student SERVICES, PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

Doc. JUDr. Zdeňka Gregorová, CSc., Vice-Rector

1. ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation is one of the most important supplementary MU activities that create social structure for students. MU therefore pays a lot of attention to this issue, continuing to extend accommodation possibilities for students in the buildings it administers, as well as helping to arrange accommodation through other sources.

In the academic year 2001/2002, the Housing and Catering Administration  provided accommodation for MU students in the following buildings:

1. 1 MU Halls of Residence

 

The total housing capacity of the student halls of residence in 2001/2002 was decreased by 19 beds to comply with hygienic standards specifying the maximum number of beds per room. Six-bed rooms at Tvrdého were converted to four-bed rooms, and one eight-bed room at the Mánesova residence was converted to a four-bed room.

 

On the other hand, 3 new residential units were built at Vinařská residence for a total of 12 persons, and four beds at Sladkého residence were adapted for handicapped students confined to a wheelchair. In 2001, no disabled student applied for accommodation. Only four visually impaired female students were accommodated at Kounicova residence.

 

At the beginning of the academic year, the university was offered accommodation for students by the private residence at Staňkova Street in Brno. That option was offered to 50 MU students by the Housing and Catering Administration.

 

Because 200 out of the 2045 students of 2nd to 5th year of study did not appear for the compulsory preliminary accommodation, students of 1st year were allocated 1400 beds in the first round and 290 more beds in the second round. In spite of that, 240 of the students on waiting list allocated a bed did not turn up on 30 September, which was the date set for the taking of residence.

 

Unoccupied beds were allocated in the course of the year on the basis of the waiting list compiled on the basis of an updated list of applications.

Out of the total number of 16,135 students of full-time day study, 27% of students were accommodated to the beginning of the academic year, and out of the total number of 7,518 applications submitted for accommodation in a student residence, 58% of the applications were met.

 

For the academic year 2001/2002, the same uniform criteria for the allocation of beds in student residences were approved as those in the previous year. The basic criterion was the travel time from the applicant's place of permanent residence to Brno reported to the Students Affairs Office. Additional criteria included social conditions of the student. Regardless of the commutation time, all members of the Residence Board, holders of disability certificates and complete orphans were given accommodation at the halls of residence. Doctoral programme students and international students (with the exception of Slovak students) were given a bonus of 500 points. During the 2001 summer holidays, Internet connections on the first and second floors of all three blocks of the Vinařská residence were installed in the first round of the Internet installations there.

 

1. 2  Use of available accommodation capacity

 

 

1.3  Structure of accommodation capacity available at MU between 1993 and 2002

UoT = University of Technology Brno                                          CCDN = Czech Congregation of Dominican Nuns

MA = Military Academy

 

2. CATERING SERVICES

The Housing and Catering Administration provided catering services to students and staff at three cafeterias, one food counter at Klácelova street and in cafeterias where hot ready meals as well as made-to-order dishes were served – at the Faculty of Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, and Kounicova and Vinařská residences.

The food counter at 5 bří Žůrků was not operated at the beginning of the academic year because of little interest on the part of students.

 

In addition to basic catering services, the cafeteria staff also provide party catering services for big school events. The preparation of their hot and buffet dishes is of high professional standards.

 

Official events, lunches, parties, banquet catering for:

Moravské nám. cafeteria Rector, Vice-Rectors and Deans of Faculties, Universitas Masarykiana Foundation, Bronze Symposium, Luncheon on the occasion of the visit of the US Ambassador, Ceremonial opening of the Morphological Centre, Garden Party, Summer School of Slavic Studies, etc.

Veveří cafeteria Dieas academicus MU, ELSA, Junior Club of Christian democrats, Left-Wing Clubs for Women, etc.

 

Vinařská cafeteria Ceremonial luncheons, parties, refreshments for the Faculty of Economics and Administration, Conference of Czech Librarians, Czech Nurse Association, Association of General Practitioners, KAP CZ, Chamber of Stomatology, MSVB etc.

