By Nick Clark, Assistant Editor, WENR

Legislative Framework

Poland’s current system of higher education management is based on article 70 of the Constitution and four principle acts: 1990 Act on Higher Education, 1990 Act on Titles and Degrees, 1991 Act on Establishing the Committee for Scientific Research and 1997 Act on Higher Vocational Schools, which established higher vocational schools of which there are currently 25. A new Act on Academic Titles and Degrees was passed in 2003 and defines academic degrees and titles in the arena of fine arts. Work has begun on new legislation designed to replace the 1990 Higher Education Act and its amendments. It is expected to include: integration of the various acts that concern higher education issues, including elements resulting from the Bologna process; simplification and update of the law; and a simplification of the rules covering student fees.

Since the collapse of communism in 1989, the Polish system of higher education has been in a state of uncertainty arising from changes in social environments and new legislative proposals. The academic community was given far-reaching autonomy through the higher education law of 1990. At a time of rapid growth in enrollments and in the number of private providers, the system has suffered from decreasing budgets and numerous government proposals for reform. Reform has started at the primary and secondary levels, but has been slow in coming at the higher education level, which is still operating on the basis of the old 1990 law. There are currently a growing number of private higher education institutions that currently enroll almost 30 percent of the Polish student body, which has grown fourfold over the last ten years while the number of faculty has remained level. The increased level of autonomy at the institutional level has meant that structural reform along Bologna lines tends to differ greatly from institution to institution.

1. Easily Readable and Comparable Degrees

• The Polish ENIC/NARIC body is Biuro Uznawalnosci Wyksztalcenia i Wymiany Miedzynarodowej, which started promoting the diploma supplement in Polish higher education institutions in 2000.
• A pilot project on the use of the diploma supplement involving 69 institutions of higher education was initiated in academic year 2000/2001. The object was to specify terms and conditions for the introduction of the new document in Poland as well as the issue of the first supplements (almost 4,000). A report documenting conclusions from the project can be found HERE.
• The Ministry of Education has recommended the introduction of the diploma supplement and the relevant legal act is passing through the final stage of the legislative process. It is assumed that the act will come into fruition in academic year 2003/2004. The mandatory issue of diploma supplements is foreseen for academic year 2004/2005. Until then, supplements will be issued upon request.
• According to a recent poll carried out by the Ministry of Education, 40 percent of higher education institutions have declared themselves ready to adopt the diploma supplement.
• Poland has signed but not ratified the Lisbon Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications.

2. Degree Structure

Stage I: Licencjat (Licentiate) and Tytul Inzynier (Title of Engineer) degrees are awarded by universities and other higher education institutions after three or four years of full-time study (3.5 to 4 in engineering). Graduates of Specialized Foreign Language Teacher Training Colleges functioning within the academic structure are awarded the licencjat degree after three years of study. The Dyplom Ukonczenia (certificate of completion of a given post-secondary teacher-training college) is awarded after three years of study in primary education. Three-year university-level licencjat degrees from teacher training colleges (Kolegium Nauczycielskie) are also available in primary education. The entrance requirement for all three qualifications is the Swiadectwo Dojrzalosci (high school maturity certificate).

Stage I & II: Tytul Magister (Title of Master) is awarded after 4-5 years of study, which includes the defense of a thesis and a final examination. For professional qualifications, the title of the subject is included: Tytul Magister Inzynier (Title of Master in Engineering — 5 years of study), Tytul Magister Lekarz (physician – six years of study), Tytul Lekarza Stomatologa (Dental Physician – 5 years of study) and the Tytul Lekarza Weterynarii (Veterinary Physician – 5 to 5.5 years of study). Master’s studies (Uzupelniajace Studia Magisterskie) of 1.5 to 2.5 years are available to holders of licencjat or inzynier degrees, and lead to the award of the Tytul Magister. Integration into the European Higher Education Area seems to have increased the availability and popularity of this second-tier qualification (see below).

