Czech universities offer quality education in various fields, and business is no exception. An additional advantage of earning a degree in the Czech Republic is the opportunity to undertake an internship not only in Prague, but also in other European capitals. There are also many job opportunities for graduates. Where to go to study if you dream of a career as Ilon Musk, what qualities do you need to have for this? What is the “wrong” motivation for a career in business? Check it in the article.

Czech business schools are divided into two types:

a) public, where you can study for free in Czech and for a fee in English;

b) private, where you have to pay for your studies.

Below we discuss some of them.

Public Business Schools

• The Higher School of Economics in Prague (VŠE) offers the most extensive training in the field of entrepreneurship.

At the Faculty of Business Economics you can choose from four programs: Business Administration (English); Cultural Management (Arts management, EN); Business Economics and Management (in Czech).

The Faculty of International Relations has six programs: International Business (in English), International and Diplomatic Studies (in English), Management in Trade (in Czech) and others.

The Faculty of Informatics and Statistics offers five programs, among them Applied Informatics, Information Media And Services, Multimedia In Economic Practice and others.

The Faculty of Management in Jindřichův Hradec offers excellent preparation in management and administration fields.

The Faculty of National Economy has a major program in English – Economics.

• Czech Agricultural University in Prague. Specialization in business and management at the Faculty of Economics (Business Administration, in English; you can also study in Czech).

• The Faculty of Economics of the Technical University in Liberec offers two programs in English in Business Administration (Production Management and Economics Management of Services), 4 Bachelor’s and 3 Master’s programs in Czech. Among them: Economics And Management Of International Trade, Management Informatics and others.

• The Higher School of Technology and Economics in České Budějovice. It is possible to study Business Administration in English and to obtain an MBA degree afterwards. There is also a Czech Business Economics program.

• At the Faculty of Entrepreneurship at the Brno University of Technology there are five programs that introduce the intricacies of entrepreneurship. Among them: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (in English), Business Economics, Accounting and Taxes, Business Process Management (in Czech) and others. The Mendel University, also in Brno, has a Faculty of Economics (pef.mendelu.cz) and a specialty in Economics and Management. Teaching process is conducted in English. The applicant can also choose from nine Czech programs, e.g. Finance, Tourism Management, Commercial Management, Public Administration, etc.

• The University of Hradec Králové has a Faculty of Informatics and Management. Here you can study economics and management, applied computer science, management in tourism and other professions. The graduates work in management positions in various fields: culture, production, finance, tourism.

• Business can also be found at liberal arts institutes. For example, at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Ostrava students study English for professional communication.

• The field of business in terms of finance can be studied at the Faculty of Management and Economics at Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín. There are four undergraduate programs in Czech and one in English: Management and Economics (CZ, ENG), Accounting and Taxation, Public Administration And Regional Development, Production And Quality Management.

• At the Faculty of Economics and Management at the University of Pardubice students learn the ins and outs of business management. There are dozens of programs to choose from: Applied Informatics, Business Economics And Operations, Information And Security Systems, Financial Institutions Management, etc. Teaching is conducted in Czech.

• Slezský University in Opava, Faculty of Commerce and Entrepreneurship in Karviná. Specialization in digital business.

Private Business Schools

Here is the list of Prague private schools, where you can get a paid education in business:

Anglo-American Graduate School New York University Unicorn University Metropolitan University Prague NEWTON University (Prague, Brno) CEVRO Institute (Prague, Český Krumlov) European Business School SE Prague College High School of Business and Law (Brno, Ostrava, Prague) High School of Finance and Administration (Karlovy Vary, Most, Prague) High School of Creative Communication High School of Commerce

The choice of Czech universities, where you can get your first knowledge and skills in business, is really great. Therefore, before settling on one of the universities, you need to answer yourself a few questions:

• Why do I want to study the field of business and think it is my cup of coffee?

• What particular aspects of entrepreneurship interest me?

• How do I envision my future employment?

• What are my passions and interests in life?

• What are my strengths and weaknesses?

Write down your answers so you can check them time to time and make adjustments.

“An entrepreneur is someone who has a vision and wants to create.”

David Karp, founder and CEO of Tumblr

(Not) Built For Business?

If you’ve read Richard Branson’s biography, you may remember that in his youth he did not receive a business education. That didn’t stop him from building several companies with multimillion-dollar revenues. The secret of Branson’s success is similar to the secrets of other successful entrepreneurs: he engaged only in what was really interesting to him, was not afraid to play “va-bank”, make mistakes, and put all into work. In numerous interviews he says that business should improve the lives of other people. Then it is good business. It is worth noting that Branson does not prioritize income: it is secondary. It’s the cool idea that’s primary.

Here are some wrong motivations for choosing a business as a learning destination:

• “Everyone in my family is in business, so I can do it, too.“ “Genetic” professional predisposition is certainly important, but it does not guarantee success one hundred percent.

