Information and recommendations for the 2019-2020 academic year schedule at AMU

Dear colleagues and students,

Kindly permit me in this manner to thank you for your work in the current extraordinary situation. Distance learning is not a common model for art school pedagogues and students, and for this reason I take great pride in the focus, honesty and inventiveness with which we are collectively approaching the task of carrying out our academic and professional duties.

It is evident that through this extraordinary effort it will be possible to complete certain subjects within the standard timeline. Other subjects will require some additional time, however, in particular creative exercises and artistic creative subjects. By agreement with the Deans of the faculties, the AMU Management has therefore decided to extend the semester. This will make it possible to complete all clausura outputs in such a way that you will be able to prepare them in the standard manner.

The department heads and programme guarantors are currently facing many challenging decisions, and are thus also deserving of my gratitude for their concrete proposals.

I communicate on a daily basis with the Vice-Rectors and Deans, and we are continuously consulting a range of issues with representatives of the Ministry of Education. I sense great determination on all sides and am certain that we will overcome the situation together and get through this difficult period. We will keep you informed as the situation develops.

Please direct your attention to the information below.

doc. Jan Hančil

Information and recommendations for the 2019-2020 academic year schedule at AMU

• With all likelihood, the period of instruction for the Summer Semester 2019-2020 will be extended by c. two months, but no later than through 31 July 2020. This maximal extension will be implemented by a change to the academic year schedule at the AMU-wide level. At the same time, the faculties will modify their respective faculty schedules according to their needs.
• Instruction in many subjects which is currently being carried out online more or less according to the standard timeline can be completed in accordance with the original schedule, and assessment can begin at any time.
• Examinations can be carried out remotely provided that it is possible to verify the student’s identity unambiguously and indisputably; any in-person examination can also be substituted by a written work or other assignment formulated in a timely manner, as the case may be, or – if possible on the basis of the student’s work during the semester and during the state of emergency – by a summary grade for the student’s continuous activities.
• The examination period for the Summer Semester 2019-2020 will be extended during the month of September, and the dates for registration into higher class years will be extended as well.
• The deadline for submitting theses will be extended by each faculty according to its specific needs. Faculties and departments will also determine the form and schedule of graduate performances if such performances are part of state final examinations.
• Changes in the dates of state final examinations will be made at the discretion of the Deans, department heads and academic programme guarantors. However, it is NOT possible to sit for such examinations remotely. In problematic cases, we recommend that students sit for state final examinations during the autumn examination period.
• The manner in which students shall fulfil their duties in creative artistic subjects (required main subjects) shall be set by the faculty; in so doing, faculties may consider alternative assignments, the fulfilment of which requires comparable learning but which can be completed under the current restrictions.
• Faculty libraries shall monitor any expansion of access to the digital collections of libraries and archives, as well as electronic resources (scholarly databases); this information should be posted and regularly updated on their web pages. 
• AMU is also of the opinion that fees for extended studies assessed during the state of emergency should not be collected; AMU therefore supports the central initiative of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports consisting in legislative changes and technical updates to records in the central matriculation database (SIMS). Information on this issue will be updated on a continuous basis.
• In connection with the present situation and financial impacts on self-employed artists, AMU would like to draw your attention to the availability of interest-free loans from the AMU Social Fund of up to CZK 10,000 for employees who find themselves in a burdensome or crisis situation. More detailed terms for the provision and administration of such loans are available in Guideline of the Bursar No. 2/2018 on https://www.amu.cz/cs/uredni-deska/predpisy/smernice-kvestora/.