 

1. 4         Maximum daily capacities of MU cafeterias

 

 

1.5   Number of meals served at MU cafeterias (excluding party catering)

 

 

1.6   Care for Students – accommodation, meals

3.  ADVISORY SERVICE

While it is true that the primary mission of Masaryk University as a public institutions of higher education, and the very reason for its existence, is to organize educational services and to expand research and development activities, MU also provides a number of other activities that are an integral part of the nature of higher education. These include advisory service for students. The Higher Education Act stipulates that schools of higher learning must provide applicants for study, students and other individuals with study-related information and advisory service, and on the possibilities its graduates in practice.  The Advisory Centre of MU ("AC MU") is the body that has been organising and guaranteeing practical advisory service for several years now.

In 2001, the activities of AC MU focused on providing services in the fields of academic, professional, legal and psychological counselling. The service was provided to all students of Masaryk University, to its staff, secondary school graduates interested in study at MU, and graduates. Students may contact ACMU by phone, e-mail or in person. The activities of AC MU can be divided into three parts:

Psychological Counselling Centre of AC MU ("PCC AC MU"). In 2001, the demand for this type of counselling increased by 30% in comparison to 2000. A total number of 240 clients of the Centre used different types of psychological counselling provided. These trends are intensifying and that is why the Centre remained open for business during summer vacations for the second consecutive year (even if with limited services only). This overall increase may have several reasons:

• A visit at a psychological counselling centre or a psychologist has lost some of the stigma of "abnormality", which, however, still persists in the society

• University study is more and more demanding and students need the help of specialists to deal with stress factors that affect them

• PCC AC MU has developed a good reputation in the course of its existence and students address it with increasing trust.

The Centre has a team of psychologists working there full time. Although problems they have to deal with may be divided into problems related to study, private life or relationships, in many cases such classifications is meaningless, because sessions with clients are of a comprehensive therapeutic and consulting nature, often with characteristics of a fairly long psychological therapy. Work with clients on the resolution of their problems ranges from individual consultations to more regular and frequent sessions.

The above situation should not be considered a handicap, for the fact that MU offers to its students a safe environment for communicating and sharing their problems is perceived as a very positive fact by, e.g., students of the first year with adaptation problems, also because the Centre is a part of "their" university.

A standard part of PCC AC MU activities has always been the organisation of "group sessions". The year 2001 was not very favourable for this type of service and it is question whether they are to be organized next year. The decision is an exclusive responsibility of PCC AC MU psychologists and its external psychologists who organise individual group sessions. There was a definite mismatch between the demand and supply. The explanation might be found in a similar trends ascertained at universities abroad where clients seem to feel that their needs are adequately met in individual sessions, and group sessions are therefore organized only if needed. The PCC AC MU is ready to organize such sessions to meet all kinds of needs, from skill-oriented (self-presentation, entrance interviews, CV writing) to experience-oriented ones.

Although the team of psychologists is made up of external psychologists only, it follows in its works the regulations and standards common for other psychological centres. The team not only assesses individual cases at its regular meetings, but the members of the team also seek further education and training in their respective fields of interest, governed by the efforts to provide the best possible services to their clients.

Personal data of the clients are carefully protected and, in order to increase the effectiveness of PCC AC MU activities, plans have been developed for the transfer of the client management system to the MU Information System, with a particular emphasis on the protection of privacy for our clients.

For a better presentation of PCC AC MU activities, a new web site was opened at www.rect.muni.cz/pcentrum.

Study and professional counselling: The principal mission of these activities of the Centre is to provide information on jobs available on the labour market and about study options offered by the University, to make analyses of personal profiles using the Thomas system to study a person's ability to perform a certain job, to organize meeting called Trade Fair of Graduates, and lectures and questionnaire surveys. The Centre organised lectures on practical issues of commencement of job, employment contract characteristics, specifics of entrance examinations and interviews, correct CV writing, and adequate methods of communicating with potential employers.

