CEA Prague

• CEA Scholarships

After acceptance from U. of Illinois to study abroad on a CEA program, you will need to submit a host provider application with CEA. Navigate to the appropriate program webpage (semester or summer) in the drop down menu above to access the application on their website.

For fall/spring semester, select ‘full curriculum’, unless you plan on taking part in the internship program.

• • If you have already submitted a CEA application for another program track (e.g. "humanities & social studies"), it's fine. No need to change anything.

For summer, be sure to navigate to and select their summer offer "Business, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences," unless you plan to do an internship.

Here are some important points to know:

• • CEA has rolling admissions, but be mindful of their application deadlines.

  • Illinois students do not pay CEA's $95 application fee.

  • You will also need to submit an unofficial copy of your transcript as part of the CEA application.

  • After you have completed & submitted your CEA application, your Illinois Education Abroad Coordinator will submit CEA's required Advisor Approval Form.

  • Students pay $300 housing security deposit direct to CEA and get it back if there are no damages with housing.

CEA regularly runs promotions for flight vouchers for students who submit their CEA applications early. Be sure to take advantage of these! Complete as much as you can in your CEA application by the flight voucher deadline and you will be eligible for their flight voucher. CEA does not need to receive your transcripts or the Advisor Approval Form by the voucher deadline in order for you to be eligible for the voucher.

In addition, CEA offers a variety of merit, diversity, or need-based scholarships. Check their scholarship page to see if any are applicable to you.

CEA Scholarship application deadlines are as follow:

• • Summer = April 10

  • Fall = May 10

  • Spring = Nov. 15

Also don't forget to review Illinois study abroad scholarships as well. Visit the IAGE webpage to get more information.

Program Dates

• • Spring 2021: Feb. 2 - May 22

  • Full Summer Session (2 or 3 courses) 2021:

  • Second Summer Session (1 or 2 courses) 2021: tba

  • Fall 2021: tba

  • Academic Year 2021-22: tba

Arrival information, including where to go for your airport pick-up on the scheduled days, and about the orientation schedule will come from CEA. Therefore, do not book your airline tickets until first verifying the expected arrival and departure dates with them.

Student Voices on Arrival & Orientation

• • Airport pick‐up was definitely a great service and made the fear of traveling and getting lost go away. Orientation was very vital as we learned really important advice and tools during the first few days. The library was also a great resource especially for printing purposes.

CEA Prague students enjoy city-living apartments as a standard housing option. Apartments are a perfect fit for the student who wants to experience Prague like a local. Fully furnished with modern amenities, apartments are conveniently located near local shops and services. Apartments are close to the city center and offer easy access to Anglo-American University and the CEA Prague Center.

Typical Commute:

• • • CEA Prague Center: 20-45 minutes by public transportation & walking

    • Anglo-American University: 20-45 minutes by public transportation & walking

Roommates:

• • • 2-3 students per room, with an single room added cost option (see below*)

    • 2-7 students per apartment

Meals:

• • • Not included

Common Unit Amenities:

• • • Shared full kitchen

    • Shared bathroom

    • 1 set of bed linens included

    • Internet access

    • Washer Only

    • Central heating

More detailed information on policies and rules can be found in the HOUSING OVERVIEW (click to view)

*SINGLE ROOMS

Students can request a single room, and in this case may either be placed in a single bedroom within a shared apartment OR in a single bedroom within apartment with only single bedrooms. Each apartment will have an equipped kitchen, living room, and bathroom.

There is a limited amount of single options apartments. If roommate requests are provided, priority will be given to that request first over the specific housing type request.

Additional Cost for Single Rooms:

• • Summer: $500 - $1,000

  • Semester: $900 - $1,400

Student Voices on Housing

• • Amazing location, great security with the police right around the corner, loved my roommates and we made our own meals which helped me learn to cook a lot! I think we had one of the nicer buildings in our program.

  • Even if you want to live in Prague 1, you should still do CEA housing. They place you with other students and it is a great way to meet people. You can email CEA housing and request to live in the same building as a person and/or a location in prague you would like to be. I suggest Prague 1 or Prague 2, but I also loved living in Prague 3.

  • The location of my apartment was great. I lived within walking distance of my school and the city center, and always felt safe enough to get around. I highly recommend Prague for it's safety. The security of my building was also very trustworthy, and I felt secure in my apartment. My roommates and I got along very well and were able to live together in harmony during our stay. In comparison to other students in our program, our apartment was not up to par as there's were‐‐but I didn't have a problem with that.

  • Say that you want to live in Prague 2 or 5 so you will not be stuck living where I lived...Prague 3-- a mostly safe neighborhood but a lot of homeless people around)

  • Great location and we felt safe the entire time. However there was construction across the street the entire semester that started before 8AM every day. Also we were the only American students in our building.

  • The location of my apartment was in a pretty safe cool neighborhood but not as close to the school and central part of prague as I would have liked. However, it was conveniently located next to a tram stop and other public transportation.

  • Know that you won't have a dryer

  • Because our housing was farther from the center of the city and in a more local/less touristy district, we got more of a local living experience.

  • The housing I had was amazing! It was in a perfect location in Prague and was equipped with basic and essential living items.

  • I stayed in an apartment building where locals lived as well as 5 other student apartments. The apartment was very spacious and I lived with 4 other girls. I lived 20 minute commute from school in Prague 3.

  • If I ever had any sort of issue abroad, CEA was extremely helpful and very easy to communicate with ‐I did not like how some people were assigned huge apartments and some people got very small apartments.

CEA partners with Anglo-American University, one of Prague’s oldest private university.

• • • AAU offers more than 100 courses across its five schools.

    • Courses are taught in English

    • You’ll attend class alongside local Czech and other international students from more than 50 countries.

    • AAU’s stunning campus is located in the 17th century Thurn-Taxis Palace in the central Mala Strana neighborhood, adjacent to the CEA Prague Office and within walking distance of the Charles Bridge and other notable historic sites.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE SEMESTERS

• • • You'll enroll in 1 core course—with a local, regional, or national focus—and 3-4 elective courses. Courses meet for 42-56 contact hours/3 credits. Semester students may earn 12-15 credits (up to 210 contact hours); academic year students may earn 24-30 credits (up to 420 contact hours).

    • Classes meet at various times, Monday-Friday. Active learning components required by your courses may be scheduled for Fridays.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE SUMMERS

• • • Choose a 6- or 9-week session; students in 6-week sessions enroll in 1-2 courses, while students in 9-week sessions enroll in 2-3 courses. The 9-week session is divided into two parts: You'll select 1 course offered in an intensive 3-week period and 1-2 courses offered over the course of 6-weeks. Courses meet for 42 contact hours/3 credits.

    • If you choose a 6-week session, you may earn 3-6 credits (up to 84 contact hours); if you choose a 9-week session, you may earn 6-9 credits (up to 126 contact hours).

    • Classes meet at various times, Monday-Friday. Active learning components required by your courses may be scheduled for Fridays.

COURSE SELECTIONS AND REGISTRATION

• • • Prior to departure, you will select your preferred courses.

    • You will be enrolled into courses based on their availability.

    • It is in your best interest to have multiple alternative courses approved by your home university prior to your departure due to course availabilities.

TRANSCRIPTS

• • • Transcripts will be sent to Illinois automatically after the end of the program. However, the time for receipt and processing can take a few months. Be patient, and you can track to see when your transcript is received by the Office of the Registrar by when the digital copy is uploaded into your My Study Abroad documents.

Student Voices on Academics

• • AAU was very welcoming, I really enjoyed the smaller classes and my professors who enjoyed having the abroad students and encouraged us to share our experiences and thoughts. Small and beautiful I really liked it!

  • In terms of courses, I felt that most of the courses were poorly structured. Some of my lecturers seemed to be very unorganized and disinterested in their initial position as lecturer. On the other hand, I had lecturers who were very involved and had our best interests when lecturing. The workload was a bit obscure. Most courses required little workload, and then for midterms and finals we would be expected to cover an expansive amount of work.

  • The teachers spoke very good English. The structure of courses was similar to UIUC. There was a syllabus given, a paper assignment each week, 1‐3 exams depending on the course, and a final. The workload was the perfect amount that I could travel almost every weekend and not worry too much about an assignment that would be due the following week. Grading was also similar to the standard UIUC grading procedures.

  • Anglo American University is a great school with a nice, welcoming environment. The staff are super supportive and understanding of the students going through a cultural transition and the campus is a great place to do homework and meet people.

  • Classes are much more participation based and less homework/test based to integrate all the abroad students in with the other foreign students.

Student Voices on Class scheduling

• • 2 days/week. 3 hours per class. 2 classes per day. Tuesday and Wednesday classes

  • Monday with 9 hours of class and Tuesday 3 hours of class

  • Monday and Tuesday. 4 classes total. 2 hours and 45 minutes each class.

  • Only Tuesday/Wednesday, a very nice schedule, great for traveling as well as balancing class work. Each class was 2.5 hours which was long but you got used to it and it was very manageable.

  • I had class on Tuesday and Thursday only, however I actually found the coursework very challenging and time consuming.

  • I had class on Tuesday and Wednesday from 11:30am‐5:30pm. I had two classes each day with a break in between. I took a total of 12 credit hours. Through Anglo‐American you get to personalize your schedule, which is very useful.

  • I had class Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday ‐Each class was 2.5 hours ‐I had 2 classes Monday, and 1 class on Tuesday and Wednesday

  • I had one class a day, Monday‐Thursday. Each class was 2 hours and 45 minutes.

  • I had class from 11:30‐2:15 and 2:45‐5:30 on Tuesday's and Wednesday's of the week. On Monday's and Thursday's I would be interning from about 9‐5 at Havas Worldwide Prague.

  • I interned at Havas Worldwide Prague as a creative and communications intern. I was able to gain experience in advertising on days in which I did not have courses which was a really important goal for me while abroad.

Student Voices on Course Recommendations: (Which course(s) that you completed abroad did you find most interesting/meaningful?)

• • ART131 ‐This was a walking tour class ‐I saw things that I would have never seen or known about if I did not take this class.

  • My subcultures course definitely because I learned so much about Czech Republic culture in that class as well as culture in Europe which I would not know today. Opened my mind so much and encouraged me to think outside the box with new perspectives. Also, my architecture course because I learned so much about Prague and its history through this class and teacher and was able to guide my family and friends well through the city with the knowledge I gained from that class.

  • I took Prague Art and Architecture which allowed me to explore Prague which I really enjoyed and loved. I also really enjoyed my Marketing Communications course, where we actually were put in charge of creating an advertising strategy for a local run.

  • Prague Art and Architecture

  • Jewish Prague

  • Jewish history of Europe

  • Operations management

  • Art 131 - Prague Art and Architecture

  • I enjoyed all my classes taken abroad! Subcultures: lifestyles, literature and music

  • Marketing Communications (MKT202) for Badm3‐‐ credit to fulfill Advanced hours requirement Business ethics (MGT301) for Badm3‐‐ for Advanced hours requirement Czech Film and Literature (HSS260) for Macs2‐‐ for college of media electives

  • Travel writing

  • I really enjoyed all my classes. I took Jewish Experience, two sociology courses, and art and architecture. I loved how I got to learn about the area around me in all my course. I even got to enjoy going on many field trips throughout the courses.

CEA provides excursions that could include things like:

• • • An overnight trip to Český Krumlov, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the banks of the Vltava River

    • Exploring Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic’s largest, most famous spa city.

    • Spending a day exploring Terezín, an 18th-century fortress that was used as a concentration camp by the Germans during World War II

    • A day trip to Kutná Hora, exploring the beautiful, well-preserved medieval town, now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage site

Additional ways to explore and become involved in Prague:

• • • Experience Prague through the eyes of homelessness with a non-for-profit.

    • iMove with CEA

    • Hike in Pruhonice Botanical Gardens

    • Explore nuclear bomb shelters

    • Attend an opera or ballet Performance

    • Participate in cultural workshops

Student Voices on Engagement

• • I loved the people I met on my study abroad program and traveling. I also loved my host city. The Czech people are very reserved which was something I had to get used to.

  • I engage with locals throughout my housing and all around Prague. I also was able to have the chance to attend three different excursions within the Czech Republic, where I was able to learn more about the country as well as the culture. By living day‐to‐day interactions brought me cultural experiences.

• • I think that prospective participants should just be aware of Prague geographically and understand that it can be a very hilly city. Although everything is within walking distance, be prepared to walk a lot! Which was always great because the views are beautiful and the weather was considerably great :)

  • AAU's campus is a beautiful renovated palace. With beautiful weather, it was always great to walk to campus and enjoy the beauty of the courtyard and gardens. It was great to have the student cafe where kids can meet each other, study, listen to music, decompress, etc.

  • There was not a thing I did not enjoy. CEA does a remarkable job in Prague. I would recommend this program to anyone and everyone.

  • The Czechs are very different than Americans. They can be quiet and reserved, but also be very humorous. Unlike Americans, they spend long hours at meals and enjoy sharing that time with the people around them. The country is much more relaxed than today's society in America.

  • I really enjoyed being in Prague as it was beautiful and there was a lot of history there. It was really hard to get past the language barrier, it was hard to talk to locals.

  • Research the city beforehand and speak with students who have studied there before because those students most likely loved their time as well and are more than willing to help you have the same great time.

  • Prague is a very underrated location to study abroad in Europe! I found this city to be the best, no bias. They have a large airport and train station where it is easy to travel to and from different places. Prague is a big city but also very small.