Students still waiting on ISIC cards

December 1,2010

In November 2009, AAU students received an email signed by the Student Services Center announcing that AAU was going to "provide ISIC and ITIC cards for all the students and faculty, effective from Fall 2010" after the Student Council proposed the campaign to the AAU administration.

With three months into the fall semester, students are still wondering why there has been no mention of these cards.

Executive vice-president Lenka Tureckova is currently in charge of the project. According to her, the contract with ISIC was finalized last week, on November 26. What remains to be done is the implementation of smart card readers in the library and computer lab, which she said would be "neither difficult nor expensive."

According to her plan, the cards should be available from spring 2011.

The delay of the cards, she said, was due to "constant changing of administration," which left new projects postponed. These changes were mostly in the Student Services Center. In fact, the sender of the email, Veronika Blechova, left AAU in December 2009.

Students can apply for an ISIC card individually and get it for 300 Kc, but what makes AAU's offer more valuable is the promise of an "all in one" card. The email stated that ISIC/ITIC would replace the current ID card, printer card, and also be used as a library card.

Having an ISIC card has many benefits, whether you are traveling by train in Norway, visiting the pyramids in Mexico, or skiing in the Alps, as it gives students significant discounts. ISIC claims to be the only globally recognized student ID, valid in 120 countries and eligible for 40,000 discounts.

In Prague for example, ISIC holders can get a 2 for 1 deal at Pizza Einstein, or a tour of Prague Castle for 175 Kc, instead of the regular price at 350 Kc.

It is fair to say the current AAU student card does get students discounts in Prague but usually after being examined by curious looks. The problem is one can never be sure the person behind the counter will accept it because, as business student Lenka Hrudkova put it, "they think it's fake."

Zuzana Stepankova, another business student, described the AAU card as "ridiculous, looks like I made it at home".

Dana Shauyenova, also a business student, who has had her card refused several times, said "it gives us nothing". She recently tried using the card in Topshop, a clothing store that offers students 10% off purchases, but the sales girl said they "accept only ISIC".

Some of the students already have an ISIC card and AAU's late delivery of the new cards makes no difference to them, but what may concern them as well as the others is that the new card could come with a price tag. The email stated the cards would be provided free of charge, however, Tureckova could not guarantee this.