Domácí stránka » Study

Doctoral Programme

General Information

Doctoral programmes at Charles University in Prague are run in accordance with Act No. 111/1998 Sb. § 47, the internal regulations of Charles University and the Faculty of Arts.
There is both a full-time, on-campus doctoral programme and a part-time PhD programme. The standard length of study on a full-time programme is three years; the maximum period of study is eight years (in the case of a part time PhD programme).
Students on a full-time programme receive student funding.
The programmes follow individual study plans under the guidance of supervisors. A student’s performance is monitored and evaluated by a doctoral programme committee in charge of the respective accredited PhD programme and established according to the internal regulations.
An application for PhD programmes has to be submitted to the research administration department or the studies administration department of the respective faculty by April 30th. The entrance examination takes place in June. The PhD programme is completed by a final doctoral examination and the student’s defense of the dissertation. The programme graduates are awarded the academic degree “doctor” (abbreviated to “PhD” and appended to the name).
 
References (in Czech):

The English Language PhD Programme – Admission Requirements

 
The Doctoral Programme Committee
Prof. PhDr. Aleš Klégr - předseda
Doc. PhDr. Jan Čermák, CSc.
Prof. PhDr. Libuše Dušková, DrSc.
Doc. PhDr. Jarmila Mothejzíková, CSc.
Prof. PhDr. Eva Hajičová, DrSc.
Prof. PhDr. Jarmila Tárnyiková, CSc.
 
 
Admissions procedure
 
Admission requirements specified by the English Language PhD Programme Committee
  • completion of an MA programme at a university/faculty specialising in English language studies;
  • adequate knowledge in the field of English language studies, and the applicant’s clear concept of his/her research goals and professional targets;
  • knowledge of another foreign language;
  • written submission of a draft project proposal for the intended research;
  • fitting in the research topic with the department’s range of subject areas (if the programme committee cannot provide a supervisor for the research topic of the intended dissertation, the applicant cannot be accepted);
  • binding choice of the programme format (it is not possible to change from full-time to part-time programme and vice versa, nor the area of the PhD programme during the entrance examination interview);
  • sufficient knowledge of Czech for foreign applicants as the English Language PhD Programme requires both the reading and comprehension skills in Czech which will allow the applicant to read Czech linguistic literature and follow Czech linguistic lectures and discussions.
  • The knowledge of Czech is a prerequisite inasmuch as the study of English linguistics at all levels is based on the linguistic approaches and principles of the Prague School of Linguistics, especially concerning linguistic characterology and the application of contrastive analysis. Without meeting this requirement a foreign applicant cannot be admitted.
 
Recommend range of research topics
Higher levels of the grammatical system of English: (syntax, hypersyntax), functional morphology, historical development of English, pragmatics, discourse analysis, stylistics, lexicology, lexicography (also from an English-Czech contrastive perspective).
 
Description of entrance examination
  • evaluation of the applicant’s research activities and professional career in the subject area so far (previous course of study, the subject of the MA thesis, research and teaching experience, publications, conference papers); (0-15 points)
  • the applicant’s presentation of his/her written draft project proposal and a subsequent discussion assessing the theoretical and practical aspects of the proposal aiming to probe the applicant’s competence and skills required to implement the project (examining the choice of the topic, presumed output, the applicant’s knowledge of the topic-related issues and subject area, the relevant literature, formal and methodological aspects, the feasibility of the project, etc.); (0-30 points)
  • inquiry into the applicant’s knowledge of the subject area based on his/her study of technical literature (drawing on the applicant’s reading list); (0-15)
  • checking up on the applicant’s functional knowledge of English (in the case of foreigners also their Czech) by having them read, translate and analyse a short passage from a linguistic text chosen by the examiners;
  • Note: if the applicant scores zero in just one of the items from the above list constituting the entrance examination, the overall result of the examination will be “fail”.
     
Specification of the draft project proposal
  • size: ca 3-5 standard pages (900-1500 words)
  • language of preference: English
  • format:
▪ general introduction – explaining the choice of the topic and aims
▪ theoretical part – analysis of relevant literature and views on the topic
▪ research methodology – sources, collection and size of the material, proposed procedure, methods, preliminary hypotheses
▪ envisaged results and their relevance
▪ essential references