Student Mobility at MEi:CogSci Bratislava
Welcome
Dear incoming Coxies, welcome to the MEi:CogSci programme in Bratislava, which you have chosen as your mobility semester destination. We, your host teachers, are delighted with your choice and will do our best to assist you to make the most of your ERASMUS experience. This short material will provide you with basic introductory orientation information. Where possible, the external links point to English versions of university-level webpages, however not many of the pages exist in English. For the time being, please use Google translator or ask a Slovak speaker for help. We do apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us!
Enjoy!
MEi:CogSci Bratislava Team
MEi:CogSci programme in Bratislava
MEi:CogSci programme in Bratislava is hosted by the Department of Applied Informatics at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University. It has been running since 2006. Although our strongest in-house specialty is computational modeling, the teachers participating in the programme provide a much wider expertise in various disciplines. The teachers you will probably encounter the most frequently are Prof. Igor Farkaš (programme coordinator) and Assoc. prof. Martin Takáč (your host coordinator and student tutor).
Semester dates
The lecture period lasts Sep. 18 - Dec. 15, 2023. The examination period starts after Christmas holidays and lasts Jan. 2 - Feb. 16, 2024. You should be done with all your exams and the project by the end of examination period.
What you need to do at the beginning
University-level
You need to fill in some paperwork and register in the University information system (more info here, please ignore the obsolete dates, you can register for the courses at the beginning of the semester). This is very important, because the system keeps the record of all courses you enrolled for including your project - without their existing in the system, your teachers would not be able to fill in your marks at the end of the semester. The person of contact is Mgr. Patrik Kmetek, office No. F1-120, tel. +421-2-60295212 (or just ext. 212 if calling from internal phones within the Faculty building), Patrik.Kmetek@fmph.uniba.sk. Office hours 9:00-11:30. So make sure to visit Mr. Kmetek to sort out all the paperwork.
MEi:CogSci-internal
You need to bring home 30 ECTS for mobility. Part of this is covered by compulsory courses (10 ECTS). The remaining 20 ECTS can be divided between your project and other optional courses. Make sure to get in contact with your project supervisor ASAP and negotiate how many ECTS will your project be for (it can be for 10, 15 or 20 ECTS, depending on the expected workload - 1 ECTS translates to approx 25 hours of work, so a project for 20 ECTS amounts to approx. 500 hours spent on it).
Your compulsory courses (the two forming New Trends in Cognitive Science, and a research project):
- 2-IKVa-239/22 Deep Learning and Cognition (Tuesdays 9:50-13:00) (note: replaced 2-IKVa-232/19 Grounded cognition)
- 2-IKVa-232/19 Cognitive Semantics and Cognitive Theory of Representation (Thursdays 9:50-13:00)
- Mobility project I, II or III (for 10,15 or 20 ECTS, respectively)
Elective courses:
The list of MEi:CogSci courses can be found here (note: only the courses with 1/W or 2/W in the 5th column are offered in the winter semester). Some specialized courses are provided in English (marked with *) and also two introductory courses which some of you might find interesting:
- 2-IKVa-102/18 Mathematics for Cognitive Science (5 ECTS)
- 2-IKVa-105/18 Fundamentals of Programming (in Python) (5 ECTS)
To avoid a potential time clash, see the course schedule for the 1st year and 2nd year cognitive science courses. The schedule is in Slovak, so a better way to look for the time and place of a course you are interested in is to first look for the course in the list of courses, then enter the code of the course (e.g. 2-IKVa-102/18) into a search bar (left of the button 'Hľadaj', which means search) of this interactive schedule application.
You can also take a look at the list od Erasmus+ courses provided at our faculty.
After you choose your courses and negotiate the ECTS for project, start working on a detailed specification for your project. This will result in filling in your learning contract (LC). The form is available on the MEi:Cogsci portal in Downloads (note, there are 3 templates). The deadline for completing your project is the end of winter-term examination period (mid-February) - make sure the project plan in your LC reflects this. After your supervisor approves the final version of the contract, send it via email to your home and host coordinators for their approval, with cc to your supervisor, by Oct 30. Your host coordinator is Martin Takáč. Detailed instructions can be found in the LC form.
Student tutor/advisor
If you need an advice in study/curriculum matters, feel free to contact Assoc. prof. Martin Takáč, your student tutor and host coordinator (consultation hours flexible, by previous email appointment).What you need to do at the end
MEi:CogSci-internal
After you have successfuly passed your exams and completed the project, you need to bring home the signed and stamped LC. At this stage, include a summary (3000-5000 characters) of your project findings in the LC form and get your supervisor to sign it and fill in the grade of the project. Then send it via email to your host coordinator Martin Takáč and cc the supervisor. The host coordinator then enters your project grade into AIS, fills in the LC grades for the courses you took and adds his signature. He sends all signed LCs in one batch to your home coordinator.
University-level
When all your grades have been registered in AIS, visit the Erasmus coordinator Mr. Kmetek to obtain the official transcript of your grades and to finalize Erasmus-related paperwork.
Cogsci community
While our 2nd year students will be at their mobility semester, our 1st year students are here, so get in contact with them to get useful introduction to student's life in Bratislava. The first good opportunity to meet them, as well as your teachers and our last year's graduates, is our annual Cognitive drink event, that takes place in the second half of September. You are cordially invited. Follow also our MEi:CogSci Bratislava Facebook page.
Useful info about the Faculty
Opening hours
The buliding has two entrances: from the South (Physics building) and from the East (Mathematics building). Most of your classes will take place in the Informatics building which is attached to Mathematics, so you will want to use the East entrance. After entering the building and passing the reception, turn right for the Informatics building. The East entrance is open on working days bw 6:00-20:15. After these hours use the Physics entrance (both buildings are connected).
Where to eat
The Faculty has a canteen (FAYNFOOD) in the Physics building close to the South entrance. The full price for a lunch is approx. 6 Eur, with a discount on ISIC card. The current menu, as well as other dining options, can be found here.
There are several buffees, a cafeteria and a pizzeria in the nearby Faculty of natural sciences and Faculty of information technologies, and plenty others are in the student's dormitory area in Slávičie údolie.
Library
The Faculty's library is on the basement floor of the Informatics building. Besides books on math and physics, it recently dedicated a special shelf to several hundreds of cognitive science related books.
Internet
Eduroam Wifi is available in the Faculty buildings - you should be able to log in with your home university Eduroam credentials.
Freshman's Guide to the Galaxy
You can find a lot more practical information in the "Freshman Matfyzak's Guide to the Galaxy" (in Slovak, but very useful, use Google Translator or Translate Page in Chrome).
Practical info about Bratislava
Need help with finding accomodation in Bratislava? University provides accomodation in student dormitories in Mlynská dolina. There is also a Facebook group (self-organized by the students) to search, exchange, and offer homes in Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Vienna and beyond- you might find it useful when plannig your mobility. Note also a general Discord group for MEi:CogSci students (also self-organized).
Lots of other practical information about life in Bratislava can be found here.
Where possible, the external links point to English versions of university-level webpages, however not many of the pages exist in English. For the time being, please use Google translator or ask a Slovak speaker for help. We do apologize for any inconvenience.