Central and East European Studies Program

The Central and East European Studies Program (CESP) was built in 1992 as an optional one- or two-semester program held in English for students at graduate and undergraduate levels. The program focuses on issues of Central and East European economies, societies and cultures.

The program encounters the past, present and future developments of privatization, the restructuring of national economies, newly created political structures and other international areas of study. Subject areas include language, management, law, history, culture, politics, trade practices, and economies of the vanguard countries, mainly the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. There are also studies concerning the states of the former Soviet Union, and the program is further enriched with field study tours and cultural activities.

The Central and East European Studies Program is a self-financed extension program founded at the University of Economics, Prague (VŠE). All courses have been fully accredited only after scrutiny and review by the Academic Accreditation Committee of the VŠE.
The mission of the program is to provide studies in the economies, societies and cultures of Central and East European countries to students from countries throughout the world.

The objective of the program is to offer foreign students something they cannot receive from their home universities: the opportunity to reside in and experience the dynamic, exciting conditions in Central Europe through professional insight and instruction by native Czech professors and business professionals. The strategy of the program is to offer this objective through daily social interactions and course curriculum. When the students complete the program they will have accumulated a large amount of knowledge about Central and East European cultural attitudes and daily life. At the same time students can learn lots about living in Central Europe, everyday life in the Czech Republic and to get know Czech culture and habits.

CESP also organizes Summer University, lasting five weeks (mostly during the last two weeks of June and first three weeks of July). The Summer University offers intensive versions of basic CESP courses, field trips and excursions. This year the Summer University takes place from June 11 till July 13, 2007.

To date, CESP has taught students from various countries such as Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cameroon, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong-Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Turkey, Ukraine, United States and Uruguay.

CESP Office is located in the Paradise Building, which is the newest building of the University of Economics opened in fall 2005 and has at disposal several types of information materials.