Exemptions from the Study and Examination Regulations of MU
A list of guidance notes, instructions and other relevant sources: Study and Examination Regulations (SER), and particularly article 43, and further paragraph 68 section 4 of act number 111/1998 Coll., on higher education institutions.
Every student has a right to file an application for granting an exemption from the individual provisions of the Study and Examination Regulations (SER), based on article 43, with the faculty dean. However, an exemption from the provisions of the SER is truly an exceptional measure that can be used under exceptional circumstances. Exemptions in ungrounded cases will not be granted and applications for them are pointless.
Grounded cases can occur due to reasons on the side of students or on the side of the faculty.
Reasons on the side of the faculty
In case there is a situation that requires an exceptional solution and that has been brought about by a change of a situation on the side of the faculty (for any reasons, even those that have not been caused by the faculty), an exemption will be granted for the benefit of a student so that he or she can continues in his/her studies as if no exceptional circumstances occurred.
Reasons on the side of a student
It is more common when an application for an exemption is brought about by circumstances on a student’s side. In case a student applies for an exemption in a situation that would otherwise result in the termination of his/her studies, namely the following circumstances will be considered as exceptional situations worthy of special consideration: serious long-term illness, sensory or kinetic handicap limiting a student’s study possibilities, advanced or risk pregnancy, care for a child in complicated conditions and/or requiring special assistance, serious illness or death in a student’s family, or a similar extraordinary event preventing or considerably limiting study possibilities. Especially serious financial situation will also be considered when applying for waving or reducing fees associated with the study.
A student has to provide comprehensive reasons for an exemption application, and he/she has to enclose a document proving the exceptionality of a given case (typically it is a doctor’s note, expert opinion, assessment of disability pension, admission of unemployment benefits, etc.).
Repeated and parallel granting of an exemption
Granting an exemption from the provision of the SER by the dean does not constitute a claim or an automatic assumption for its repeated granting. Besides the above-mentioned reasons, study results (weighted average of grades from courses) are also taken into consideration when assessing a repeated application for an exemption.
However, granting an exemption from a SER provision in a concrete case also means automatic exemption granting from related SER provisions so that the logical sense of an application is maintained (e.g. granting an exemption from article 21 allowing third enrollment for a course (i.e. its second repetition) means automatic exemption granting from article 15 concerning study termination, article 12 concerning the date of semester enrollment, and article 11 concerning the date of course registration and enrollment, etc.). A student need not apply for these related exemptions. After consulting the student, the study department will decide on such a procedure that will maintain the sense of the original exemption application.
Administrative procedure
Here is the procedure for assessing an application for exemption:
- a student submits an online application through the IS. You go to IS, then you choose Document office - Submit request - ESF OZS: Application for Exemption. Address the exemption to the dean of the faculty together with enclosures when needed. You will receive a decision on the exemption of studies through the IS MU. You will get the decision latest 30 days after your submission;
- the first-resort decision is made by a particular vice-dean, based on the dean’s commission. If an application lacks adequate reasons and documenting of the above-mentioned facts, it is automatically considered as faint and it is not granted;
- in case of a refusal of an application, a student can ask the faculty dean for a decision review within 30 days from the day of receiving the decision (in accordance with paragraph 68 section 4 of act 111/1998 Coll., on higher education institutions and on amendments and supplements to some other acts (the Higher Education Act)). The faculty dean decides on the application for review (in the second resort) in the following way: he/she recognizes the arguments included in the application (eventually completed with further documents, etc.), cancels the first-resort decision and grants the exemption, or transfers the appeal to the rector of MU (or the vice-rector in charge). The rector (or vice-rector) assesses the appeal only from the formal side, i.e. if there were no administrative or procedural mistakes made by the faculty, etc., and on this basis he/she either confirms or cancels the first-resort decision concerning not granting an exemption. It is not possible to appeal against the rector’s decision.