Student life

Academia Film Olomouc – International Festival of Science Documentary Films is one of the leading festivals of its kind in Europe. This popular festival has hosted world-renown scientists such as evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, robotics visionary Hiroshi Ishiguro, or AI philosopher Susan Schneider. The aim of the festival is to portray science as an attractive, dynamic and diverse phenomenon by showing films that explore natural, human, and social sciences. Hundreds of documentary films and TV shows are submitted each year to the festival's competition sections, with some produced by such prestigious producers as the BBC, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic. Palacký students and graduates help organize Academia Film Olomouc every year, and this experience of being a part of a major event allows them to test and improve their production abilities and skills.

The famous Olomouc Majáles (Palacký University Olomouc Student May Festival) offers a jam-packed music programme, great film screenings, original stand-ups, and fun sports activities. Held every May, this student carnival is inherently linked to a popular allegorical procession associated with the coronation of the king or queen.   The line-up of previous years featured such Czech music stars as Vypsaná fiXa, Thom Artway, Tata Bojs, P.S.H., and Zrní. No matter how busy the programme, there is always time for more relaxing activities, like the presentation of student associations and non-profit organizations, theatre shows, and feasting at the festival eats.

Meet UP is a great introduction to the city of Olomouc. Five days packed with gigs, theatre shows, workshops, presentations, swap and flea markets, film screenings, talks, and exhibitions, great food and drink, as well as information about the way the University works and what not to miss in Olomouc. Opening the academic year, Meet UP is also an opportunity to showcase student organizations and university departments, and the time science is glorified during the popular Long Night of the Sciences.

Every year, the university motivates its students and staff to join the Free Blood Donation Faculty Battle, or Roll Up Your Sleeve!  Students and employees of individual faculties may now go to any donation point in the Czech Republic and support a good cause and the inter-faculty competitive spirit. The faculties compete for the highest total volume of blood donated by their students and employees and the percentage of student donors. The battle lasts for the entire winter semester and culminates with the traditional and popular Donate Blood with the Rector.

Palacký University is currently home to more than thirty organizations and unions associating students with a wide variety of interests. The wide range of associations cater to both bachelor and master students, but also to students of doctoral programs who, in addition to their studies, are also starting their research career. The UP Student Club was opened at the UP Central Library building (Armoury) in February 2018, providing space for meetings, trainings, workshops, and thematic lectures.

The university facility Academic Sport Centre offers a wide range of sporting activities. A sports pass valid for the entire semester entitles you to attend any of the more than 40 sports activities held in some cases several times a week, depending on student demand. The Academic Sport Centre package includes aerobic group exercises, sports games, martial arts, gym, yoga, dance and outdoor activities.

Olomouc Archery Club welcomes all parties interested in trying their hand in archery. In addition to activities for its registered members, the club opens its premises to the students and employees of Palacký University, as well as for the general public. Those interested in archery may consult experienced instructor or rent out equipment. Olomouc Archery Club has an indoor and an outdoor shooting range and two mobile shooting ranges.

The gym is furnished with a large number of modern training equipment. The students and employees of Palacký University exercise here with both weight-loss and strength training equipment. The gym includes a sauna, a relaxation room, and a resting point. The gym offers a number of programmes during the semester, from basic to staff-only plans.

The mission of the Centre for Adapted Physical Activities is to support people with specific needs in living an active lifestyle, with the aim of improving their quality of life. The Centre lends out compensatory aids, provides counselling about sports and recreation, and arranges summer and winter sports courses. The Centre is part of the Department of Adapted Physical Activities of the Faculty of Physical Culture of Palacký University.

Since 2019, the Palacký University Ice-Hockey Club has been part of the historically first University Ice Hockey League in the Czech Republic, which it helped to establish. The club was founded in 2016 under the name University Shields Olomouc and gathered experience while in a foreign league, where it played against teams from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The club's home base is the ice-hockey stadium in Uničov, but the university team also plays outdoor matches as part of the Winter Classic.

The Palacký University Olomouc Volleyball Club is one of the most successful women's volleyball teams in the Czech Republic. The club dates back to 1953, the year the Slávia VŠ Olomouc women's volleyball team was founded. It was renamed as VK UP Olomouc in 2015. Olomouc women's volleyball players have won the national league and the Czech Cup several times since 1991 when the independent Czech Republic was founded, and they have a lot of experience from prestigious European competitions.

The former artillery ammunition dump was turned into a progressive science museum of the Faculty of Science of Palacký University in 2015. Fort Science provides inspiration for both university students and the general public with its unique space and current focus on informal education. Visitors to the museum can look forward to a hundred exhibits made by the UP Faculty of Science, a number of animators, and four packed exhibitions on technology, nature, and history. An unforgettable experience is visiting the local digital planetarium with film projection and a static exposition of astronomy and cosmonautics. Fort Science also offers activities designed for the further education of teaching staff and interactive teambuilding.

The heart of Olomouc’s culture – the Arts Centre - is made up by the base of the instruction of History of Art, Film and Theatre Studies, Television Studies, Music Education, Musicology, and Art Education. It is a large complex with fascinating history, which houses classrooms, studios, film and theatre auditoria and, last but not least, one of the best preserved sites in the Czech Republic – the Corpus Christi Chapel. The AC is also the home base for creative student associations Pastiche Filmz and StuArt, the ATENEO choir, the Reactor project, and the UP AIR student radio station. The Baroque building of the former Jesuit monastery is a key space for the Academia Film Olomouc (AFO) festival and of the PAF festival of film animation and modern art, as well as of the renowned Flora Theatre Festival, the Olomouc Baroque Festival, and the MusicOlomouc festival.

The UPoint information center and shop provides information and tips on interesting locations, places, and cultural and educational events. The shop carries a range of merchandise from pens and notebooks to mugs, backpacks or the designer UniWearCity apparel to picnic blankets, for which you can buy university beer UP Ale or university wine. Book lovers will appreciate the bookstore section selling titles by our students, employees, and graduates, be it poetry, fiction or popular science. There is also a quiet and cosy reading room available at UPoint.

Created in 2015, the geopark is an excellent educational resource for UP Faculty of Science students of geology as well as the general public. It is installed in a park behind the main Faculty building at 17. listopadu 12 and showcases 45 exhibits from 31 locations. Its four sections hold exhibits weighing a total of one hundred tons. It took ten two-day expeditions to collect all the material. The geopark presents various types of rock from different geological units of the Bohemian Massif and the Western Carpathians, which form the geological bedrock of Moravia and Silesia.

The Summer School of Slavonic Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Palacký University Olomouc (LŠSS FF UP) organizes courses of Czech language designed for university teachers, instructors, and students of Czech language and literature, of Slavonic studies, translators, journalists, traders, and the general public interested in Czech language, literature and culture. Graduates receive a certificate of language level based on the final test results at the end of the course. Students who fail the final test or do not attend the whole course are granted a confirmation of participation. As the summer school course has been accredited since 2018, students who fulfil the given requirements are entitled to 8 ECTS at their home university.

The Summer School of Bohemistic Studies updates and improves the participants’ linguistic and literary knowledge of Czech philology in an international and interdisciplinary context. Emphasis will be placed on the applicability of acquired knowledge and skills in the participants’ professions. The course is accredited by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports.