The faculty school status gives secondary school students at VOŠS and SPŠS Dušní the opportunity to actively participate in professional projects, excursions, and research activities directly at the faculty. Teaching provided directly by university lecturers from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague is also a great experience for them. The established cooperation also facilitates the transition from secondary to university studies.
"We have been cooperating with VOŠS and SPŠS Dušní in the education of students for many years. It has been our partner school since 2022, and I am very pleased that this successful and intensive cooperation is now reaching a higher level of quality – the school is becoming a faculty school. In this way, we want to motivate secondary school students to study civil engineering and architecture, especially at our faculty, strengthen their professional competencies, and help them start their university studies. Our joint initiative thus contributes to the promotion of high-quality technical education and the preparation of a new generation of experts for both practical and academic environments," says Prof. Jiří Máca, Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague.
PaedDr. Marie Plíhalová, director of VOŠS and SPŠS Dušní in Prague, also appreciates the mutual cooperation: "This step is a great honor for us. Thanks to this, our students not only gain access to modern laboratories, specialized seminars, and lectures at the faculty, but above all, they are in direct contact with university teachers, whose high level of expertise and erudition is motivating and inspiring for them. In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in interest in studying at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University, which confirms the significance of this path."
The established cooperation is beneficial for students both in terms of secondary school education and the transition to university. "Starting university is a major turning point in life, and many secondary school students are concerned about how they will fare in front of university teachers and what the university environment will be like. Thanks to closer contact with the faculty, students are able to better orient themselves in the university environment and more easily cope with the fears associated with starting their studies. The cooperation between the secondary school and the faculty clearly shows that people at the university are also friendly and helpful and that, although the studies are demanding, the environment is supportive. Colleagues who have started teaching at VOŠS and SPŠS Dušní in Prague highly praise this experience and see it as a valuable pedagogical challenge and an opportunity to meet talented students and support them in their further studies. At the same time, university teachers introduce students to further educational opportunities and expand their regular teaching with new professional perspectives," says Prof. Zuzana Pešková, Vice-Dean for Educational Activities at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at CTU in Prague.
Experience teaching at secondary school also enriches university lecturers. Prof. Jaroslav Kruis has been working with VOŠS and SPŠS Dušní for six years, teaching the subject "Preparation for study at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University," which is intended for students in their final year of secondary school: "The fundamental difference is in the pace of teaching. At secondary school, it is necessary to proceed much more slowly and also to find accessible ways to explain the subject matter to students and avoid terms that they do not yet know."
Prof. Petr Štemberk also has six years of teaching experience here, lecturing on Building Structures to third-year students. "Teaching is fully interactive, students ask questions during the lesson, and thanks to the standard arrangement of desks in the classroom, the teacher can look into their notebooks and thus monitor their level of immediate understanding of the material. Thanks to the teaching mode with an emphasis on discipline, it is possible to teach more demanding material at VOŠS and SPŠS Dušní, which is very useful for students in their subsequent studies at our faculty or immediately after graduation in practice. In any case, thanks to long-term contact with teachers from our faculty, students are better prepared for university studies, which is confirmed by both the students themselves and my fellow teachers."
The cooperation between the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague and VOŠS and SPŠS Dušní continues to develop dynamically. "We have made significant progress in recent years. Thanks to experts from the faculty, our students can learn about modern technologies, procedures, and practical material testing. Together, we have introduced a new elective course that gives students a different perspective on structural statics and prepares them for study at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague. We have also created a seminar called Betonáři z Dušní (Concrete Workers from Dušní) and joined the Betonová kanoe (Concrete Canoe) project. We are also developing cooperation in the field of water management and landscape engineering, especially in the area of water management and ecological elements in the landscape and hydrology. Thanks to cooperation with the Experimental Center, students have the opportunity to learn about the latest procedures in mechanical, static, and dynamic testing of building structures and materials during field trips. The use of faculty laboratories and regular visits to lectures by university teachers are also a great benefit. All this helps them to better orient themselves in the field and motivates them to continue their studies," concludes PaedDr. Marie Plíhalová, director of VOŠS and SPŠS Dušní.
Thanks to its cooperation with the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Czech Technical University, VOŠS and SPŠS Dušní offer an exceptional range of specialized education. Students can choose from Architecture and Civil Engineering, Building Construction, Transport Construction, Water Management and Environmental Construction, and BIM Design. This gives them a wide range of career opportunities immediately after graduation, and these are also areas in which interested students can continue their studies at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
