Dear partners, prospective and current students,
We hope this email finds you well as spring is starting in Brno. The events of the last few weeks, marked by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia have been hitting our diverse international community in different ways; however, it is essential to emphasize that all of us here in Brno are as safe as if we were in Berlin, Milan, London, or Paris. While the ongoing Russian assault on Ukraine is horrifying and scary, the safety in Brno remains unchanged from before, although we know that our location can feel close when looking at a map.
Thus far, the university has been clear with our support to Ukraine and its people. Each of our students has different lived experiences; some may come from countries that have experienced war, some may have families who have escaped similar situations, and some may just have watched such events from afar in the past without expecting to see their effects so close. However, we want to emphasize that the main impact we anticipate seeing around Brno and in the whole country is a larger Ukrainian population trying to find a safe haven and refuge from the atrocities caused by invading Russian troops. Ukrainians made up the largest expat group in the Czech Republic in the last census, and thus it makes sense for new arrivals to travel where they have a community.
Our teams at the Centre for International Cooperation and at Masaryk University are prepared to make sure that visiting students and faculty have a safe and enjoyable time with us. Students can reach out to us, and our emergency numbers are available, as they have been for years, for any students who need it. However, I am happy to share that from our interactions with students, their day-to-day experience remains unchanged, and we enjoy seeing students enjoying their time abroad, especially now that most Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted.
While the Czech Republic is reacting strongly, due to the nation´s history with invasions in 1938 by Hitler and 1968 by the Soviet Union, our concern now is for Ukraine. Our memberships in both NATO and the European Union provide us with the assurance, support, and security we did not have in 1938 and 1968; the experience of Ukraine shows the significance of these memberships. Additionally, it is essential to stress the historical differences between Ukraine and the Czech Republic: even under the communist rule (1948-1989), Czechoslovakia never was part of the Soviet Union. Putin’s claim – which we cannot stress enough is a fabricated and criminal claim – is that Ukraine was once part of Russia and should be so again. This claim can never be said of the Czech Republic.
Since 2015, Brno has been regularly ranked one of the ten safest cities in the world, and even now, under these tragic circumstances, the Czech government is firm in assuring there is no direct threat from Russia to our territory.
We hope you will continue to join us in the future for a semester or summer school, and for those currently here, we hope that Brno continues to feel like a second home.
Wishing you a fruitful spring,
Jan Pavlík
Director
Although the United Kingdom has left the Erasmus+ programme, Masaryk University will continue to work with British universities, either under the Turing programme (incoming students at MU) or under bilateral agreements. In the same way, MU has long-term and successful cooperation with various universities, such as universities in the USA, Brazil, Japan, Israel, Russia, and Australia. Northern Ireland remains part of the Erasmus+ programme even after Brexit.
INFORMATION FOR OUTGOING STUDENTS (FROM MU):
- Students who are currently on Erasmus+ stay in the UK: studies and scholarship remain unchanged, study placement can be completed without problems
- Students who are planning to study in the UK (are nominated by CZS MU): all trips already approved can take place in the originally planned mode. Your studies and scholarship will not be affected by the changes. For placements longer than 6 months, it is now necessary to obtain a study visa, the issue should not take longer than three weeks.
- Students planning to go to the UK for an internship: all students who are planning to begin their internships in 2021 must apply for a visa, regardless of the length of the internship. Detailed information about the process and all necessary documents can be found here. Please, keep in mind that it can take several weeks to process your application.
- Students who want to study in the UK in academic year 2021/22 (submission of applications in 2021): Masaryk University has currently approved grant agreements for trips to the UK through the Erasmus+ programme for the next academic year 2021/2022 so students can still apply for study placements and internships in the UK via Erasmus+ Europe. The application is created in IS OIS within the Erasmus+ SMS programme (study stays). The selection procedure for the Erasmus+ Europe programme (study placement) is organized by MU departments / faculties, for more information contact the departmental coordinator at your department / faculty. The selection procedure for Erasmus+ internships takes place at CZS.
