The chart showing the most desirable fields of study at Czech colleges has remained practically unchanged for a number of years: 1. Art, 2. Film, 3. Theatre, 4. Music, 5. Law, 6. Medicine, 7. Pharmacy, 8. Philosophy, 9. Architecture and design, 10. Economics.
JUDr. and MUDr. – these are two titles, acquisition and the subsequent opportunity of carrying out the profession of lawyer or physician, which are most desirable among young people. This is evidenced by the annual onslaught of applicants during entrance examinations at colleges that provide tuition in these fields. The places available at these schools have been fewer than the number of applicants for many years.
Every year more than ten thousand young people apply to Faculties of Law, of which there are only four in the country – in
Prague,
Brno, Pilsen and
Olomouc – and more than three quarters of these applicants will not be accepted.
Medicine and pharmacy are also very desirable fields of study. Similarly to law, studies in medicine and pharmacy is only available at public universities in this country. Charles university has five faculties of medicine – in Prague the
1st Faculty of Medicine,
2nd Faculty of Medicine and the
3rd Faculty of Medicine and one each in
Pilsen and
Hradec Králové – and courses in this field are also available at universities in
Brno0 and
Olomouc1. Pharmacy can only be studied in
Hradec Králové2 and at the
Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Faculty in Brno3. The chances of acceptance by individual medical and pharmaceutical faculties range from between 23-40%.
There is an even smaller probability of acceptance by a university for students who wish to study one of the fields of art. There are many more applicants interested in art, film, theatre and music than there are available places for students at schools. For instance the
Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague4, which teaches photography or graphic design, only accepts ten percent of its applicants every year. There is a similar volume of interest during talent examinations and entrance examinations at the
Faculty of Fine Arts at the Brno Technical University7. A number of subjects at this school are also taught in English.
Practically every larger town in the Czech Republic has a college at which economic science is taught. There are forty public and private colleges here to which students can apply to study in one of the fields of economics, management or business enterprise. This means that there is a much higher chance of acceptance (50%), but this does not mean that the high number of graduates will then find it hard to find employment after completing their studies. Every year applicants are most interested in the
National Economics Faculty6 at the University of Economics in Prague. But only a quarter of the applicants are accepted. Prof. Ing. Václav Klaus, CSc. the president of the Czech Republic, is also a member of the scientific committee of the faculty. He has regularly held a course titled “The principles of economic thinking” here since 2005.
It is said that there is nothing easier then getting accepted by a Technical College. A number of these accept students simply on the basis of good marks achieved at secondary schools, entrance examinations are frequently not held at all. Schools accept thousands of “first-year students” but many of these do not succeed in advancing to their second year. However the situation is the opposite in fields that concern architecture and design at these schools. Only every third applicant is usually accepted for studies here.