Stage III: There are two levels of doctoral degree. The lower degree of Doktor includes three to four years of postgraduate study, the submission and successful defence of a doctoral dissertation, and doctorate examinations. Candidates for the higher degree, Doktor Habilitowany (Habilitated Doctor), must have remarkable scientific or artistic achievements; submit a habilitation dissertation; receive a favourable assessment of his/her dissertation; pass a habilitation examination and deliver a favourably assessed habilitation lecture.

Current Trends

• Until recently the two-tier structure had not succeeded in attracting wide interest from students and employers, who preferred the traditional integrated study programs. However, over the last few years, an increasing number of higher education institutions have abandoned the traditional model of integrated master programs and moved to a two-tier structure in which the first degree (licencjat or inzynier) corresponds to a bachelor degree, to be followed by a master degree (Uzupelniajace studia magisterskie) of 1.5 to 2.5 years. These first-tier degrees are considered more academic than they traditionally were, however, this difference is not reflected in the degree title. Although the two-tier structure appears to now be more common, the two systems currently exist in parallel.
• Most universities are also adapting to the demand from non-state first-tier degree holders for second-tier programs. These programs are often organized as part-time studies (for which universities may charge fees).
• The transition has not been a centralized move and, as a result, different institutions have developed different versions of the system with regard to the length of the first and second tier and the conditions for moving from the first to the second one.
• Legal restrictions exclude medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary science, psychology and law from the two-tier structure. The new structure seems to be preferred by certain disciplines such as fine arts, archaeology, etc.
• Most technical universities have introduced the two-tier system. In the other universities the situation is less cohesive, with some departments introducing the new structure, while others not. No urgent need is felt by the ministry, institutions, and students to change the present situation of two systems existing in parallel.
• Not all institutions of higher education are entitled to offer master’s programs (short or long). Therefore, only approximately 40 out of more than 200 private institutions are authorized to run master’s programs.

3. Credit Transfer/Accumulation

• There is no legal obligation for universities to use credits for the transfer or accumulation of study periods. However, the participation of Polish higher education institutions in the Tempus Program from 1990 and later SOCRATES/ERASMUS has resulted in the gradual implementation of credit transfer systems based on ECTS for mobility purposes.
• According to a report prepared by the ministry of education for the Berlin-Bologna 2003 ministerial conference, ECTS is applied for credit transfer in 68 percent (43/63) of state institutions and 35 percent (22/63) non-state institutions. ECTS is used by most state institutions specializing in arts, business and health profiles.
• The implementation of ECTS is one of the conditions for study programs to be accredited at the traditional universities. These 17 traditional universities are the most advanced in implementing and using the credit system. It has been used mainly as a transfer system but often too as an accumulation system.
• In the 2002/03 academic year, 70 Polish higher education institutions profited from a grant given by SOCRATES/ERASMUS for the introduction of ECTS. These grants have often been implemented at faculty or departmental level and sometimes at institutional level, although mostly for mobility.
• Some private institutions (over 200 in Poland) have only just started implementing ECTS. A number of universities and faculties provide ECTS grade equivalencies for international students on their websites. Faculties seem to be fairly unanimous in their equivalencies. This grade conversion guide provided by the Czestochowa University of Management reflects what appears to be the general consensus:

4. Mobility

• Poland entered into the TEMPUS program in 1990.
• In 1998 Poland began participating in SOCRATES programs and in academic year 1998/99, 46 institutions participated in the ERASMUS Program. By academic year 2002/03, 129 institutions were participating.
• Academic year 2001/2002 saw 4323 Polish students making use of the ERASMUS program to study abroad, whereas in the same year only 792 students came to Poland to study through the same program.
• To stimulate the mobility of students and especially to counteract the imbalance in the number of incoming and outgoing students, the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP) has developed a catalogue of programs and courses taught in English at Polish institutions of higher education. The draft version of the catalogue entitled “How to study in Poland” – is available at the CRASP Web site.
• The Ministry of Education has identified two areas that would help institutions profit more from the SOCRATES programs: Improvement of subject matter — new content and didactic methodology — and improved management and administration of a number of institutions of higher education.
• Poland has bilateral agreements with a number of countries for the recognition of credentials. Detailed information can be found HERE:

