Study programmes

Historical disciplines have long ranked among the high-profile, traditional fields of study at Charles University Faculty of
Arts. Their origins go back to the 18th century, when the university was the first to offer the subject of history (at the Faculty
of Law from 1741 and at the Faculty of Arts from 1774), which naturally tied in with auxiliary historical studies and
subsequently archive studies. Other subjects followed, such as prehistoric archeology, classical archeology, ethnology, Iberian
American studies, Byzantology and so forth. From the end of the 19th century history in the narrower sense started to be
combined at Charles University Faculty of Arts with general and Austrian, Czechoslovak and then Czech history. The original
professorships for these branches of study have turned into independent institutes and departments over the course of the 20th
century, complemented during the 1990s by the independent Institute of Economic and Social History. The modern form and
division of this course is a development upon this long tradition and is also the outcome of various trends in current Czech
historical studies.
The structure of the proposed subject, which is intended to be a high-profile field with a Bachelor’s course and Doctorate
studies at the Charles University Faculty of Arts, Institute of Czech History (ICH) is based on the fact that acceptance onto the
course requires an extensive knowledge of Czech and world political, economic and social history from the beginning of the
Middle Ages to the present, naturally including the basics of historical studies methodology gained from a Bachelor course.
The objective of this programme is to ensure that students not only gain a knowledge of the particular specialization associated
with their thesis, but also a broader specialist preparation and a wider view of topics related to their own specialization, thus
providing the student primarily with the necessary specialist platform to launch into academic life in the field, or a Doctorate
course, for which the student should be professionally prepared on the basis of a previous associated Master’s course. The
associated Master’s degree course History – Czech history in the European context (History – Czech History) focuses on
acquiring the knowledge and skills required for independent research into history, primarily within the specialization of Czech
history. The proposed course will significantly expand students’ knowledge of Czech history based on their selection from two
modules consisting of either early history (i.e. until about the end of the Early Modern Era, i.e. 1800), or more recent history
(from around 1800 to the present).
In its thematic conception History – Czech History focuses on the exposition and analysis of Czech and Czechoslovak history
understood not in the sense of national history, but in the sense of the history of society in the Czech lands, broadly taking in
the general developmental context of the history of Europe as a whole, with the focus on Central Europe. As regards
methodology, the course is intended to apply a broad range of research methods and procedures in line with contemporary
practice and the research profiles of those working at the Institute of Czech History, which cover practically the entire range
of methods used in Czech historical studies. Hence the curriculum also places considerable stress not only upon specific
research competence acquired through a study specialization in individual thesis and specialized seminars and other associated
subjects, but also upon students’ theoretical and methodological preparation.
History – Czech History tuition will primarily be provided by the Institute of Czech History in the mandatory section of its
curriculum. The tuition of the compulsory optional section of the curriculum will additionally involve the participation of a
number of other pedagogical academic establishments at Charles University Faculty of Arts, particularly the Department of
Auxiliary Historical Studies and Archive Studies, the Language Centre, which will provide the tuition for the complementary
and specialized subjects. Optional subjects will also be provided by another two historical institutes, the Institute of World
History and the Institute of Economic and Social History.
Another requirement for the History – Czech History course will be completion of a Bachelor’s course, primarily in history or
a related field in the Historical Sciences study programme. The applicant should show an ability to deal with the basics of
scholarly work, from heuristic skills and habits to the relevant critical abilities required by contemporary historical studies for
the comprehension of historical and social realities. This particularly involves the ability to work critically with sources and
secondary literature, as well as other sources of information, in order to independently identify, formulate and resolve research
issues arising from Bachelor coursework and the requirements of the follow-up Master’s course.
The objective of this course is to develop students’ abilities to perform specialist and scholarly work, including relevant
application in the general cultural sphere, with the emphasis on Czech history within the European context. An integral part of
the course will also be to create an awareness of the cultural role of history in a society steeped in the past within the present
(historical culture), and a substantial aspect of the associated Master’s history course is the student’s preparation for possible
continuation of studies in a Doctorate study programme. The required knowledge and skills are attained by means of the joint
foundation in the subject and a specialized course to match the thesis work selected (in the case of a single-subject course) or
the final seminar paper (in the case of a two-subject course).