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Language and Communication Technologies


ÚFAL
LCT

LCT 3 (intake 2020 and later): Local Study Information for the LCT Program in Prague

Type of study: University Graduate - Master’s programme of study
Local study programme / Subject of qualification: Computer Science - Language Technologies and Computational Linguistics
Name of the qualification according to the Czech law: magistr
Title conferred: Mgr. (MSc. equivalent)

LCT program in Prague at a Glance
Study Requirements
Further Links and Contacts
State Final Exam
Diploma Thesis and Its Defense
Tuition Fee
Grading Scheme

 
 
LCT program in Prague at a Glance

Each LCT student has the following obligations:

  • Pass all obligatory courses (5) at the Charles University (or their equivalents at a partner university - subject to approval)
  • Collect at least 42 ECTS for elective courses as specified in the Study Guide (or their equivalents at a partner university - subject to approval), see below
  • Collect at least 90 ECTS for coursework in total (incl. approved credits from the respective partner university)
  • Collect 30 ECTS for thesis courses
    • In practice 1 ECTS credit is equal to roughly 25-30 hours of student work (that is, including contact hours, independent or guided study, etc.)
  • Pass the State Final Exam (registration is possible only after passing all courses as specified above).
  • Successfully defend the Master thesis.
    • The State Final Exam and the Master thesis defense are independent: students can register for the exam and/or submit the thesis in any order for any exam period (or both in parallel). 
  • contacts:
  • Annual evaluation rule: At least 45 ECTS must be completed within the first year at CUNI (without the required number of credits the study is terminated) (Annual Evaluation of Study; technical details can be found here https://www.mff.cuni.cz/annual_evaluation).

 
 
Study Requirements

LCT is implemented on the basis of the local programme Computer Science - Language Technologies and Computational Linguistics.

  • FAQ on the local admission procedure
  • Official Study Guide covers:
    • general information common to all CS
    • list of obligatory courses and list of core elective courses for the LCT programme
    • State Final Exam examination areas
  • List of courses (and their mapping onto the LCT tracks) - useful as a guideline for a study plan preparation (template for both unis link)
  • Note that LCT students can register for further courses offered by the faculty; in particular, several courses intended primarily for our bachelor students can be recommended, see the list above.
    • See SIS for the whole offer at the university.
  • Internship: see the faculty webpage Research / Company / Software projects
  • The faculty also offers as some other language courses - you can find a survey here.
    • Other faculties, esp. Faculty of Arts, offer many language courses as well - some of these courses are available for our student, too. Note that registration must be typically approved by respective lecturer.   

 
 
State Final Exam - Oral Part

For registration for the oral part of the state final exam, at least 105 ECTS credits are required.

  • submission deadlines: see the academic calendar for the exact dates!
    • May (with defense and/or state exams in June);
    • July (with defense and/or state exams in September)
    • January (with defense and/or state exams in February)

Two specializations are available for the State Final Exam:

  • Computational and Formal Linguistics
  • Statistical and Machine Learning Methods in Natural Language Processing

A student selects one of two available specializations when s/he registers for the State Final Exam. 

The State Final Exam consists of one obligatory examination area for both specializations (Area 1), one obligatory area dependent on the selected specialization (Area 2 or Area 3), and one elective examination area (Area 4 and Area 5). As the last examination area, the student may also select the obligatory area of the other specialization of this study programme. In total, each student gets questions from three examination areas.

  1. Fundamentals of Natural Language Processing (obligatory for both specializations)
  2. Linguistic Theories and Formalisms
  3. Statistical Methods and Machine Learning in Computational Linguistics
  4. Speech, Dialogue, and Multimodal Systems
  5. Applications in Natural Language Processing

Lists of topics covered by the examination areas, as well as recommended courses are provided in the Study Guide - study started 2020 and later.

  • More detailed list of topics here.

Registration for the state exam and/or for the defense:

  • How to register for the state exam and/or for the defense (help in Czech)
    • the registration is through the SIS - module Final state exams. The module shows an overview for which part of the final state exam you meet the conditions. After meeting the conditions, write down the "courses" you want to apply for.
  • You can enroll separately for the state exam and for the diploma defense.
  • Note that you have to finish all your courses and get necessary credits before you are allowed to registered for the state exam and/or for the defense (typically in mid summer, see the academic calendar)!:
    • for the oral part, you have to have at least 15 credits for diploma thesis evaluation (i.e., at least 105 ECTS)
    • for the defense, the total of 120 ECTS are needed. 

 
Diploma Theses and Its Defense (as a part of State Final Exam)

For registration for the defense, the total of 120 ECTS credits are required.

Avoid plagiarism!

Registration for the state exam and/or for the defense:

  • How to register for the state exam and/or for the defense (help in Czech)
    • the registration is through the SIS - module Final state exams. The module shows an overview for which part of the final state exam you meet the conditions. After meeting the conditions, write down the "courses" you want to apply for.
  • You can enroll separately for the state exam and for the diploma defense.
  • Note that you have to finish all your courses and get necessary credits before you are allowed to registered for the state exam and/or for the defense (typically in mid summer, see the academic calendar)!:
    • for the oral part, you have to have at least 15 credits for diploma thesis evaluation (i.e., at least 105 ECTS)
    • for the defense, the total of 120 ECTS are needed. 

 
 
Tuition Fee

The LCT program covers the local tuition fee for LCT students. This fee covers one year of study at Charles University.

The student obliges themself to complete the LCT Program requirements within the deadline given in the academic calendar (typically the end of September). If the student fails to meet this deadline (s)he can ask for a program extension.

In the case of extension, the Charles University local fee will be demanded from the student in accordance with the local regulations specified on the faculty webpage (the tuition fee as set at the beginning of their study is applicable). This extension fee covers the whole academic year. Note that if the student has finished their coursework and (s)he is just working on their master thesis (i.e., gathered at  least 105 ECTS), (s)he can ask for an 80% reduction of the local fee (in writing); this fee reduction is possible only once (i.e., for any additional extension the whole yearly fee is applicable), see the Rector's Directive No. 42/2023, Art. 17.

 


Grading Scheme

seminar C = credited (i.e., requirements of a course are fulfilled) Czech abbrev. Z

MC = requirement with assessment
     1 = excellent   (~ A/B ECTS grade)
     2 = very good (~ C/D ECTS grade)
     3 = good         (~ E ECTS grade)
     4 = fail            (~ FX/F ECTS grade)

 Czech abbrev. KZ
lecture

Ex = exam
     1 = excellent   (~ A/B ECTS grade)
     2 = very good (~ C/D ECTS grade)
     3 = good         (~ E ECTS grade)
     4 = fail            (~ FX/F ECTS grade)

Czech abbrev. Zk

Learn  more on ECTS here!