For Erica and Sun, Chinese students, Thursday was just an ordinary midweek.
However, the riots in the streets near the campus and the "explosion" in the group of students quickly ignited the tense atmosphere and made the students break out in a cold sweat. Later, the news swept the whole world, and all major news agencies urgently broadcast such reports:
"According to the Czech police, 19 people were killed and 21 injured in a shooting at Charles University, and the shooter was identified as a student of the university's Faculty of Letters......"
Sun is a medical student, and the medical school is far away from the incident and has not yet been deeply felt, while Erica belongs to the same Faculty of Arts as the gunman. She was glad she didn't go to the main building of the academy at the time, "I feel like I'm the survivor of the catastrophe right now." Thanks to the fact that there were no classes in the main building of the academy at the time, otherwise they would have experienced the shooting. ”
In this shooting, all the Chinese students survived. According to the statistics of the Czech Association of Chinese Students and Scholars, there are currently more than 600 Chinese students in the Czech Republic. Considering that the Czech Republic has a population of 10 million, this number is not small.
Charles University, where the shooting took place, is not very well-known in China, but once you understand it, it has a great history, founded in 1348, nearly 700 years ago. It is known as the European Cultural Center along with the University of Bologna (1088), the University of Paris (1257) and the University of Oxford (1096).
After seeing the news of the Czech shooting, it is estimated that many people in China do not remember the last time they saw this country in the news, and they will inevitably have a series of question marks: What is this place? Is it so dangerous? Why are there still Chinese students coming to study, and what are the pictures?......
The world is so big, second-hand information can never compare to first-hand experience. After in-depth discussions with several local Chinese students at the Bund, I found that the Czech Republic, a niche study abroad country, really has a lot to say. After all, the more you know, the more you can see, the more choices you have, and the less prejudices you have.
From the shooting case to talk about the safety of studying abroad
Erica and Sun are in their first year studying at Charles University, and the shooting was a very fortuitous event in their lives.
The assailant was dubbed "David J. Brown" by the police. David K, in the same college and major as Erica. Charles University is the best university in the Czech Republic, and locals have to study hard if they want to go to Xi university. K's results are outstanding. He is a graduate student in the Department of World History, specializing in Polish history.
David S. K is an introvert and does not have any history of violence or criminal history, but he is said to have serious psychological problems and has posted many times that he is tired of life and hates other people. He first killed his father at his home in the village, and then went to the main building of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University to shoot indiscriminately, and the dozens of victims, most of whom were teachers and students passing by.
Prague City
Some people say that this case marks the "spread of American-style school shootings to Europe", but that is not — there has never been a shooting of this magnitude in the entire history of the Czech Republic.
Local Chinese students also generally say that in fact, the security in the Czech Republic is very good.
William Russell, a British insurance company, once conducted a survey on the "safest city" in the minds of travelers from all over the world, and Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, ranked third in the world;
In the Global Peace Index report released by the Institute of Economics and Peace, the Czech Republic has been ranked in the top 10 safest countries in the world for many years, and its security and security situation is better than that of most European countries.
Sun, who had studied in the UK and traveled to many European countries, felt that petty theft in Western and Southern Europe was more rampant than in the Czech Republic, and his mobile phone alone was stolen two or three times. In Prague, security is relatively better. Visitors can feel relaxed when walking around the city, and even feel safe when walking through the dark streets, which is rare in Europe.
Although Erica had just "brushed shoulders" with the school shooting, she still said that she didn't have to worry too much about how she should go to school in the future. Her feelings are also that, putting aside the small probability of injury, the security in Prague is not bad.
The Chinese students in the Czech Republic talked about some details that were not mentioned in the news - the level of the Czech police is not low or high, but can only be said to be "one tendon".
According to Erica, the police knew earlier that the killer had suicidal intentions and made arrangements and evacuation a day in advance. The student's class was mainly in the branch building of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, and the police only evacuated the personnel of the branch building, but did not take any action against the main teaching building. It's quite outrageous, saying that they didn't move fast and acted in advance, but the result was off. This story tells us that the most reliable thing for our international students to go out is not to join in the fun, and to go in case of trouble.
Prague City
According to data released by the Czech police in 2023, more than 310,000 people in the Czech Republic have gun licenses, and the number of registered guns has reached more than 980,000. This also means that 1 in 30 people in the Czech Republic legally own a gun. In the aftermath of this case, some Charles University students have made a request for a complete ban on guns, which is tantamount to amending the constitution, which may not be realistic.
However, in the context of strong gun culture in Europe and the United States, the scale of gun crime in Europe is still small compared with that of the United States:
Statistics from the Firearms Database (GunPolicy.org) website show that 195 people were killed by guns in the Czech Republic in 2019, compared to nearly 40,000 people killed in the United States across the Atlantic:
According to Switzerland's Small Arms Survey, the United States has one of the highest civilian gun holdings in the world. Private ownership of about 400 million guns in the United States, with an average of about 120 guns per 100 people.
In general, there is no absolutely safe place in the world, but students can prevent and stay away from dangers in various ways to create a good learning Xi and living environment for themselves.
A minimum of a few thousand RMB a month to study abroad?
After chatting with the international students in the Czech Republic about their dangers in the shooting, the Bund Jun learned about studying in the Czech Republic, which is a bit mysterious for China. One of the most amazing things is the value for money of Czech universities.
If you want to calculate the minimum cost, you only need a few thousand yuan a month to study in the Czech Republic - this is not an exaggeration at all:
If your child has studied Czech and passed the relevant language exams, all bachelor's, master's and doctoral courses taught in Czech are free of charge at Charles University.
In terms of the cost of living, the rent is relatively cheap, and the student dormitory where Erica and Sun live is only 1,000 yuan per month. Even if you don't live on campus, the monthly rent of a studio (including bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom) in the center of Prague is about four or five thousand yuan. If you eat, an ordinary restaurant costs more than 40 yuan, and the cost of cooking by yourself is at least halved.
In this way, "poor stay" is really not a dream.
Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Of course, the Czech language is a minority language after all – in Erica's case, she studied Czech as an undergraduate in China, and then went to Charles University for an exchange Xi "bohemianism" – the Czech Republic, like many European countries, is a multilingual country, and there are not a few people who can speak three or four languages.
Czech universities offer a large number of English-taught programs, such as Charles University, which has more than 600 undergraduate courses, of which more than 200 are taught in English (a small number of them are in foreign languages such as German and French).
English-taught programs are more expensive, but compared to the United States, which often costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, it is a fraction of that.
On the official website of Charles University, I randomly searched for several English-taught majors (undergraduate level), such as liberal arts, such as "Liberal Arts and Humanities", with an annual tuition fee of 3,000 euros, equivalent to more than 20,000 yuan, and even a more expensive and popular computer major, it is 6,800 euros per year, or about 50,000 yuan.
And it's more interesting, the higher you read, the cheaper it is, and it's almost a nominal fee to get to the doctoral level. For example, an English-taught PhD in computer linguistics costs only 1,000 CZK per year, which is about 300 yuan.
That's right, 300 yuan a year, taught in English, and you can get a doctorate at the best universities in the Czech Republic.
However, of course, the price-performance ratio is not only cheap, but also the quality of teaching in the Czech Republic is remarkable. At least in Central and Eastern Europe, Czech higher education has a long history and rich academic tradition, and enjoys a high reputation – to put it mildly: the Czech Republic is a party to the Bologna Declaration and uses the European Credit Recognition System (ECTS), which means that Czech credits can be transferred within EU member states, and degrees are highly recognized in the EU and internationally.
When Erica went to Charles University, her first impression was that the teachers were too senior, "all of them are the writers of various authoritative textbooks." "The class sizes are small, and the sense of interaction and participation is strong.
The city of Prague is a "masterpiece". The Vltava River flows through the centre of Prague, and the famous Charles Bridge is like a rainbow.
Charles Bridge
Baklow and Gothic buildings are lined with buildings, gaslamped streetlights, and the old brick roads have passed the literary giants Franz Kafka and Milan Kundera, as well as the astronomer Johannes Kepler, the physicist Ernst Mach, and the father of radio, Nikola Tesla......
Some students come to the Czech Republic, in addition to the cost performance, perhaps it is the name of Muprague. Erica Xi, who lives in Beijing, studied Czech and Bohemian studies out of pure interest and did not plan to pursue a career as a career, but plans to continue her graduate studies in the United States after graduation, and some friends have also been attracted to study abroad by Czech art, such as a senior she knows who attended the Prague Film School, which has been repeatedly ranked by The Hollywood Reporter as the best film school in the world.
The Czech Republic does not have a high sense of existence today, but it actually has a strong family background. During World War II, the "Škoda Arsenal" was the second largest arsenal in the world at that time, and now the Czech Republic is also one of the important centers of European automobile manufacturing, and local Skoda cars are often found on the road. Although the economy is not as good as that of Britain, France and Germany, it is not much worse than Spain, and it belongs to the moderately developed level.
Located between Poland, Germany and Austria, it is a bridge between East and West Europe. It is possible to experience different European cultures and also serve as a springboard to other Western European countries for further study.
Prague Astronomical Clock
There are only a few dozen universities in the Czech Republic, and most of them are concentrated in Prague. In addition to Charles University, there are also Czech University of Technology, University of Chemical Technology, University of Life Sciences, Palacky University, etc.
However, Charles University belongs to the only class, similar to Qingbei in China. With more than 50,000 students, 17 faculties, and more than 200 optional programs in Erica's Faculty of Arts alone (which is why the same college has a main building and a branch building).
Charles University's strong majors are humanities, law, and another - some domestic students have begun to notice in recent years, that is, the medical school. Charles University Faculty of Medicine has a very high reputation in Europe and is considered one of the strongest medical schools in Central Europe.
Sun is currently studying clinical medicine at Charles University School of Medicine. Before coming to Prague, he graduated from Imperial College London in the United Kingdom – and it would be difficult to understand why he came to the Czech Republic in terms of the school's popularity.
Graduate of Imperial College London,
Why did you go to the Czech Republic to study medicine?
In fact, students who take the road of clinical medicine consider the school and think about it differently from ordinary majors, and they don't care too much about whether this medical school has heard of it in China and whether it has the so-called halo of a famous school - these are useless, because the ultimate appeal is to be a clinician, and the important thing is whether the academic qualification can be recognized by the hospital.
Prague City
Sun majored in microbiology and basic medicine at Imperial College, but after thinking about it, he felt that he didn't want to pursue a career in research, and that it was better for him to become a doctor. Then the route is clear: get into medical school and get an M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree first.
Sun has studied in the UK for many years, and the first thing he must consider is the UK. However, there are too many reasons not to choose the UK:
1. Medical schools in the UK rarely admit international students, which is a bit of local protectionism (there is no such restriction on hospital employment, so Sun plans to return to the UK for employment after obtaining an M.D. degree);
2. "I understand that medical schools in the UK are making some innovations, and they are even more negligent in teaching basic skills, which I don't really agree with. ”
3. Expensive. The tuition fee in the UK is 3~4 times that of the Czech Republic.
Australia has also considered that it is willing to accept international students, but "I don't think it's worth the money, it's much more expensive than the Czech Republic, and the quality of teaching is not necessarily better." ”
The second is Singapore, like Duke University and the National University of Singapore have joint medical schools, and the tuition fees are subsidized by the government, but you need to sign a similar binding contract, and you have to serve locally for 5 years, which is not very friendly to people who have no sense of staying in Singapore.
All in all, he chose Charles University School of Medicine. "It's probably the best value for money in English. Many graduates are also able to go to more developed countries in Europe or the United States for further study and employment. Charles University School of Medicine's degree is unhindered in Europe and is recognized by the U.S. Federal Office of Higher Education for medical education, allowing it to take the medical licensing exam in the same way as U.S. medical graduates.
Prague City
The strength of Charles University's medicine is first reflected in the "big". There are 5 medical schools and 1 pharmacy school. Two of them are located outside the city of Prague. Sun's college was the First Medical College, founded in 1348 by the Holy Roman Emperor and King Charles IV of Bohemia.
There is no doubt that the medical profession is one of the most difficult majors in any country. However, according to Sun and other students, medical schools in the Czech Republic are not particularly difficult to get into, "the interviews are tricky and the questions are varied", compared to the usual academic pressure, with at least two exams a week, and almost every exam is important, "Prague is beautiful, but I don't have much time to visit." In this way, medical schools in the Czech Republic have a bit of a "lenient approach" meaning – of course, "wide" is relative.
The daily teaching is the same as Sun expected, with a strong focus on basic training, which is exactly the way he likes to teach. In just one semester, he feels that he has a relatively clear understanding of the human body's motor vascular nervous system, and there will be 27 full hours of human anatomy after the semester, which is really diligent and diligent practice. Although I am busy with my studies every day, I am also happy and fulfilling.
First Medical College Classroom
And when you get the M.D., the path is similar in every country. Upon his return to the UK, Sun plans to work as a two-year rotation doctor before a multi-year specialist training, with his tentative focus on surgery.
For medical students, the high quality of teaching, an internationally recognized degree is much more important than other factors. In Sun's opinion, spending 1/3~1/4 of the price (his annual tuition fee is about 140,000 yuan) to go to a niche country and finally get the same result is a very cost-effective choice.
According to data released by the American medical website Medscape, 60% of doctors aged 34 and younger have not paid off their tuition loans, and the average loan for medical students in the United States is more than $200,000.
At this point, you may have a little more understanding of studying abroad. Of course, the Czech Republic also has some obvious shortcomings, such as being less friendly to China than its neighbor Slovakia (not obvious at the civilian level), such as a language environment that is not as good as that of English-speaking countries, and Charles University's QS ranking is outside the top 200......
All in all, it's not that a certain niche study abroad country must be an excellent place to study - the choice of educational resources is a process of weighing all aspects, and the right one is the best. It's just that you can learn more about the world and despise the chain less. The budget-conscious "poor stay" can also be very exciting.