International Cooperation
The Department of Middle Eastern Studies (DMES) focuses on the study of languages, cultures, societies and politics of a broader Middle East and Africa North from the Equator where the dominant religion is Islam. In our research, we focus on four main specializations: Arabic and Islamic studies, Israeli and Hebrew Studies, Assyriology, and African Studies.
A necessary part of studying at our department is studying and lecturing abroad. Our students as well as academics have already visited more than 20 countries of the Middle East and Africa as is shown on the map.
The DMES has developed close contacts with many universities in Africa and Middle East:
The DMES has signed the Erasmus contract with the University Cadi Ayyad in Marrakesh, Morocco. There has also been a significant exchange of students and professors from both sides. Most of the members of the DMES have been lecturing in Marrakech with more to come in the following years.
In Iran, our main university partner is al-Mustafa International University in Qom. Over the past four years of intensive cooperation, 55 students have completed a monthly intensive course of Islamic studies and Farsi. In the framework of this cooperation, 9 professors from the Czech Republic and 3 Iranian professors have visited, taught a consulted at the partner university.
In the Horn of Africa, there is a longstanding relationship with Addis Ababa University and Jimma University. In 2014, the 1st Ethio-Czech International Conference on Africa was organized at Jimma University with rich participation from Pilsen. Jan Záhořík has been a frequent guest at both universities as well as at Ethiopian Civil Service University. In 2016, he spent half a year at Addis Ababa University as a visiting professor. In Sudan, our main partners are the University of Khartoum, and CEDEJ, the French research center. Veronika Sobotková, Daniel Křížek, and Jan Záhořík lectured at CEDEJ in 2017 and Jan Záhořík has become affiliated research at CEDEJ. In the near future, it is planned that our students will have an opportunity to study Arabic language at the University of Khartoum with which we signed an MoU in 2018. In Kenya, the main partner with whom we signed an MoU is Lukenya University, but relations with other institutions such as United States International University and Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi began to be developed. In 2018, Jan Záhořík visited Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire as a part of broader delegation from the University of West Bohemia and it is expected that first students will begin to study in Pilsen in 2019.
In Europe, the main partner of the DMES is definitely the Department of Political and Social Studies at the University of Pavia. There have already been multiple visits by Veronika Sobotková, Daniel Křížek, Zbyněk Tarant, and Jan Záhořík in Pavia, and Antonio Morone together with Massimo Zaccaria lectured in Plzeň repeatedly.
The list of main partners of the DMES are as follows:
University Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech, Morocco
Al-Mustafa University in Qom, Iran
Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Jimma University, Ethiopia
University of Khartoum, Sudan
Lukenya University, Kenya
University of Pavia, Italy
Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden
Warsaw University, Poland
University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy