Follow-up Master study

Study requirements: 1st year of study

Study obligations for the 1st year of study are the same for both follow-up master's programmes: Political Science-African Studies and Political Science-Latin American Studies. Each field has its own courses, but some are common to both fields (e.g. Geopolitics of Selected Regions, Non-Democratic Regimes and Transitions, or Introduction to Development Studies). First year students must also choose the topic of their diploma thesis and enrol it in the STAG system.

Courses

During 2 years of study it is necessary to obtain a total of 120 credits. These must be divided between compulsory, compulsory-optional courses, compulsory-optional linguistic courses, and optional courses. To advance to the next year it is necessary to get min. 40 credits. – to find out more about credits see the first year of the bachelor study.

Compulsory courses for the first year of study in Political Science-African Studies include, for example, Political History of Africa, Africa in International Relations, and Elections and Electoral Systems of African Countries. In the field of Political Science-Latin American Studies, there are e.g. Political Systems of Central America, Comparative Politics of Latin America, and Political History of Latin America. The complete offer of courses for both fields can be found here.

Total number of credits needed for 2 years of study	120
Compulsory courses	min. 105
Compulsory - optional courses (incl. Foreign Languages)	not specified
Optional courses	not specified

 

Diploma Thesis

In the summer semester of the first year it is necessary to complete the course Diploma Thesis Seminar. To accomplish this, the student must choose the topic of the thesis, choose a suitable supervisor, enter the essentials of the thesis assignment into the STAG system and consult the basic structure of the work with its supervisor. Any other conditions are always in consultation with the supervisor.

Choosing a topic: Choose your topic according to your preferences and always consult the topic with your potential supervisor. Exceptionally, it is possible to choose one of the topics currently offered by academics. The offer is very limited, and for KP we prefer the first variant of the topic selection. The list of academics and the offer of topics can be found here: a list of academicss and their professional interests, including suggested topics of final theses.

Choosing a supervisor: At the beginning of the summer semester, contact an academic who could supervise your thesis. A diploma thesis supervisor can be any academic with the Ph.D., or an external researcher - in that case the approval of the head of the department is required (Mgr. Milan Hrubeš, Ph.D.).

Topic of diploma thesis: After you have agreed with the supervisor on the essentials of your thesis assignment, in STAG, in the section My study, fill in the required data in the Qualification thesis ribbon. The necessary data are: academic year, topic, English title, diploma thesis supervisor, principles for elaboration (i.e. annotation, what is the focus of the thesis, what is the goal, how you will proceed, what methods you will use, etc., in the range of approx. 10 –20 lines), and the list of recommended literature using the KP citation style. The KPOL citation style can be found at the bottom of this page in the documents for download.

The thesis must be submitted in STAG by 31^st May.

 

Study requirements: 2nd year of study

In addition to completing the remaining courses, the 2nd year student has to complete a diploma thesis. The student also successfully completes the course Diploma thesis. It is also necessary to apply for the state final examination. Instructions for these tasks can be found below:

Formal requirements of the thesis: Essentials of the thesis are governed by decree of the Dean of FF UHK No. 17/2018 (font, line spacing, and other formal requirements). The required number of pages of the thesis is in the range of 60 to 80 (12 Times New Roman font size, 1.5 lines spacing and 30-35 mm margin width). Only the text of the thesis from the introduction to the conclusion, including the notes and the bibliography, is included in the required range. To refer to resources, follow the KP citation style.

 

Submission of the thesis: Upload the finished thesis to the eVŠKP system. Before uploading, enter the thesis assignment data generated from this system. Then print the work in 2 copies and submit it to the KP secretariat or send it by mail. Instructions on the form of the front cover of the thesis are given in the decree of the Dean of the FF UHK No. 17/2018.

Binding deadlines for uploading the thesis to the eVŠKP system and submitting to the KP secretariat (always by 12:00 on the given day):

Date	To whom it is intended
16 December 2024	Students going to the final state examination in January 2025
22 April 2025	Students going to the final state examination in May 2025
23 June 2025	Students going to the final state examination in August 2025

 

Questions: All questions concerning the assignment and submission of the final diploma thesis should be directed to the KP secretary Klára Dlesková (klara.dleskova@uhk.cz).

 

Graduation: State Final Examination (SFE)

The successful completion of the state final examination (SFE) is essential for graduation. SFE consists of: the defence of the final diploma thesis, and exams in three specialized subjects (see below).

1. a) Political Science-African Studies: Africa in International Relations, Non-Democratic Regimes and Transitions, Political Systems of African Countries.
2. b) Political Science-Latin American Studies: Latin America in International Relations, Non-Democratic Regimes and Transitions, Political Systems of Latin America.

Regular deadlines for defence of final theses and final examinations in academic year 2019/2020:

Defences	State Final Examinations
27 -30 January 2025	27 -30 January 2025
26 May- 29 June 2025	26 May- 29 June 2025
25 - 28 August 2025	25 - 28 August 2025

 

Diploma thesis defence takes 20 minutes. The supervisor of the thesis and its opponent first present their assessments, then the student has the opportunity to comment on them and answer the questions raised in the assessments, after that a discussion follows.

The course of the final state examination is as follows: the student draws questions for all subjects. He/she then has 40 minutes to prepare; the examination itself also takes 40 minutes. There are 3 questions, one for each subject. The student has 15 minutes for answering each question.

How and by when to apply for the SFE together with all the necessary information, including the deadlines, can be found here: https://www.uhk.cz/en/philosophical-faculty/study/state-final-exams-and-theses