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Masaryk University Faculty of Law Directive No. 1/2023
Student Scientific Activities (SVOČ)
Announcement of the XXVIth year of the competition for the
academic year 2023/2024
(as amended with effect from 20 October 2023)
Pursuant to Section 28(1) of Act No. 111/1998 Coll., on Higher Education Institutions and
on Amendments and Supplements to Other Acts (Act on Higher Education Institutions), as
amended (hereinafter referred to as the "Act on Higher Education Institutions"), I issue this
Directive:
Article 1
The competition is open to students of bachelor's, master's and doctoral study programmes
of the Faculty of Law of MU (hereinafter referred to as "the Faculty"), either as individuals
or in teams, who are authors of an original professional work in the field of law (hereinafter
referred to as "authors" and "competition work"). The competition work may also cover
subjects close to law (e.g. economics, sociology), provided that its focus remains law.
Article 2
(1) The competition entries must be an original text written by the author(s)
independently.
(2) A qualifying thesis (bachelor's thesis, diploma thesis, rigorous thesis, doctoral thesis,
or thesis submitted in another competition), even a part of it, may not be used as a
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competition thesis. An exception is a seminar paper, which may be the basis for a
competition paper without restriction.
(3) The submission of a competition paper does not preclude its previous full or partial
publication or its use as an oral or written contribution at a professional conference or
seminar.
(4) The competition thesis can then be used as the basis for a bachelor's, master's,
rigorous or dissertation thesis.
(5) The author of a competition entry, either as a single author or as a member of a
competition team, may submit more than one entry, provided that the topics of the
two or more entries are substantially different.
Article 3
(1) The theme of the competition is determined by the author(s) in accordance with
Article 1 of this Directive.
(2) The departments and institutes (hereinafter referred to as "departments") of the
faculty will offer topics to interested authors, for which they will then provide
consultations to the authors. By mutual agreement, topics may also be listed by
members of departments and students of doctoral programmes for a specific
interested party. An individual topic may be announced after the publication of the
offered topics, in which case the department member or author(s) will communicate
the choice of the topic to the JRC coordinator by e-mail svoc@law.muni.cz.
(3) Other subjects or institutions outside the Faculty may also offer themes for the
competition. However, they are not obliged to provide consultations on them. The
author(s) can check the possibility of consultation with these entities or institutions
or arrange it through the SVOČ coordinator. Entities or institutions outside the Faculty
may award special prizes for the work.
Article 4
(1) Authors apply for participation in the SVOČ by registering the course BVV10K
(students of bachelor study programmes), MVV42K (students of master study
programmes) or DSVOCK (students of doctoral study programmes) in the IS MU. The
deadline for registration is governed by the Spring 2024 timetable.
(2) In the respective course, the author will register the topic in the topic package called
"SVOČ topic registration" via the "Student timetables" application. In the case of the
topic of the competition team's thesis, all members of the competition team will
subscribe to one topic.
(3) Authors who register for this course and do not submit a competition entry will be
withdrawn from the course after the submission deadline, even without their own
request.
(4) The condition for successful completion of the course and obtaining credits is not only
the proper submission of the competition paper, but also participation in the oral
round of the SVOČ.
Article 5
(1) Entries must be submitted to the submission office of the relevant course (BVV10K,
MVV42K or DSVOCK) no later than 3 March 2024. No entry will be accepted after this
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date. In the case of a competition team, the work is submitted and entered into the
IS MU only once.
(2) In preparing the competition thesis, the student follows formally the Dean's guidelines
2/2022 and 3/2020. Submission of a printed version of the thesis including a signed
affidavit is not required. If the thesis does not meet the formal requirements, it may
be eliminated from the competition in consultation with the JRC Coordinator and the
Vice Dean for Science and Research (hereafter referred to as the "Vice Dean").
(3) The specified length of the work is between 36 000 characters and 54 000 characters
including spaces. Footnotes are included in the total length of the work. The number
of characters does not include the title page, the table of contents and the list of
references. If the work does not meet the required length, it will be eliminated from
the competition.
Article 6
The competition will be held in sections, which will be formed according to the number and
content of the submitted works. The formation of the sections will be decided by 11 March
2024 by the JOCC Coordinator in agreement with the Vice-Dean, taking into account the
study programme of the competitors, the content of the submitted works (individual law
fields) or the study classification of the competitors (study year), or other appropriate
criteria, so that each section includes no more than 12 works. The placement of individual
papers in the sections is decided by the SVOČ coordinator in agreement with the vice-dean.
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Article 7
(1) Each competition entry will be subject to an opponent's review after proper submission.
The review is prepared by a member of the department appointed by the head of the
department, whose expertise corresponds to the topic of the thesis. For themes
announced by entities or institutions outside the faculty, the opponent is appointed by
the SVOČ coordinator in agreement with the vice-dean.
(2) One opponent is usually appointed for each competition entry. The referee will insert
his/her opinion on the JRC work in the submission room of the relevant subject or send
it in electronic form to the JRC coordinator at svoc@law.muni.cz no later than 14 April
2024.
(3) The assessment shall contain the following elements, including the scoring:
- Evaluation of the topic in terms of its relevance and practical applicability (0-8
points);
- Evaluation of the concept of the competition paper (systematics, logical structure,
method used, sources) (0-12 points);
- Content evaluation (substantive comments on the text, confrontation with other
possible opinions, overall mastery of the topic, evaluation of the conclusions of the
paper, suggestions for discussion in the oral round) (0-20 points);
- Evaluation of the formal aspect of the competition work (language level, clarity,
technical mastery of the text) (0-10 points);
- Overall brief summary evaluation of the competition work.
