Kontakt 2007, 9(2):284-287 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2007.044

Organization of specialized centres for helping students with special needs at universities in the Czech RepublicHealth and Social Sciences

Gabriela Burešová

Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra klinických oborů

One of steps to an improved integration of handicapped students at universities is so called specialized centre for helping students with special needs. In general, this type of the centre has a uniform target, which is providing the help for handicapped students in their study. The specialized centres for helping students with special needs as whole are operated by universities such as Charles University (UK) in Prague, Palacký University (UP) in Olomouc, Masaryk University (MU) in Brno and the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (JU). In 2005, at the universities mentioned, questionnaire examination was implemented with a target to ascertain the measure of the satisfaction of students with the services provided by the centre. Within the scope of a research, handicapped students were inquired at the universities mentioned. The results of the questionnaire examination demonstrate what services of the specialized centres are most frequently employed by the students. The results also indicate that in general, students with handicaps invite services of the specialized centre, which will help them compensate their specific study requirements and thus, they recommend the foundation of these centres at other universities, too. The purpose of the present contribution is to familiarize the public not only with the scope of the activity of particular centres for helping handicapped students in the Czech Republic, but also with the ratio of the applicability of particular services, which are offered to the students. The results acquired by the questionnaire examination were used in the course of establishing a similar centre at the University of South Bohemia.

Keywords: Integration; special needs; handicap; specialized centre

Received: September 10, 2007; Accepted: November 12, 2007; Published: December 21, 2007  Show citation