Fulbright Reality Czech

Amil Khattar is a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. Armed with an MS in Sports Marketing, the founder’s mindset of someone who has launched two companies, the energy of a social media and marketing wizard, the stage presence of a stand-up comedian, and the endurance of an avid runner, Amil brings an impressive mix of talents wherever he goes. In his Fulbright ETA application, he named Emil Zátopek and Tomáš Baťa as his role models, admiring their discipline, vision, and determination. So when the Tomáš Baťa Business Academy in Zlín applied to host an ETA for the 2025–2026 academic year, it felt like destiny had done the matchmaking itself. Amil's secret to integrating into life in Zlín? Saying “yes” to even the most random invitations - a strategy that has earned him countless local friendships, unforgettable experiences, and probably a few stories worthy of his next stand-up routine.    The mantra I tried to live by during my time here in Zlín, Czech Republic is...

Emma Blenke is an alumna of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Program. She spent the past school year teaching at the Business Academy in Karlovy Vary, one of the Czech Republic's most renowned spa towns. Like many Fulbright ETAs, Emma made the leap across the Atlantic right after earning her BA, navigating not just a physical journey, but a profound cultural and personal transformation. Although she was the only ETA in Karlovy Vary, Emma quickly found a supportive community in her Czech colleagues, especially her mentor, Kate, who made her feel welcome from day one. Reflecting on her time there, Emma shared: “What I thought would be a solo journey of learning how to live on my own turned out to be a shared one. I grew because of the people around me, students, teachers, mentors, who reminded me that independence doesn’t mean isolation.”  Some people ease into adulthood. I crash-landed into it—with a frying pan in one hand and Google Translate in the other. In college,...

Dina Frutos-Bencze is an Associate Professor  of Economics and Business at Saint Anselm College, located in New Hampshire. This Fall semester, Dina has spent four months at the University of Hradec Králové as a Fulbright scholar and taught two classes, "Managerial Methods" and "Intro to Social Innovation." Together with her Czech colleagues, she has also strived to study the research and development cooperation patterns among various Central and Eastern European higher education institutions during the pandemic. She has been monitoring the impact of the current situation on job satisfaction, gender roles and organizational culture in the Czech Republic. Dina was born in Prague, but she first moved to Costa Rica together with her parents when she was three years old, and then to the U.S. Returning to the country of her roots for a longer period of time has given Dina an opportunity to finally explore and experience Czech culture and traditions. Even though she looks ...

Michaela Fojtů researches cancer nano-medicine at Masaryk University in Brno. In January 2021, she departed for Harvard University to join their international research team at the Harvard Medical School and its laboratories located within the MIT campus in Cambridge. Roughly in the middle of her 9-month stay in the U.S., Michaela says that she has no doubt that "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be." Michaela fell in love with the magic of Cambridge and the whole metropolitan area of Boston. At Harvard, she is discovering the plethora of future career opportunities for a graduate with a biochemistry degree. Boston feels like an intersection of science and business, and so she eagerly takes courses offered by the Harvard Business Club. Classes focused on biotech consultancy, patent law, science investing, innovation challenges, and careers in venture capital are commonplace at Harvard University, but unheard of in the Czech university setting. Let´s be honest - there h...

Po dohodě s absolventkou Fulbrightova programu Kateřinou Váňovou přebíráme z jejího blogu rozhovory s dalšími českými stipendisty.  Milan je studentem třetího ročníku doktorského studia na Fakultě managementu a ekonomiky na Univerzitě Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně. Studium v zahraničí pro něj není žádná novinka, od srpna 2009 do dubna 2010 pobýval v Tureckém Eskisehiru, kde v rámci programu Erasmus studoval na Anadolu University. Po svém návratu z Turecka položil základy studentské dobrovolnické organizace Buddy Systém Zlín, kterou také přes rok vedl. V srpnu 2012 se znovu do Turecka vrátil, aby zde absolvoval půlroční pracovní stáž v CzechTrade v Istanbulu. O tom, že se nejedná o obyčejného studenta, je přesvědčena i Fulbrightova komise. Od poloviny února 2013 Milan pobývá v americkém městě Louisville ve státě Kentucky, kde v rámci stipendijního programu Fulbrightovi komise v Praze spolupracuje s University of Lousiville na ...