Charles University

Charles University is a public research university in Prague, founded in 1348 by Charles IV as a studium generale and the first university in Central Europe. It developed through a medieval faculty structure, later splitting along linguistic lines and reconstituting in the twentieth century as a Czech-language national university. Its defining fact is that civic, multi-faculty university spread across the historic city rather than a single suburban campus.

The university comprises 17 faculties, including several faculties of medicine, plus law, arts, science, mathematics and physics, social sciences, education and theology. Graduate work is concentrated in medicine, physics, computer science, history and Czech and Central European studies. Teaching hospitals attached to the medical faculties, the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, and institutes in the humanities are the usual bases for doctoral students.

Charles University enrolls about 50,000 students, including a large international group from many countries, especially in English-taught medicine. Faculty number in the thousands. People associated with the university include writer Franz Kafka, who studied law there, chemist Jaroslav Heyrovský, and Albert Einstein, who taught in Prague before the First World War.

Doctoral and master's degrees follow the Bologna structure, with a mix of coursework and dissertation supervision that varies by faculty. The academic year runs on a two-semester calendar. Doctoral funding often comes from faculty stipends, grants and teaching. Students live and work across Prague's Old Town, Albertov and other faculty sites in a compact European capital.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, Charles University lists 1 doctoral program, in earth & environmental sciences. Charles University holds rank 278 in the GSN Overall University Ranking.