Why study at FIT? Read the interview with Vítězslav Beran, Vice Dean for External Relations

Recently, Kult magazine published an interview with Vítězslav Beran, our Vice Dean for External Relations. In it, you will find out what you can gain by studying at FIT, how our faculty is connected to industry or how it supports student startups. You can read part of the interview on our website.

What makes FIT specific?

First of all, it's young. Last year we celebrated twenty years of its operation. This is also connected with the fact that we are quite a small faculty, so a friendly atmosphere prevails and it is easy to get along with each other. When we were celebrating this big anniversary, I did a little research during document preparation, where the friendly approach came up and very often in first place. Just to clarify for your readers, perhaps there are so many departments elsewhere in the faculties that their members don't know each other that well. Maybe only within their individual departments.

Where is the line between theoretical knowledge and putting it into practice?

We are technicians, so we have pushed that boundary more towards practicality. We generally understand education in a way that it is not absolutely necessary to pour all the knowledge into students... Although when the students read this, they'll probably be amused. Our purpose is to teach them how to solve individual problems in a methodical way. Teach them how to break the problem down into individual parts, look for and find different solutions and then put it all together. Knowledge too, of course, but above all give them a good foundation in key areas of IT.

What emphasis do you place on the aforementioned cooperation with industry?

Big. Firstly, because we are engineers and also because we are very much fed by cooperation with industry. The faculty budget is half teaching and half science. We have research contracts and we also work with industry to obtain various grants. Today, when you apply for a grant, in most cases you have to have an application partner who will use the result. So that it doesn't just end up in a drawer somewhere. It is also for the sake of the students to have a wide enough range of thesis topics. To handle practical things that are realistically solved. And last but not least, we invite various guests from our partners to show students how the theory is put into practice. A former classmate of mine owns a company for the automatic processing of sports matches. This is not only attractive for students, but also full of applied examples that are taught in theory.

How important is it for you that students undertake internships abroad?

I see not only foreign internships,  consisting of real practical experience in a company, but also studying abroad as perhaps the most important experience a student can gain. This applies especially in the technical field, and most of all in IT, because it is the field that shapes the modern world. A work internship or study stay is a completely different experience than spending time in cafes. As well as language skills, you also learn about another culture, get a better perspective and make important contacts.

Do you make it in any way easier for new students to enter your university?

Yes, we organise a Start@FIT event the weekend before the start of the first semester, where academics and the student union introduce the university to new students and give them a hands-on introduction. With the help of their peers, our upper-year students learn how things work at the faculty. For example, how to make course notes or structure a timetable. We also organize optional courses where you can study subjects such as the basics of programming or mathematics. There are those who have worked with office packages from Microsoft and call it IT, and then there are others who already have a successful project with Arduino behind them.

The Faculty of Information Technology also boasts its own projects. For example, FIT Creative OpenSpace or Excel@FIT. What is their content?

FIT Creative OpenSpace is a program to support students' own projects. It is aimed at those who want to work on their own idea instead of working in a company. We have set up an OpenSpace for them where they can implement their project in a group. Excel@FIT, which takes place in April, is a kind of "fair" where students present the results of their projects. Most of them are the results of theses. Industrialists, for example, come here because many of these projects can have an impact in the real world. In this context, I would also like to mention the October LiveIT programme, which introduces students to our industry partners. But beware, these are not job offers! It is a presentation of experts through seminars on the topic, combined with a panel discussion. The discussion panels are mostly attended by technical directors, but also by alumni of our faculty

Why should young people study at VUT Brno after leaving secondary school?

Technology in general is a very progressive field, which has great prospects not only in our country, but importantly all over the world too. In addition, IT is everywhere today, which perhaps makes it even more useful. It is an incredibly dynamic area of knowledge and what we use quite commonly today, until recently we considered to be something of a miracle, such as smart watches.