Program Overview
Program Overview
Home to a rapidly evolving media landscape, Prague is the perfect city to examine the changing nature of contemporary media culture.
Enrolling directly at the most prestigious university in Prague you’ll develop a deeper literacy about global communication trends, while exploring the complexities of contemporary life in the Czech Republic.
Study abroad in Prague and you will:
- Enjoy a weekly guest lecture series featuring local artists, filmmakers, political figures, and philosophers discussing contemporary, issues, art, and media topics
- Deepen your understanding of the Czech Republic with various historic and cultural excursions around Prague and the surrounding area
The CIEE Difference
The CIEE Difference
COURSEWORK
Take your pick from a variety of courses that investigate society and communication in both national and global contexts. Look at exciting developments and challenges of International Reporting; study Czech Cinema; or explore the role and impact of international and domestic media on political developments in Central Europe, in Social Power of Media
CULTURAL IMMERSION
Immerse yourself in the Prague culture by going on excursions with CIEE in Prague. You’ll have the opportunity to visit place such as media companies, radio stations, and take an overnight trip with a specific focus on communications and the Czech film industry. You will also be able to take advantage of volunteer opportunities and interest groups that will help you become more integrated into Prague culture and society.
Dates, Deadlines & Fees
Dates, Deadlines & Fees
We want to make sure you get the most out of your experience when you study abroad with CIEE, which is why we offer the most inclusions in our fees.
- Tuition and housing
- Pre-departure advising and optional on-site airport meet and greet
- Full-time program leadership and support
- Field trips and cultural activities
- CIEE iNext travel card which provides insurance and other travel benefits
Please note, program dates are subject to change. Please contact your CIEE Study Abroad Advisor before purchasing airfare. Click the
button to view more detailed information about dates and fees as well as estimated additional costs. Please talk with your University Study Abroad Advisor about additional fees that may be charged by your home institution when participating in a program abroad.
Application Due
Start Date
End Date
Costs
Summer 2014 Session I
04/01/2014
TBA
TBA
Program Date Notes
Program Fees
This breakdown has been prepared from the program budget for the purpose of calculating eligibility for financial aid. During the course of program operations, actual figures may vary. It should not, therefore, be used as a basis for calculation of refunds. CIEE reserves the right to adjust fees at any time.
Students required to study on CIEE programs through a School of Record will be charged a $340 administrative fee in addition to the Program Fees listed.
Estimated Additional Costs
The estimated additional costs indicated are intended to assist students and parents in budgeting for those additional living and discretionary expenses not included in the program fee. Actual expenses will vary according to student interests and spending habits.
Summer 2014 Session II
04/01/2014
TBA
TBA
Program Date Notes
Program Fees
This breakdown has been prepared from the program budget for the purpose of calculating eligibility for financial aid. During the course of program operations, actual figures may vary. It should not, therefore, be used as a basis for calculation of refunds. CIEE reserves the right to adjust fees at any time.
Students required to study on CIEE programs through a School of Record will be charged a $340 administrative fee in addition to the Program Fees listed.
Estimated Additional Costs
The estimated additional costs indicated are intended to assist students and parents in budgeting for those additional living and discretionary expenses not included in the program fee. Actual expenses will vary according to student interests and spending habits.
Summer 2014 Session I, II
04/01/2014
TBA
TBA
Program Date Notes
Program Fees
This breakdown has been prepared from the program budget for the purpose of calculating eligibility for financial aid. During the course of program operations, actual figures may vary. It should not, therefore, be used as a basis for calculation of refunds. CIEE reserves the right to adjust fees at any time.
Students required to study on CIEE programs through a School of Record will be charged a $340 administrative fee in addition to the Program Fees listed.
Estimated Additional Costs
The estimated additional costs indicated are intended to assist students and parents in budgeting for those additional living and discretionary expenses not included in the program fee. Actual expenses will vary according to student interests and spending habits.
Eligibility
Recommended Credit
Recommended Credit
Course contact hours are 45 hours and recommended credit is 3-4 semester/4.5-6 quarter hours per session.
Program Requirements
Program Requirements
All students must take the CIEE Czech language course and CIEE Internship, and at least three additional electives, two of which must have a focus in communications, media, or journalism.
About the City
About The City
Because of its innumerable characteristic steeples, Prague is called the city of a thousand spires. This EU member is a perfect example of the steady development of a society which recently transitioned from its communist past. With a population of only 1.2 million, Prague has an unusually rich cultural life—festivals, operas, concerts, and cultural programs, many of which are accessible on a student budget. Study abroad students experience life similar to that of Czech students and make use of numerous neighborhoods in the city like native Praguers.
