinné předměty vedlejší specializace – sP) – these courses are to be chosen according to the requirements of individual minor specializations
- Minor specialization optional courses (volitelné předměty vedlejší specializace – sV) – these courses are to be chosen according to the requirements of individual minor specializations
What should I do if I have wrongly chosen a group during enrolment?
You can apply for the correction of a course entry to a wrongly selected group by requesting an electronic application via InSIS. Please make sure that the course belongs to the requested group.
Registration and Enrolment
Why do I have to register for the courses?
At the beginning of your studies, your schedule is made automatically, except for languages. By the second semester, you need to register for your courses on your own via InSIS.
New semester schedule creation starts with registrations. The registrations aim to find out students’ interest in offered courses and their timetables. Registration is followed by enrolment.
The start and end of registrations take place according to a semester schedule.
How does the registration take place?
During the registration, you choose both courses and their timetable, i.e. you automatically create your schedule for the next semester. During registration, it is possible (as opposed to enrolment) to choose courses beyond their capacity. Therefore, the timetable may, or may not, be accepted during enrolment.
Students who register for a course in an upper class always have priority:
- 1st class – compulsory courses – oP, hP, sP, fJV, fJP, oJP, oJV
- 2nd class – compulsory elective courses – oV, oV2
- 3rd class – optional courses – cVB, cVM
If there are more registered students than the course capacity, even in one round, i.e. in the same class, priority belongs to:
- students with a higher number of credits earned
- in the case of equality, the number of lost credits decides
- and in the case of the equality of both measures, a random selection is made
WARNING: Registering courses without a selected timetable is not valid.
An unregistered course can only be enrolled in the third round of enrolment, i.e. when all the students who have validly registered are already enrolled
What follows the registrations?
After the end of registrations, the departments adjust the timetable of their courses according to the actual interests of the students.
All students registered for compulsory courses according to their recommended study plan should be enrolled. If after the third round of enrollment, there is no capacity in a compulsory course (oP), which should be registered according to the student’s recommended study plan, they should contact the study coordinator immediately.
Optional courses with low student interest in registrations could be cancelled.
Students need to register for courses even if their enrolment is not guaranteed. The registration system is protected against excessive demands of students (they may, for instance, fear that senior students will be preferred). This protection is the number of credits after automated enrolments. A student cannot descend below this limit during enrolment and must take all the credits.
What is the enrolment for?
Enrolment shows that a student who has fulfilled the conditions set by the Study Regulations is able to continue to the next semester.
Enrolment is launched after registrations and takes place in three rounds.
Until the end of the third round of enrolment, students are still registered as active students of the previous semester. After the third round, students are enrolled in the new semester. This does not apply to students enrolled in the first semester of their study programme. They are enrolled separately using a so-called fixed schedule before the first round of automated enrolment.
How does the enrolment take place?
Enrolment takes place in three rounds. Each of them follows different rules.
Each round involves automated and subsequent manual enrolment of courses via InSIS (“Student´s Portal” – “Registration/Enrolment”).
Automated enrolment evaluates the results of registrations based on various criteria. Simply said, the more credits you have already gained, the greater the chance for earlier enrolment.
The manual entry then serves to correct already enrolled courses.
WARNING: Students may also unregister from enrolled courses, but the final number of credits of enrolled courses must not fall below the number of credits the student earned in previous automatic enrolments (the sum of credits for courses enrolled in the first, second and third rounds). They must register courses worth the same number of credits to replace them. Schedule adjustment is usually possible until the end of the first week of the semester. After that, you cannot change your schedule any more.
Enrolment rounds rules
The first round of automated enrolment – courses from the first class are evaluated (according to the relevant study plan). A list is progressively compiled from registered students according to the rules set.
The first round of manual enrolment – is available to students after the first round of automated enrolment. Students can make certain changes and enrol in first-class courses, but only those which were registered during the registration period. Students with enrolled courses may change their timetable regarding the courses’ remaining capacity.
The second round of automated enrolment – second-class subjects are evaluated according to the relevant study plan.
The second round of manual enrolment – students can make changes to their registered first and second-class subjects.
The third round of automated enrolment – Third-class subjects are evaluated according to the relevant study plan.
The third round of manual enrolment – Students can make changes and enrol for courses in all classes and can also enrol in courses that have not been registered during the registration period.