The Trade Fair of Graduates, an integral activity of the PCC AC MU, was organised again in 2001 in cooperation with UoT, IAESTE and ELSA. The event was attended by 62 companies and 3,500 students. The programme of accompanying events included presentations of the companies in the university hall. A catalogue "Guide to the Fair" was also published. The students were given a chance to meet their potential future employers, try job interviews, see the environment of the companies and learn about the requirements that labour markets placed on graduates.

The PCC AC MU organised a series of lectures for MU students on stress situations in student life, their causes and consequences for performance and health of students. In addition, the Centre held a seminar on practical skills for the managing different life situations and a seminar on how to prepare for a stay at a university abroad. The presentation of the "EUROMANAGER" project informed students about the international competition of students and managers whose participants are to manage a virtual company. In 2001, PCC AC MU received funds of the Higher Education Development Fund for a sociological research into the "Application of information about placements of MU graduates in the practice of the Advisory Centre of MU". The project is part of the Theme E topics: University libraries, advisory and information centres The empirical part of the research is based on an extensive questionnaire surveys of graduates in a period of four years from 1997 to 2000 from five-year and six-year Master full-time day degree programmes of the eight MU faculties. The basic group consisted of MU graduates permanently residing in the Czech Republic, i.e. 6,492 graduates. Because of limited funding for the research, 5,500 graduates were selected as the definite target group. Questionnaires were distributed and collected by post. A total of 3,347 completed questionnaires were returned by the completion date, which represented the return rate of 62.8 %.

Legal counselling: This part of the counselling services is provided at request, without any fixed opening hours, according to clients' needs. The initial contact is by phone or e-mail. Answers are mostly provided by e-mail. In the case of more complicated problems, a meeting in the office of the Advisory Centre is organized.

The issues dealt with include: the legal status of a student in employment relationships, tax liabilities of gainfully-employed students (work, study, taxes), social security payments (health, old-age pension and other types of insurance), execution of contracts, copyright contracts, trade certificates, assistance in registering a student journal, assistance in founding a civil association, assistance in a claim settlement, liability claim settlements, social benefits, civil service alternatives to military service.

Number of clients:

In 2001, AC MU services were used by 1,120 clients.

Study and professional consultancy – 799 clients, Psychological counselling centre – 241 clients,

Legal advisory centre – 81 clients.

AC MU cooperates with advisory centres of Czech schools of higher education (there are 9 of them attached to Rectors' offices), Labour Offices, Information and Counselling Centre in Prague, Centre for Higher Education, National Education Fund, Academic Information Centre, student organisations IAESTE, ELSA, representatives of companies offering jobs to fresh graduates or to students, and the recruitment centre of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic.

 

4. CARE OF HANDICAPPED STUDENTS

Part of the mission of MU as a public institute for higher education is creation of conditions for study of handicapped students.

The specialised Assistance Centre for the Blind and Visually Impaired Students ("Centre") was opened as a part of student services office in 2000. The activities of the Centre are carried out in close cooperation with the Faculty of Informatics of MU, which provides rooms and technical equipment for the Centre's operations.

The Centre's principal tasks include the following areas:

•  methodological and legal services, whereby the Centre cooperates with headmasters of secondary schools, student affairs offices of faculties, and teachers to offer to prospective students qualified information about the perspectives and possibilities of the individual degree programmes, prepares technical pre-requisites for entrance examinations, creates conditions for an adequate engagement of the students in study programmes including access to printed information, and oversees the inclusion of special conditions necessary for the visually-impaired students into the internal MU regulations;

• spatial orientation, whereby the Centre provides information to the students about access routes, provides for their accompaniment, and proposes changes to the exterior and the interior layouts to make them useable by visually-impaired students;

• digitisation and library services: the Centre systematically builds a digital library of study materials to cover entire disciplines, provides for haptic printing of digitized materials, materials for written examinations, certificates and official correspondence;

• haptic and acoustic informatics, where the Centre provides software equipment for support of the study of visually impaired students.