• “I have wealthy parents, that will give me an easy start in my career.” A good entrepreneur knows the “kitchen” of business thoroughly, and to do that, you have to start moving up the career ladder from lower positions, not start from a CEO position. Many of today’s tycoons follow this rule for their offspring.

• “I want to go into business to make a lot of money.” Back to Richard Branson: if your goal is the number of zeros in your bank account, rather than a desire to change the world or create a truly unique product, then big money is unlikely to come to you.

• “Doing business is cool.” Depends on what you mean by that. It’s really cool to be a professional at what you do, regardless of field.

• “The business field offers great promise.” True only for those who have a clear idea of exactly what they want to do.

One of the best and most popular personal growth coaches in the United States, Maria Forleo, believes that the feeling of motivation does not need to wait at all: “Here’s news for you: happy and productive people do not wait for motivation, they overpower themselves and work, and motivation appears over time.

What Am I Strong At?

Chase Jarvis, CEO of CreativeLive and one of the most successful photographers in the world, believes that you have to bet on your strengths:

“The key is to decide what my zest is and what you need to do to develop it. Develop your strengths, not your weaknesses. If you’re not very good at photography but still a good storyteller, don’t give up on your passion for photography and add incredible stories to your images“. His clients include Lady Gaga, Nike, Apple, Red Bull and other famous personalities and companies.

Professional and personal qualities that are definitely not superfluous if you want to succeed in the business sphere:

• The ability to think creatively, outside the box

• Structured thinking: a clear plan of action in your head and on paper

• Analytical mind

• Friendly relationship with exact disciplines.

• Quick and appropriate reaction to sudden changes

• Insatiable curiosity

• Very high working capacity

• Ability to work in teams and independently

• Ability to make unpopular decisions and take responsibility for them

• Willingness to learn new things

• Desire to make the world better

“Every one of us is an entrepreneur. The only skills you need to become an entrepreneur are the ability to fail, the ability to generate ideas, the ability to sell those ideas, the ability to implement those ideas, and the ability to be persistent to learn despite your mistakes and move on to the next adventure.“

James Altacher, American investor

Some Graduates Stories

Polina Kulikova, financial consultant, @polina.finance:

“I studied at the High School of Economics in Prague, Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Law. I got my Bachelor’s and then Master’s degree. There were a lot of interesting and uninteresting subjects. Studying was easy for me, but I think it’s very subjective, some students found it easy and others found it hard. In the Master’s program, I really liked the fact that you could choose an additional specialization (Czech: vedlejší specializace), which was more practical. I chose “Entrepreneurship In Small Business”. There was a lot of practice, successful businessmen came to us, discussed their startups and organized workshops. We came up with a project ourselves and drew up a business plan for it. I have a great memory of that.

On the whole, the education system at the Higher School of Economics was very close to me. I liked the fact that it was possible to study not only compulsory subjects, but also to choose those that interested you – in my case, those related to investing. The schedule could also be adjusted completely to suit myself, and that was a huge advantage.

I studied at the Czech department for free. The first three years I was just preparing for exams. It was not easy: there were a lot of economic and legal terms that I did not study at school. Until now, by the way, I know some things only in Czech and have no idea how they sound in other languages. However, I have always done well in exams.

As for employment, I started to work part-time when I was a student. I worked as an assistant to the head of an IT-company, ran an online store, performed various administrative duties, including issuing invoices and bills. Then all of a sudden I went to study to be a tour guide. I completed a three-month course, worked one season, and realized that it was a hell of a job. You need the ability to speak almost without a break, and I do not know how. After that I went back to the office.“

Lolita Nazarchuk, a graduate of Metropolitan University:

“I graduated from the Metropolitan University in Prague, specializing in international relations. When I entered, I took Czech and English tests, which wasn’t difficult. Studying turned out to be much more difficult. The thing is that before admission I had studied Czech for only four months. It was enough to pass the entrance exams, but for a full understanding of educational material was not enough. The first semester my classmates helped me, but in the second semester I joined in, pushed myself. At the session there were usually 6-7 subjects, two of them were difficult, that is, I had to prepare a week for the exam. The others were okay, a couple of days were enough to be good and pass it.

In my undergraduate group there were about seventy people, of whom only thirty passed everything and graduated on time.

In the master’s program I chose correspondence education. It was more difficult, because I was already working full-time, I had no time to go to lectures, and I had to learn all the material on my own. I took the state exams not in June but in September – I needed the summer to prepare. About thirty percent of students passed the exams.

The most difficult subjects were statistics and everything associated with higher mathematics and economic theory. It was mostly on the tests on these subjects that the guys “dropped out of the race.“ Marketing disciplines, on the contrary, did not cause any problems.

I do not regret the fact that I chose Metropolitan University. This education came in very handy in my work. For example, a degree in economics was a prerequisite for one job in a large corporation.“