UWB opens summer extra-curricular courses. Some can be finished with a microcertificate

The University of West Bohemia in Pilsen is adding a major novelty to its lifelong learning: some extra-curricular studies can now end with an EU-recognized microcertificate. Applicants for the summer term can enroll in programming, law, languages or psychology.

A microcertificate is a new way of completing courses at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen that are accredited within lifelong learning. “Its strength lies in the fact that it meets European standards, so the outcome isn’t just a confirmation of completion but an internationally recognized diploma within the European Union,” explained Jan Topinka, head of the university’s Lifelong Learning Department. Each faculty decides how to structure its courses. Somewhere a single semester-long subject is enough; elsewhere you need to finish a whole set to earn the microcertificate.

For example, the Faculty of Applied Sciences will offer three mathematics courses, and after completing all of them, students will receive a microcertificate for finishing the Financial Mathematics and Models program. Many courses will also be available online. In the first pilot selection, there are 18 so far, listed on the lifelong learning website.

The university launched the extra-curricular studies this academic year and will open applications for the summer semester in December. Roughly seventy courses will be available — popular psychology and programming again, but also German, law, and technical subjects. Special-study courses are always taught in person, with participants joining regular classes alongside full-time students. Graduates receive a university certificate. Some of these courses, however, can now newly be completed with a microcertificate.

“Even though two different forms of lifelong-learning completion may look confusing at first, their roles are distinct and complementary. Special study opens the door for the public to university-level subjects. Micro-certificates then give selected courses European weight and international clarity,” said Vice-Rector for Studies Jiří Kohout. The university aims for most extra-curricular studies to be completed with a microcertificate in the future.

Nearly a hundred members of the public enrolled in the pilot winter semester that began in September. The greatest interest was in General Psychology and Personality Psychology, the Physical Foundations of Quantum Computing, and Computers and Programming. Applications for the summer semester can be submitted until the end of January.