In the year 2001, the Centre assisted regular study of 15 visually impaired students. For that purpose, the Centre organized 10 semesters of compulsory lectures, made 700 textbooks accessible for the visually impaired students (in printed and electronic formats) and extended the seating capacity of the university study room for blind students to a total of 7 seats. 

 

The Centre plays a major role in life-long education of visually impaired students and the general public. To further this important activity, the Centre received a purpose-specific subsidy for 2001 from the Educational Policies Fund of the Ministry of Education. The 2001 programmes of life-long education focused on:

A.      Academic programmes for prospective university students that contribute to equalizing the conditions for visually-impaired students in the admission proceedings with special attention to:

1.        Information technologies for the visually impaired.

2.        Foreign languages and literature for the visually impaired

3.        Basic mathematics at schools of higher learning for the visually impaired.

B.            Non-academic programmes for older applicants aimed at enhancing the role of visually impaired in professional and social situations, with special attention paid to:

1.        Information technology for the visually impaired

2.        Foreign languages and literature for the visually impaired

3.        European read-by-touch literature

A total of 44 students and other interested parties attended the life-long education courses.

The Centre also takes part in other activities leading to the improvement and extension of its services. In 2001, the Centre presented the results of its activities at 2 international conferences (Innsbruck, Hradec Králové), helped organize a tactile exhibition called "Possible Communications" and held by the Moravian Gallery in Brno, acted as a national organizer of the Czech participation in the international computer camp held by the Linz University under the auspices of the EU in Slovenia.

The activity of the Centre is mainly financed from purpose-specific grants of the Educational Policies Fund of the Ministry of Education, but it also has a number of other sources, such as projects of the Higher Education Development Fund, sponsoring and others.

 

b) Care of students with other disabilities

In 2001, MU was attended by 35 disabled students whose study required special personal assistance, interpreting into the sign language, and involved extra expenses on teaching aids. The care of the students was organized by the faculties where the students attended classes, also with the help of the funds of the Educational Policies Fund of the Ministry of Education. As a part of its maintenance and construction work in the university buildings and the campus, MU endeavours to create the best possible conditions for the study of the disabled.

 

5. SCHOLARSHIPS

Scholarships

One of the areas important for the setting up of favourable social conditions for study at a university is the financial assistance to students that helps them finance their studies and cover their study-related expenses.

 

Scholarships in 2001 were awarded in accordance with MU and individual faculties rules for their award. Rules for the award of scholarships provide for scholarships to be paid to full-time students of all accredited degree programmes. MU as the entire entity does not award any scholarships because it has no students, and it may only give cash prizes to the best students of the individual faculties.

 

When taking a general view of the issue of scholarships, the high costs of the system should also be taken into account, which are partly provided by state subsidies, and partly from other sources of the university and its individual faculties. The difficult economic situation of the country and of Masaryk University and its faculties manifests itself also in the fact of limited internal sources for scholarships, and that no other source for scholarship financing really exists, i.e. that scholarship cannot be financed from student tuition fees to be collected pursuant to Article 58, Par. 7 of Schools of Higher Education Act.

 

In 2001 the following scholarships were paid by MU and individual faculties:

a)       for excellent study results

b)       for creative achievement

c)       social needs

d)       special scholarships

e)       doctoral scholarships

f)        scholarships to international students

g)       scholarships for travel abroad.

 

A purpose-specific subsidy was received for scholarships e) and f) from the state budget. For the total volume of scholarships paid, see Table 1.

 

 

Tab. 1

               

Scholarships were given either as one-off payments, or in the form of regular payments. The larger amount of money allocated to doctoral scholarships compared with the relatively small number of doctoral programme students is due to the fact that their scholarships are obligatory payments and as such covered by a subsidy from the Ministry of Education, and those scholarships are considerably higher than other scholarship types.