- Placements in the UK in academic year 2022/23 and further: CZS MU perceives the great interest of students in study placements in the UK and continues to plan to support them financially. CZS is currently discussing the exchange programme from which students’ placements will be funded - probably it will be possible to travel to the UK via the programme of Partner universities outside the EU or via the Erasmus+ Europe programme which will enable cooperation with the so-called Erasmus+ partner countries (non-EU countries) in the new programme cycle for years 2021-2027.
For more information about placements from academic year 2022/23, please follow, in the coming months, CZS website and the website of Dům zahraniční spolupráce MŠMT which is also the national agency for the Erasmus+ programme.
Contact person: Nikola Maráková, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Dear new members of our MUNI family,
we would like to welcome here both degree and exchange students and offer you some opportunities, so that you can be more involved in MUNI’s life!
We are looking for our new friends who would:
1. participate in photo and video shoots at the faculties,
2. take over the @masaryk_university Instagram account for a day,
3. become an ambassador for Masaryk University.
As a reward, you will get some university merch (usually something, that is not available for anyone else) and if participating on bigger projects, a financial reward!
If you are interested, you can fill in a short form here (it is not binding in any way):
bit.ly/helpmuni
Photo and Video shoots
Want to have your time at MUNI forever remembered on film? Volunteer to be in one (or more) of the video and photo shoots taking place during the Spring semester 2020. All international students are invited to apply.
Instagram Takeover
Students interested in showing the “real life” at Masaryk University are able to take over the @masaryk_university Instagram account for a day and show what a day in the life is like in Brno. Past takeovers can be seen in the story highlights on our Instagram page under each faculty.
Ambassador Program
This program allows students to be representatives of Masaryk University when they go home and to encourage more students to come and study at MUNI. Students will receive information about the university to effectively promote their studies here, and will receive custom MUNI merchandise that is only available to student ambassadors.
Link to the form: bit.ly/helpmuni
Call for expression of interest & participation
Developing European virtual mobility teaching through the EDUC Alliance
Dear fellow teachers and researchers,
Looking for new ways to interest your students and expand internationally? Eager to develop European virtual training packages? Stimulated by international collaboration? Want to extend your reach to European students interested in your field?
Recent events have shown how virtual exchanges and training can break through frontiers and help students learn differently, forging connections despite distances.
Many of you have already expressed your interest in the new mobility and educational opportunities brought about by our EDUC European University and its Erasmus+ support. EDUC offers a diversity of international mobility schemes; be creative! Your courses can gain notoriety through virtual mobility, online courses, virtual classes, videos and other forms – all for the benefit of your students through our European University.
New opportunities for you and your students:
EDUC Alliance will assist you in developing virtual teaching and learning approaches, to make students more autonomous, curious, sharing their learning, providing greater opportunities in accessing lessons and resources. Virtual mobility can be an asset for teachers in this fast-changing world, broadening their reach in Europe, creating new forms of collaboration. EDUC is here to facilitate and help nurture these new opportunities.
EDUC Alliance is keen to discover your educational didactic project. By taking a few minutes to complete the questionnaire, we can seek the best ways to support you. Only one application per project is required.
Questionnaire: https://www.survio.com/survey/d/S3N2R1R1I2C5I8G6M
Deadline: 16 Feb 2021
REPLY TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
We support your didactic projects aiming at:
- Adapting or developing online content for use within the EDUC Alliance (videos for blended learning, recorded classes, translations or subtitling, ...),
- Offering a European experience to your students, through virtual mobility (MOOCs, online student collaborations, …),
- Creating new interest in your field for European students, reaching a wider audience (virtual classes, synchronous and asynchronous online teaching),
- Collaborating with other teachers, developing and improving pedagogical practices through the EDUC Alliance.
- Through your didactic project, you will have the opportunity to join a Teachers’ Community of Practice to share and contribute to the development of EDUC instruments and the European education framework.
EDUC will support you with:
- Pedagogical engineering staff,
- Technical support (video production, Moodle, conferencing and pedagogical tools, translation),
- Access to resources and rooms for online learning,
- Teachers’ incentives.
The Sky is your limit!
What we are looking for:
The eligibility criteria are based on the following:
Mandatory:
- The didactic project includes at least one form of virtual and international mobility, as mentioned here, intended for EDUC students.
- Programs, courses or educational resources are available to students from at least two EDUC Alliance universities.
- The didactic project fully integrates a multilingual aspect (at least English, possibly partner languages).
- The project involves collaboration with at least one other teacher identified in one of the universities of the EDUC Alliance.
Favourable:
- The project involves collaboration with a maximum of 3 teachers in the leading university, with 1 identified teacher in contributing universities and 1 additional “contact person” in contributing universities.
- The project involves activities putting the emphasis on the student to student collaboration.
- We can also support you if you already run a similar/overlapping project within another local or European strategic initiative.
For organizational reasons, depending on the number of didactic projects received, a selection may be made from didactic projects that meet these criteria. The following will be considered: the number of forms of virtual mobility offered, the number of EDUC universities involved, the number of EDUC students involved.
Deadlines:
- February 16th: Deadline for proposal submission (questionnaire)
- February 17th to Feb 27th: Proposals are pre-selected by EDUC who will reply to all applicants, help you look for partners in the Alliance, and give feedback
- March 2nd: Pre-selection announcement
- March 2nd to end March: Feasibility assessment, proposals are refined collaboratively with EDUC pedagogical engineers, yourself and your partners
- End March: Deadline for full application
- Mid-April: Final selection
- May: Start of selected projects, for deployment in 2021-2022
Selection process:
EDUC selection committees are responsible for the validation or rejection of projects, with no appeal. Due to our support capacities, only a limited number of projects will be retained.
More information will be available locally through respective FAQs.
Your contact for any questions or help: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Thank you!
The EDUC team
Dear friend,
We are glad to hear that you think about coming for the MUNI HOMECOMING 2019! We are looking forward to it immensely (and hopefully you do too :-)).
As for some practical info:
We unfortunately can’t pay for travel expenses and accommodation, nevertheless we managed to get a discount on accommodation for our foreign students at numerous hotels. Standard option is Hotel Garni near Vinařská dormitory, which you probably remember well. The price is 1000 CZK (cca 40 EUR)/night for a single room or 1400 (cca 55 EUR)/night for a twin room with two beds. Book via writing an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and in the subject write “Accommodation MUNI 100” to get the discount.
Do not book hotel Garni via booking.com, or you will not get the discount. Only book via writing the email! Other hotels have the booking method specified.
If you’d like to have even more luxurious accomodation, see the end of this letter for more information.
We’ll try to get some rooms directly in Vinařská dormitory, but since there will still be some students, it is unsure if it will work out. We’ll keep you posted.
Do not hesitate too much with the booking, because there will be lot of people coming even from the Czech Republic and the hotel could get full.
If you require a visa for visiting us, we can send you an official invitation letter to show at your embassy during the visa process. In that case, please send following information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.:
1) Your full name
2) Date of birth
3) Year and study field from your stay at MUNI
I will send you scanned signed invitation letter via email.
Please share the information among your friends from studying here, so we can meet in as large number as possible :-) Especially if you have some FB groups from the time of your stay etc.
Thank you again for coming, it will be incredible!
Yours faithfully,
Lukáš Wiesner
More on accommodation:
(for prices, contact me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Orea Hotel Voroněž ****
Křížkovského 1458/47, 603 73 Brno
Use a promo code to book a room on this link: MUNI100
Promo code: MUNI 100
Holiday Inn Brno ****
Křížkovského 20, 603 00 Brno
Included: Breakfast, air-conditioned room, WiFi, RelaxZone with sauna and Minigym
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel: 543 122 018-019
Use promo code MUNI 100.
Best Western Premier Hotel International Brno ****
Husova 200/16, 602 00 Brno
Book via the webpage here: https://www.hotelinternational.cz/rs/ubytovani/
Promo code: MUNI 100
Courtyard by Marriott Brno ****
Holandska 12, 639 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Book via the webpage here: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/brqcy-courtyard-brno/
Promo code: MUNI 100
BARCELÓ BRNO PALACE HOTEL*****
Šilingrovo náměstí 2, 602 00 Brno
Book via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
OR book via the webpage https://www.barcelo.com/cs/
Promo code: MUNI 100
Hotel Continental Brno ****
Kounicova 680/6, 602 00 Brno
Book via the webpage https://www.continentalbrno.cz/page/cz/homepage
Promo code: MUNI 100
