Language itself is the soul and culture of a nation. (K. Čapek)

Degree programme objectives

The programme Czech Language and Literature is aimed at students interested in specialized training focused on linguistics and theoretical approaches to literature. In the extent adequate to B.A. degree, students will gain complex knowledge on contemporary Czech language and literature, an insight into their historical development and elementary knowledge of theoretical approaches to language and literature. The programme also offers numerous specialized courses providing background and perspective for possible future specialization in studies or in practice (within the linguistic orientation e.g. courses focused on dialectology, corpus linguistics, proof-reading etc., within the literary orientation e.g. courses focused on its specifics during the course of time, on fantasy, on literature for children and youth etc.). The qualification gained enriched with systematically developed readiness for professional practice will provide graduates with prerequisites for continuing the studies at the M.A. level (including the programme for future teachers) and also opens wide range of possibilities to find positions in practical life already after completing the B.A. programme. Knowledge of Czech language and literature at a professional level, the capability to use the prestigious variety of Czech for the purpose of practical communication, acquiring practical skills in work with sources of information and in creating texts provide graduates with the possibility to work in a wide range of cultural institutions and media.

The programme Czech Language and Literature offers several study plans. Students of single-subject and double-subject programmes may specialize by choosing suitable selective courses, focusing on some aspects of Czech studies from literary or linguistic points of view (the development of language, present-day codification, theories of grammar, corpus linguistics, the development of Czech literature, interpretations of fiction from viewpoints of history, theoretical approaches and criticism). The programme Czech Language and Literature includes a specialized study plan Czech for foreigners aimed at non-native speakers of Czech at high level of communication skills (B2), who strive at the complex study of Czech language and literature. Graduates with this specialization will increase their language competences to the level C2 and will also gain training providing a firm basis for further qualification in the sphere of teaching Czech as a foreign language or in the sphere of translation. This kind of B.A. study programme is not available in the Czech Republic, there is only a similar M.A. programme at the University of Ostrava.

Study plans

Admission Procedures
Admission to Bachelor's and long-cycle Master's degree programmes in 2025/2026
Submission deadline until midnight 28/2/2025

  • Information on entrance examinations designed for this degree programme
    The criteria for admission for studies are the results of the Learning Potential Test (TSP). Applicants may also be admitted based on other criteria, see Admission without the Entrance Examination. The Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University disregards the results of SCIO National Comparative Examinations.

    You can submit your e-applications for studies from 1 November to 28 February.
    The date and time of the examination will be stated in the electronic invitation for the examination, which will be uploaded to your e-application. The faculty will not be sending paper invitations.
    Applicants applying for the major study plan and minor study plan in a combined study must comply with the conditions for admission into both plans.

    Learning Potential Test (TSP)

    This test is only in Czech. For up-to-date information, click here

    Field of Study Examination

    For admission for studies of this degree programme, you do not need to take the Field of Study Examination.

    Admission without the entrance examination

    You may be exempt from the entrance examination based on at least one of the following criteria:
    1. successful participation in the regional round of Students’ Professional Activities (SOČ) in the field of study 15 - Teorie kultury, umění a umělecké tvorby. Successful applicants are considered to be those who have been ranked 1st to 3rd. In justified cases, and on the basis of an assessment of the content of the work, the above-mentioned ranking in another SIC subject may be taken into account at the applicant's request. The application must include the work in question, accompanied by a certificate from the secondary school;
    2. secondary school results in the profile subjects Czech language (not Slovak), English language and a choice of two other subjects from the following options: history, French, Italian, computer science, Latin, mathematics, German, Russian, Spanish, basic social sciences / civics.

    Secondary school results may be applied for an exemption from the entrance examination by those applicants whose average grade was 1.0 in each of the four profile subjects. The total average result in all subjects is not taken into consideration. Secondary school seminars are also disregarded. The average grade of each profile subject is calculated based on the results of the last four years of study in the following way: the mid-year grade is calculated from the final year, whereas the final grades are calculated from the previous three years. It is also necessary that applicants have studied each of the profile subjects for at least three years during the last four years.
    Enter your grades in your e-application. Then print the grades out and let your secondary school certify them with a stamp and a signature. Upload the scan of the certified grades into your e-application. You can also upload officially certified school reports or any other documents certifying your school results.
    Please upload the officially certified documents directly to your e-application in the section Application for the Exemption from the Entrance Examination no later than 28 February.

  • Evaluation criteria valid for the applicants applying for a place on this degree programme
    Limit for TSP percentile for successfully passing the entrance examination: 40

Studies

  • Objectives

    The programme Czech Language and Literature is aimed at students interested in specialized training focused on linguistics and theoretical approaches to literature. In the extent adequate to B.A. degree, students will gain complex knowledge on contemporary Czech language and literature, an insight into their historical development and elementary knowledge of theoretical approaches to language and literature. The programme also offers numerous specialized courses providing background and perspective for possible future specialization in studies or in practice (within the linguistic orientation e.g. courses focused on dialectology, corpus linguistics, proof-reading etc., within the literary orientation e.g. courses focused on its specifics during the course of time, on fantasy, on literature for children and youth etc.). The qualification gained enriched with systematically developed readiness for professional practice will provide graduates with prerequisites for continuing the studies at the M.A. level (including the programme for future teachers) and also opens wide range of possibilities to find positions in practical life already after completing the B.A. programme. Knowledge of Czech language and literature at a professional level, the capability to use the prestigious variety of Czech for the purpose of practical communication, acquiring practical skills in work with sources of information and in creating texts provide graduates with the possibility to work in a wide range of cultural institutions and media.

    The programme Czech Language and Literature offers several study plans. Students of single-subject and double-subject programmes may specialize by choosing suitable selective courses, focusing on some aspects of Czech studies from literary or linguistic points of view (the development of language, present-day codification, theories of grammar, corpus linguistics, the development of Czech literature, interpretations of fiction from viewpoints of history, theoretical approaches and criticism). The programme Czech Language and Literature includes a specialized study plan Czech for foreigners aimed at non-native speakers of Czech at high level of communication skills (B2), who strive at the complex study of Czech language and literature. Graduates with this specialization will increase their language competences to the level C2 and will also gain training providing a firm basis for further qualification in the sphere of teaching Czech as a foreign language or in the sphere of translation. This kind of B.A. study programme is not available in the Czech Republic, there is only a similar M.A. programme at the University of Ostrava.

  • Learning Outcomes

    After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

    • to have a good command of written and spoken form of Standard Czech;
    • to have a good command of general linguistic terminology and to apply it when analysing specific language phenomena of language;
    • to use relevant sources of information relating to the subject of study (corpuses, databases, dictionaries and works of compendial character);
    • to prove elementary knowledge of the historical development of Czech (including its projection into the territorial stratification of Czech), to know its historical and comparative Slavonic basis;
    • to prove complex knowledge of the development of Czech literature from its beginnings to the early 21st ct.;
    • to get orientated in contemporary theoretical approaches to literature;
    • to acquire the terminology of theoretical approaches to literature and to interpret literary texts using methods presented in classes;
    • to write scholarly texts in accordance with academic standards.
    • Graduates with the specialization Czech for Foreigners will be able to communicate in oral and written forms of Czech in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, C2 level.
    • Graduates with the specialization Czech for Foreigners will be able to think about Czech language and Czech literature in an intercultural perspective.
    • Graduates with the specialization Czech for Foreigners will be able to apply elementary techniques of translation in an intercultural communication.

  • Occupational Profiles of Graduates

    Graduates from the single-subject B.A. programme can find positions in a wide scale of occupations where expert knowledge of Czech language and literature is required. They are able to work in media, in publishing houses and in other cultural institutions, in state administration and in the private sphere as experts ready for a wide range of work with texts, for communication with the public, for organizing events etc. Graduates form the double-subject programme can find a wider scale of positions, in relation to the other subject (e.g. in relation to journalism as editors in media, in relation to foreign languages as experts in specialized positions in publishing houses or in PR etc.). Graduates from the specialization Czech for foreigners are able to work as experts in representative offices of their home countries in the Czech Republic as well as in representative offices of the Czech Republic abroad, as language experts in private companies or in cultural institutions focused on international cooperation.

  • Goals of Theses

    Instructions relating to formal aspects of a B.A. thesis, its minimum extent and the procedure of submitting follow current instructions of Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University. A B.A. thesis is focused on a partial aspect from the sphere of linguistics or literary studies, corresponding with issues dealt with within the B.A. programme Czech Language and Literature. A B.A. thesis is usually based on empirical research (exceptions must be approved by the supervisor). Students are s expected to prove their capability to work critically with scholarly sources, to process concepts and theoretical approaches found in the sources, to find relevant answers to assigned questions, to follow the norm relating to how sources are quoted and to process formal aspects of the thesis in accordance with requirements of the particular discipline and with scholarly standards.

  • Access to Further Studies

    After fulfilling conditions for an admission, graduates from the B.A. programme are able to continue with an M.A. programme focused on Czech studies at various universities.

Basic information

Abbreviation
B-CJ_
Type
Bachelor's degree programme
Profile
academic
Degree
Bc.
Length of studies
3 years
Language of instruction
Czech Czech

90
estimated number of admitted
312
number of active students
102
number of theses/dissertations

Faculty of Arts
Programme guaranteed by
Programme guarantor