Meet The Staff
Meet The Staff
Amanda Bell
Amanda Bell received her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Michigan State University. Amanda first lived in the Czech Republic as a Rotary Youth Exchange scholarship recipient and has lived and worked in Prague for several years.
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Jana Cemusova
Jana Čemusová heads the CIEE Study Center in Prague, leading study abroad programs, customized partnerships with Charles University and other educational institutions. She served as a Student Services Director from 2008 to 2011. Prior to joining CIEE in a full-time position, Jana gained extensive experience with CIEE students through her many years of teaching and leading Czech language instruction through the CIEE Study Center at Charles University.
Jana has teaching experience as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Kansas, expertise in training language teachers, and leading projects in immigrant communities. She served as a chair of Association of Czech Teachers Teaching Czech as a Foreign Language in 2003 – 2009.
Jana is a double graduate at the Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Philosophy, where she studied Theory of Culture (Anthropology) and Czech Language and Creative Studies at the Faculty of Education.
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Veronika Tobiasova
Veronika works for the CIEE Study Center in Prague as a Housing Coordinator and she is mainly responsible for housing management (dorm, apartments, homestay), solving student issues, Flat Buddy Program, Meet Czech Families and Friends, CIEE promotion, greening, etc.
Veronika received her Master’s degree in English and American Studies and Spanish Philology at Charles University in Prague, with specialization in American and Argentinean literature. During high school, she was an exchange student in Madison, WI for one year. She also studied at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain for a year.
Her previous working experience includes teaching both English and Spanish in different language schools and a high school in Prague. She also worked for a trade promotion agency and Peruvian Embassy.
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Eva Tomiskova
Eva Tomišková works for the CIEE Study Center in Prague as a Program Assistant and her main responsibilities involve orientation, academic trips planning, volunteering program coordination, site visit planning, catering and overall office management.
Eva is a graduate of The Technical University in Liberec, the Faculty of Education, with major in Social studies and English language.
Prior to joining CIEE, Eva gained extensive experience in human recourses and educational field not only in her home country but abroad as well.
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Where You'll Study
Where You'll Study
CHARLES UNIVERSITY
CIEE works closely with Charles University to deliver courses to students at the CIEE Study Center in Prague. All CIEE courses are held at the CIEE Study Center, located in Vyšehrad. Although the CIEE Study Center is not located in a CU building, CIEE courses are recognized by CU and taught by faculty from various CU faculties and institutes. The oldest university in Central Europe (founded in 1348 by the Czech King Charles IV), CU has 17 schools, three institutes, 4,000 teaching/research staff, and 42,400 enrolled students. Specific courses focusing on media and communications are offered through the Charles University Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism in the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Housing & Meals
Housing & Meals
Housing is included in the study abroad program fee.
CIEE-Administered Apartments—CIEE apartments house CIEE as well as Charles University students. Students share double rooms in furnished apartments. Kitchen and bathroom facilities are shared with apartment mates. Please note that meals and Internet fees are not included in the apartment option. CIEE apartments are located in various neighborhoods in central Prague.
It is important for students to be aware that commuting is a part of daily life in Prague and most housing options require daily use of public transportation. A transportation pass is provided by the program. While every effort is made to fulfill the student’s housing preference, alternative housing may be assigned due to capacity limitations. Housing is not co-ed and housing allocations are made on a first come, first served basis. Students from the same institution are not put in the same housing unless necessary.
Orientations
Orientations
You'll begin your study abroad experience in Prague even before leaving home by participating in a CIEE online pre-departure orientation. Meeting with students online, the resident director shares information about the program and site, highlighting issues that alumni have said are important, and giving you time to ask questions. The online orientation allows you to connect with others in the group, reflect on what you want to get out of the program, and learn what others in the group would like to accomplish. CIEE’s aim for the pre-departure orientation is simple—to help you understand more about the program, and identify your objectives so that you arrive well-informed and return home having made significant progress towards your goals.
A mandatory orientation session is conducted in Prague at the beginning of the study abroad program and introduces you to the country, culture, and academic program, and provides practical information about living in the Czech Republic. Tours of the vicinity and cultural activities are also arranged. You will be introduced to program faculty and extra-curricular options during this period.
Internet
Internet
You are encouraged to a bring wireless-enabled laptop. Internet connections may be available in the apartments for an additional fee; service is often shared with CIEE flat buddies and other roommates. You will have free access to wireless connections and a computer laboratory at the CIEE Study Center. In addition, Prague offers a good network of Internet cafés for a small fee.
Culture
Culture
The study abroad program includes visits to sites of historical and cultural importance in Prague such as Prague Castle, Old Town. In addition, academically coordinated field trips to locations outside of the city are arranged, allowing you to gain a wider perspective of the region and a greater understanding of studied academic topics and Czech culture. Special highlights of this program include visits to media companies, radio stations, and an overnight excursion with a specific focus on communications and the Czech film industry.
FLAT BUDDIES
CIEE recruits and trains a group of local Charles University students who live with CIEE study abroad students in apartments. These flat buddies share day-to-day issues, help you better understand local cultural norms and standards, and assist you with immersion into the Czech culture and Charles University student life. These local students also help CIEE Prague staff with orientation, social events, and activities throughout the semester.
INTEREST GROUPS
Interest groups help smaller groups of students become more integrated into Prague culture and society. All of these groups include Czech students.
Academics
Academics
All students can enroll in an option from CIEE course offerings. At least two of the three courses must focus on media and communications.
NATURE OF CLASSES
CIEE classes are with other CIEE students only.
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION
English
FACULTY
The required courses are taught by Charles University and FAMU faculty and other local professionals and practitioners.
Course Description
Course Description
All Courses
Note: This course listing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a contract between CIEE and any applicant, student, institution, or other party. The courses, as described, may be subject to change as a result of ongoing curricular revisions, assignment of lecturers and teaching staff, and program development. Courses may be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment.
CIEE Study Center Syllabi
To view the most recent syllabi for courses taught by CIEE at our Study Centers, visit our syllabi site.
Session I
International Reporting
Your turn as a foreign correspondent!
This hands-on, practical journalism course provides an unrivaled opportunity to learn the craft of the foreign correspondent right here in the Czech Republic. You will discover what makes foreign reporting different from domestic reporting by DOING IT. That means focusing on the issues foreign reporters frequently cover in the Czech Republic and other transitional countries including education, health, gender, history, the arts, corruption, politics, drugs, minorities, tourism and intriguing personalities. You will have a chance to fine tune your news and feature writing, reporting and interviewing skills in four well researched-articles. We will continuously review current foreign reportage in a variety of medias to see what we can glean from the best and the worst. Stimulating debates on style, ethics and story structure are guaranteed. Guest speakers will be real, live foreign correspondents from outlets such as Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the BBC. There will be visits to political hot spots (Parliament, Radio Free Europe) and possibly other sites representing journalistic areas of interest. The class is covered via lectures, reading material, class speakers, discussion and exciting field trips.
Contemporary Czech Culture: Alternative Literature, Music, and Lifestyles
(May be offered during Session II)
For this class, contemporary culture is studied not as the “most refined human endeavors”, but as “everyday culture”. The instructor, urban anthropologist with hands-on experience in local subcultures, provides her analysis of the roots of Czech underground and alternative on the background of Prague’s genius loci. Current “hot” topics − graffiti and street art, squatting, alternative music scene, etc. are discussed. Students learn about ways of how non-conformist Czechs have made use of popular culture, how they form their communities and identities and try to join the creative stream.
Session II
Czech and Slovak Cinema
Throughout the summer Czech and Slovak Cinema course we will get acquainted mainly with the postwar history of the Czech Republic. The movies we will watch are in the chronological order. In the classes we will watch the extracts from the relevant movies and will always begin to watch the feature (the rest of it you will watch on your own). We will also discuss the main aspects of film style: mise-en-scene, framing, sound, and editing and will practise the analysis of those aspects on extracts from the features or on the short films. The course will include 2-day workshop focused on filmmaking and editing. During one day you will shoot the movie in the group (cameras will be provided) and during the second day you will edit the material you filmed. The course will also include two field trips: one to Barrandov studio, one of the biggest film studios in Europe, and another to the local cinema where we (hopefully) will watch a fresh new Czech film.
Session I, II
Social Power of Media
The course will examine the influence of media on the public opinion and on the ways of social interaction in society. The emphasis will be on media such as radio and TV, which now has become traditional in comparison to the newer interactive internet-based social media. The course will explore the dynamic relationship between the development of communication technologies and the content of the disseminated messages. Prague-based Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL) and its development from the ideological weapon aimed against the communist regimes during the Cold War to its present day mission will be used as example. It will be compared to the development of two other Prague-based media: Czech Public Radio and Czech Public TV. Students will learn how the traditional media is adapting to the new media situation and what effect this adaptation has on the practice of journalism. Students will be able to get a close-up view of the people and news process at RFE/RL and the two other media companies. Special attention will be given to the coverage of religious, ethnic and other emotionally sensitive issues in Central-European context and how the representation of these issues shape public attitudes and policies.
An Optional Survival Czech Language Course is also offered during both Session I and II.
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