 

When tuition fees are full introduced and are  consistently allocated to the scholarship funds, the award of scholarships will get to a much broader base. New resources of scholarship funding may also include some special purpose-specific allocations from the EU, grants and additional activities of the University.

 

 

1.   PHYSICAL TRAINING, SPORTING, ARTISTIC AND OTHER ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS

 

As far as it is possible, MU creates conditions for leisure-time activities and hobbies of its students. Reconstructions of the halls of residence included a reconstruction of the outside areas for recreational sports and physical activities of students. Sporting activities at halls of residence are being developed in cooperation with the Department of Physical Training of MU.

 

MU has also a sports club whose members are primarily MU students, but also students from other schools of higher education.

 

MU also has several choirs that may compete for the title of MU Choir: In 2001, this honorary title was given to the Gaudeamus Choir, with Mr Vacek as its choirmaster.

 

 

PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES

Head: Milada Bajerová

Masaryk University is the holder of the publishing licence. In the framework of that licence and on the basis of editorial plans of its individual faculties and the MU Editorial Board, the MU Publishing Centre published 313 non-periodical publications (inclusive reprints). Fifty-three per cent of that were lecture materials (168) and textbooks, and 47% scientific publications and proceedings (145), an increase of 31 items compared with the year 2000 when Masaryk University was ranked 4th among Czech book publishers in the number of the books published, and the 9th in the number of published brochures.

 

In 2001, university publishing activities received a 900 000 CZK subsidy from the Ministry of Education. The sum was used to cover the costs of publishing university-wide publications (the Czech version of MU Annual Report for 2000, and the periodicals Universitas – MU Revue, and University Papers). Besides, the MU Publishing Centre supported the publication of student journals prepared by the student associations active at MU (Medic on line, Halas, Netřesk, Mléko (Young Economist), Octopus, Vstupte bez klepání, Sborovna). On the basis of the decision of the Editorial Board of MU, the costs of publications of selected works by faculty staff members were also financed from the same source, especially those with a wider extra-faculty readership (e.g. the periodically published Histories of individual disciplines at the FoS, the memorial volume to celebrate the birthday of the significant linguist Professor Hauser, and a publication about Professor Weyr published in cooperation with the Universitas Masarykiana Foundation). The same source was used to support the publication of foreign language brochures and yearbooks. The subsidy was also used to finance the participation of the MU Publishing Centre at the international trade fair "World of Book 2001", where all institutions of higher education of the Czech Republic jointly demonstrated their publishing achievements. The use of the subsidy was based on decisions by the Editorial Board of MU.

 

If the Ministry of Education subsidy is not taken into account, the financial performance of the MU Publishing Centre was balanced, and its final figures for 2001 in the black. Most of the MU Publishing Centre revenues (about 88%) came from its core activity, and the remaining 12 % from other commercial activities. The operating costs of the Centre include salaries, insurance and fixed capital depreciations.

 

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Head: RNDr. Jana Pilátová

On 1 September 2001, the Public Relations Office of the Rector's Office of MU became part of the student services and public relations section. The responsibilities of the Public Relations Office include cooperation with the academic and the general public, City of Brno authorities, publicity agencies, sponsors and partner companies. The department mainly focuses on the external presentation of Masaryk University, and building an overall positive image of the University in relation to other institutions of higher education in Brno, in the Czech Republic and abroad. The Office represented MU at meetings and events organized by the City of Brno authorities in the "Brno – University City" project.

