At Charles University, the chances of being accepted this year are similar to those in recent years - a little over 5,000 places are being chased by more than six times as many applicants. That, at least, is how it looks in summary. If, however, we examine the 200 or so subjects which are offered at Charles University individually, we can also find some where demand exceeds supply by a factor of twenty or more.
Although the definitive statistics for school year 1995-96 will not be available for some months yet, we already have a close enough idea of the total number of applicants to give some preliminary figures for this year's entrance exams.
So: this year, Charles University has had a total of 35,383 applicants. The largest numbers have applied to the Faculty of Law (6,309), the Philosophical Faculty (6,154) and the Pedagogical Faculty (5,980). These are followed by the Faculty of Social Sciences (2,785) and the Faculty of Natural Sciences (2,607).
If we compare this to the number of applicants in recent years, the situation looks as follows:
| school year | applicants |
|---|---|
| 1990-91 | 21,367 |
| 1991-92 | 31,023 |
| 1992-93 | 31,025 |
| 1993-94 | 35,198 |
| 1994-95 | 33,176 |
| school year | accepted |
|---|---|
| 1990-91 | 5,925 |
| 1991-92 | 5,645 |
| 1992-93 | 6,543 |
| 1993-94 | 6,473 |
| 1994-95 | 6,334 |
One thing I would like to add regarding entrance procedures is that, under the terms of the current Czech law on university education (law no. 172/90 Sb.), the admission of students is now entirely the responsibility of the Dean of each individual faculty, and it is solely the Dean who has the right to accept a student for study. The ten percent quota, which used to be allocated to the Rector for his own independent decision making, has been abolished. Thus, when a student appeals to the Rector against the decision of an individual faculty, only those students whose marks come closest to the cut-off marks of the students accepted, or those where there has been a procedural or material error, stand any chance of being admitted. Despite this, the Rectorate's Department for Study and Student Affairs now investigates almost as many appeals each year as there used to be applications.
How can I finish off this not altogether optimistic report? Perhaps by wishing my colleagues at the Study Departments of the individual faculties that they survive the calamity of the summer months without any major shocks to their health (both mental and physical); by wishing our teachers that they get through the exams with enough time left to take a holiday; and, of course, by wishing our postal staff that they cope with the enormously increased volume of mail. As for the students, who are actually at the centre of this whole commotion, I wish them the best of luck in their exams and a shining performance at their interviews. We at the Rectorate, with the approach of the June entrance exams, know that we are slowly heading towards Christmas - for the final statistics, with which we close the whole entrance and appeals procedure, will be finished only in the first half of November.
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