5. Quality Assurance

• 1992 saw the beginning of a dynamic growth in the sector of non-state institutions resulting in a rise in enrollment rates from 12 percent to 41 percent. This led to an urgent need to introduce internal systems of education quality supervision and profile-related accreditation systems.
• Under the Act on Higher Education of 1990 The Central Council of Higher Education – an independent, elected academic body- performed some functions related to the assessment of the quality of education.
• In 1998, the University Accreditation Committee — a non-governmental body — was established by the Rectors’ Conference to create an accreditation system of university programs and to garner equality in the education standards among institutions according to those of the EU. Accreditation from this body is entirely voluntary.
• Two preconditions that must be met before the accreditation procedure can be started are: an administrative unit of the school (a faculty, an institute, a chair) which applies for accreditation for a given area of studies applies internal methods of stimulating and evaluating the quality of education offered; there exists for this area a system of assigning credit points which is congruent with the European Credit Transfer system (ECTS).
• The National Accreditation Commission (Panstwowa Komisja Akredytacyjna (NAC)) was initiated by an act of parliament in January 2002. The NAC is made up of 70 members appointed by the ministry and oversees quality control issues for both public and private institutions.
• Recommendations of the National Accreditation Commission have resulted in the closure of a few private institutions of higher education by the Minister of National Education and Sports, and the suspension of the right of a few other institutions to offer study programs in selected fields of study. It is hoped that the commission will be able to curb some undesirable quality-related phenomena associated with the expansion of the private sector in Poland.
• The NAC offers opinions, which serve as the basis for the Minister of Education’s final decision to grant, suspend or withdraw authorization for the management of higher education institutions. Other tasks include passing judgment on applications for new institutions and departments, and concession of licences to organize new fields of study in existing ones.

6. Promotion of European Dimensions in Higher Education

• A Ministry of Education prepared document describes, “The most desirable model for joint efforts is the establishment of studies which end in a common diploma, issued by two or more higher education institutions involved in a joint initiative.” Figures suggest that these initiatives and projects are increasing in number, from less than ten in 1998/99 to over 80 in 2002/03, although the same document states “the overall Polish participation in multilateral projects needs to be improved.”
• The majority of existing joint programs are at master level. A small number of joint bachelor degrees exist. In the non-university sector, only one institution is known to offer some form of joint degree program.
• Bilateral partnerships, as opposed to multilateral joint degree networks, are either the only type of cooperation or the dominant one. An example would be the bi-national European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder on the German-Polish border.
• The award of joint-doctoral degrees is being organized on a personal level by those involved (doctoral students and their supervisors), although the process is still at an early stage. Unofficial degree certificates are awarded on behalf of the whole partnership, in addition to the national degree, to testify that the program has been developed and taught jointly.

References

• Survey on Master Degrees and Joint Degrees in Europe, Christian Tauch and Andrejs Rauhvargers, Sept. 2002
• The State of Implementation of ECTS in Europe, European University Association, Oct. 2002
• Diploma Supplement — State of Implementation, European Commission, last update June 2003
• Lisbon Convention Status Reports, Council of Europe, status as of August 29, 2003
• The Information Network on Education in Europe — Eurydice, European Union
• Implementing the Assumptions of the Bologna Declaration in 2000-2002, Ministry of Education, Dec. 2002
• ECTS Grading Scale, Czestochowa University of Management
• Education in Poland, World Education News & Reviews, Oct 2001
• Erasmus Mobility by Country 2001/2002 — ECTS Workshop, Feb. 20-21, 2003, UK Socrates Erasmus Council
• The Information Network on Education in Europe — Eurydice, European Union, 2001/2002
• Real Time Systems — Reflections on Higher Education in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia — Jon File and Leo Goedegebuure, University of Twente, 2003