Presentations, organized by the Public Relations Office or events in which it was significantly involved in 2001 included:

• 2nd Concert Ball of Masaryk University

• Visit of the Slovak President Rudolf Schuster at MU

• Presentation of MU at Exhibition of Post-Secondary Education in Vienna

• Dies academicus brunensis 2001

• International conference on NATO in cooperation with the US Embassy

• Concerts of the Academic Series in cooperation with the State Philharmonic of Brno

• Joint concert of University choir and Viennese University choir

• Visit of the Parliamentary Council for Education, Culture, Youth and Sports at MU

• Seminar on low-energy buildings

• Meetings with deputies and senators

• Garden Party of Masaryk University

• Ceremonial opening of the Anatomic Institute of the FoM – Morphological Centre

• Ceremonial opening of Teaching Centre of MU on the premises of the former Moravian Library

• Ceremonial opening of the newly reconstructed building of CFE in Šlapanice

• Visit of Mr. Craig Stapleton, Ambassador of U.S.A. to the CR, at Masaryk University

• Presentation of MU at the Post-Secondary Education exhibition in Salzburg

• Meeting of MU management with sponsors and business partners

• Concert by the Hradišťan Ensemble organised in cooperation with UoT

• Advent concert of MU featuring Gaudeamus choir and held in the Old Brno Church

Press conferences of MU – Public Relations Office organized regular contacts with the media. Regular press conferences of MU were held quarterly. A briefing was held on the occasion of the International Conference on NATO (organized in cooperation with the City of Brno authorities), a short press conference was held on the occasion of the MU Garden Party, and another special press conference was held at the ceremonial opening of the Anatomic Institute of the FoM in Brno – Bohunice.

In addition to holding press conferences, the Office regularly submitted information on major MU activities to the CTK, and other media.

Publication activities are an integral part of the Office activities

• Annual Report of Masaryk University (Czech and English versions, also published on the web)

• MU calendar of important events (Czech and English versions, also published on the web)

• Set of brochures about individual faculties of MU (English version)

• Folder about MU and its faculties (English version)

• Wall calendar of Masaryk University (Czech and English versions)

• New Year greetings

• Invitations and posters for MU events

The Public Relations Office cooperated with University Papers: it regularly prepared the Academic News column, submitted articles to the Papers on important event or materials for articles on such events. Photographs for the University Papers were prepared on a monthly basis and the Papers were distributed according to the subscription list.

PR Department was responsible for photographs from all important events held at MU, photographs for the use by Rector's Office and individual faculties, and for the monitoring of dailies and weeklies.

PR Department was responsible for cooperation with the Gaudeamus Choir of MU. The cooperation consisting mainly in ongoing supervising the use of funds allocated to the Choir, participating in the organisation of the Choir's concerts, and the preparation of the Choir's publicity materials. The Office helped establish partnership links with the Viennese University Choir and choirs of other European universities. The Christmas concerts of the Gaudeamus Choir at the Czech Embassy in Vienna and at the Vienna Town Hall were a great success.

Translating and interpreting services in the English language at events organized by the Public Relations Office, the Rector's Office or the MU Choir were organized in cooperation with the BOKS Company. The staff members themselves were responsible for French and German correspondence, and for translating and interpreting in French and German.

Public Relations Office also organized marketing and fundraising activities for official presentations of Masaryk University, publishing activities, execution of advertising agreements and subsequent invoicing in cooperation with the accounting department. In 2001, about CZK 300,000 were raised.

Congress Centre of Masaryk University

A part of the Public Relations Office, although situated at the FoM MU. The Office was responsible for its smooth operation, especially for the operation of the audio-visual equipment during events organized by MU faculties, MU institutions, or by some external organisations. In the spring semester, the Congress Centre was available from Thursdays to Sundays, and in the autumn semester from Wednesdays to Sundays.

The Public Relations Office tried to attract new clients to use the university Congress Centre for their events, and it supervised the proper use of the Congress Centre, and was also responsible for administering the Centre's operation.

In dealing with operating issues at the Congress Centre, the Office cooperated with the FoM secretary and the FoM premises administrator.

The total financial income from Congress Centre leases was 131,390 CZK, of which the FoM received 57,450 CZK for their overhead expenses related to the Centre's operation.