The Main Principles of the Partnership Programme

The Partnership Programme provides an institutional framework for long-term cooperation between CUNI MFF and commercial companies.

The aim of the Programme is to create a long-term mutually beneficial contractual structure of cooperation in the field of education, research, innovation, and other activities of the faculty, and promoting such endeavours together.

The partnership program focuses on the Faculty’s teaching activities but also fully supports the overlap into scientific research.

The basis for cooperation is formalized in a Partnership Agreement, which gives the two parties a clear overview of their mutual obligations, responsibilities and opportunities. A formal agreement also allows both parties to publicly present themselves as official partners (e.g. use of partners’ logos), thereby giving greater visibility of themselves and partners to the public. The contract also guarantees continuity of cooperation. For instance, both parties designate contact persons who will negotiate participation in specific activities of the Faculty. The Faculty’s contact person represents a clearly legible and easily accessible gateway of cooperation for the company partners.

Here is a brief overview of the opportunities and benefits the partners will gain after entering into the partnership agreement:

• Submission of topics to be assigned for bachelor and master theses, software projects, class projects and other student work, by arrangement with the contact person.
  • On an individual basis a partner’s employee can act as a consultant for each topic assigned (in which case the student work receives a supervisor from among the Faculty staff) or directly as a supervisor (provided all formalities required by the accredited study program and other regulations are fulfilled).
  • General information about the content of the most common types of student work at CUNI MFF can be found at the following links. For specific questions please do not hesitate to contact us directly.
    • Bachelor's and Master's theses
    • Software projects
    • Class projects

• Potential participation in the course called “Commercial Workshops”.
  • The course Commercial Workshops consists of state-of-the-art lectures by representatives of commercial companies and runs every semester. The topics are technical or software engineering oriented and draw on the company’s professional experience. These courses, based on practice, should provide students with a new perspective on the theoretical knowledge gained during their studies.
  • This course is elective with no prerequisites, therefore students from any year or level of study may enroll. However, students most often enroll in their third year of bachelor studies or in their first year of the continuing master's program in Computer Science.
  • One of the conditions to satisfy the course requirements and obtain credit is an evaluation essay. Student essays serve as valuable feedback to participating companies.

• Potential participation in the course “Mathematical Problems of Non-Mathematicians”.
  • The course Mathematical Problems of Non-Mathematicians presents current trends in the fields of applied mathematics. It introduces students to employment opportunities and provides them with inspiration for further professional orientation.
  • The lectures are led by business specialists or academics with practical experience. The topics discussed are always based on the specialization of the individual lecturers, and for this reason their focus is very diverse and often interdisciplinary.
  • The majority of participants are students at all stages of their education and from most mathematical areas of study taught at CUNI MFF. However, the lectures are also attended by university teachers and members of wider professional public.  

• Potential participation in an appropriate specialized course taught at the Faculty, either regularly or extraordinarily.
  • The topics of specific guest lectures are arranged on an individual basis between the course supervisor, the Faculty’s contact person and the guest lecturers of the partners. Those courses are technical or oriented towards software engineering (e.g. middleware, virtualization, modern programming languages, etc.).

• Possibility to create one’s own specialized course, to be taught by lecturers of the partner or by agreement in cooperation with lecturers of multiple partners and permanent staff at the Faculty.
  • Such courses are always guaranteed by an employee of CUNI MFF, thus in terms of accreditation it is a regular elective course. For this reason, all participating lecturers must comply with the relevant professional and formal requirements for teachers of courses in an accredited study program.
  • Most often these are courses that present an overview of modern or newly emerging technologies (e.g. programming for mobile platforms, etc.) which are not yet included in the syllabus of compulsory and elective courses of the given study program.

• The option to participate in the Mentorship programme of CUNI MFF.
• Participation in the Career Fair with advantages, as well as other regular Faculty events aimed at presenting companies.

  Discounts of the final price for the Career Fair in 2024:
  Starting Partner: 10%
  Partner: 20%
  Strategic Partner: 30%

  The relevant date for assessing the payment reduction is the state by January 12, 2024.

• A separate presentation of the partner on Faculty premises beyond the usual events, such as the Job Fair.
  • This is a presentation (i.e. the partner’s representatives appearing in front of students) outside the usual semester schedule. Venues and dates are always by agreement with the Faculty’s contact person. This presentation gets along without taking a form of a lecture. Students will be informed of this presentation through the usual information channels at the Faculty (bulletin boards, social networks, etc.).
  • The total time for individual presentations is contractually limited in accordance with the partnership level.

• The option to participate at the annual meeting of all partners of the Faculty.
  • The annual meeting will generally be organized once a year as a half-day or full-day conference, divided into a non-public part (meeting of partners’ representatives with each other, with Faculty representatives and other selected guests) and a public part (a series of presentations for the wider academic community and students).
  • A detailed program of each meeting will always be subject to individual negotiation so that the event best responds to current trends and needs and suitably support the transfer of knowledge and technology between the academic and commercial sectors.

• Possibility of sponsorship or donation of prizes for student and scientific competitions (e.g. competition for best bachelor or master's thesis), including the design of appropriate competition categories and evaluation criteria.
• The option to offer incentives (e.g. student grants), including the design of the evaluation criteria.
  • This assumes that the offer of incentives and the criteria will be coordinated between partners and the Faculty in order to avoid duplication or inconsistent rules. Evaluation of competitions and incentives will usually be through evaluation committees established for this purpose. Committees will be staffed by expert evaluators from among the Faculty staff and from among the staff of the partner(s).

The CUNI MFF Partnership Programme is divided into three levels, which differ not in quality of cooperation but in its expected intensity (usual number of student theses/projects, length of a partner’s individual presentation), length of commitment (length of validity of the partnership agreement) and the initial fee.

• Starting Partner: one year agreement, fee CZK 40 000, a 50% payment reduction can be granted due to strategic interests of the faculty.
• Partner: three years agreement, fee CZK 120 000
• Strategic Partner: five years agreement, fee 300 000 CZK

  VAT will be added to the fees.

We would be pleased to present the specifically defined parameters of these three levels of cooperation to those interested in our partnership program at a personal meeting.

There is a registration fee associated with concluding the partnership agreement which covers overhead costs of the Faculty to administer the partnership program, to organize the annual partners meeting, etc. The Starting Partner level of cooperation is so designed to be financially acceptable even for start-ups and SMEs. The terms of partnership may also be individually negotiated or modified in special cases (e.g. higher expected level of cooperation in the form of targeted grants and lower expected level of cooperation in the form of assigning topics for student work).

The Faculty reserves the right to modify the conclusion of a partnership agreement with an interested party based on previous successful cooperation or positive references of staff and students of CUNI MFF, or upon the recommendation of other cooperating organizations. The statute of partnership is an expression of mutual trust, declared also towards all students of the Faculty and confirming the purpose of the partnership program, which is an umbrella organization of meaningful cooperation beneficial to all involved.

Should you have any questions or are interested in participating in our partnership program, please contact us.