(4) The referee must use the template provided in Annex 1 of this guideline when writing
the report.
Article 8
(1) The oral round takes place in the presence of all authors (or competition teams) and
an evaluation committee appointed on the proposal of the SVOČ coordinator by the
vice-dean from among the faculty teachers proposed by the heads of the departments.
The evaluation committees for each section shall consist of at least three members.
The committee may meet and make decisions only in the presence of an absolute
majority of its members. The committee shall elect a chairperson from among its
members. Representatives of the entities or institutions that have announced the
competition topics that have been developed and included in the competition will also
be invited to participate and evaluate with an advisory vote as honorary members. The
Commission decides by majority vote. In the event of an equality of votes, the
chairman's vote will be decisive.
(2) The date and form of the oral round is announced by the SVOČ coordinator in
agreement with the vice-dean. The oral round can take place in person or remotely
(MS Teams environment).
(3) The author (or the competition team) presents their competition work and responds to
the comments in the review. This is followed by a discussion in which questions are
asked and comments are applied from anyone present (especially committee members
and other competing authors, or other teachers and students present).
(4) In the oral round, the following are primarily evaluated:
- General overview and mastery of the issues;
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- How the author (or the competition team) dealt with the comments made both in
the review and in the oral round;
- The way he responded to the questions raised;
- Formality of oral expression (clarity and linguistic quality of expression).
Article 9
(1) Immediately after the oral round, the committee will evaluate the results of the
competition. The committee will select the best entries; in doing so, it will determine
their order. It takes into account both the evaluation of the competition work by the
opponent and the presentation in the oral round. The number of best entries thus
determined shall normally be no more than four per section in the case of two sections,
and no more than three per section in the case of three or more sections. Exceptionally,
the Commission may select two entries for one place (split place); if it does so, it must
duly justify its decision.
(2) The authors (or competition teams) of the works selected according to the previous
paragraph will be rewarded in the individual sections (each separately) with the award
of the Dean of the Faculty of Law of MU in the form of a one-off scholarship in the amount
of CZK 9,000 for the first place in a given section, CZK 7,000 for the second place and
CZK 5,000 for the third or fourth place according to Article 9, paragraph 1, penultimate
sentence. In the event of a tie, the amount of the one-off scholarship shall be divided
equally. If the prize is awarded to a competition team, the prize is divided equally
between the co-authors. It is a condition for the award of the scholarship that the author
is enrolled as a student at the faculty at the time of the award.
(3) In addition to the Dean's Prize, competition entries may be awarded special prizes if
such prizes are announced by entities or institutions outside the Faculty. The awarding
of the special prize shall not be decided by the committee referred to in Article 9(1), but
by the body or institution which has announced the special prize. Cumulating a special
prize with a dean's prize is permissible. A special prize may also be awarded to the
author of a competition entry which has not been selected by the committee referred to
in Article 9(1).
Article 10
(1) The selection of the works advancing to the Czechoslovak Student Scientific Competition
(hereinafter referred to as the "interfaculty round") is made by the SVOČ coordinator in
agreement with the vice-dean, taking into account the results of the competition
according to paragraph 9(1), and according to the content focus of the sections of the
interfaculty round.
(2) Only authors who are enrolled as students in the study programme at the faculty at the
time of the competition may participate in the interfaculty competition. The condition for
the award of the scholarship in case of success in the interfaculty round is that the author
is enrolled as a student of the study programme at the faculty at the time of its award.
Article 11
The Vice-Dean may, if necessary, establish, after discussion in the College of the Dean of
the Faculty, other rules of a technical nature, the need for which may arise during the
competition and which will be necessary for its proper and smooth course (see in particular
Article 6 on the organisation of sections).
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Article 12
(1) The practical implementation of these guidelines is the responsibility of the JRC
Coordinator and the Science, Research and Project Support Unit. The Vice-Dean for
Science and Research is responsible for updating and monitoring this Directive.
(2) The Directive shall enter into force on 20 October 2023.
Annex: No. 1 - Opinion of the opponent of the thesis SVOČ 2023/2024
In Brno, 19 October 2023 Martin Škop
Dean
Translated with DeepL-Translator.
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Annex No. 1 to Directive No. 1/2023 of the Dean of the Faculty of Law of Masaryk
University
Opinion of the opponent of the thesis SVOČ 2023/2024
AUTHOR OF THE PAPER:
TITLE OF WORK:
THE REPORT WAS PREPARED BY:
THE PLACE AND DATE OF THE REPORT:
(note: the following structure of the report is based on Article 7(3) of the Directive of the
Dean of the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University No. 1/2023)
1. Evaluation of the topic in terms of its topicality, practical applicability (0 - 8
points)
Please insert text here.
2. Evaluation of the conception of the competition work - systematics, logical
structure, methods used, sources (0 - 12 points)
Please insert text here.
3. Content evaluation - substantive comments on the text, confrontation with
other possible opinions, overall mastery of the topic, evaluation of the conclusions
of the work, suggestions for discussion in the oral round (0 - 20 points)
Please insert text here.
4. Evaluation of the formal aspect of the competition work - language level, clarity,
graphic design and technical mastery of the text, citations (0 - 10 points)
XY
points/points
XY
points/points
XY
points/points
XY
points/points
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Please insert text here.
5. Brief summary evaluation of the competition work
Please insert text here.