Higher Education in Poland
The higher education system in Poland includes State (public) and non-State (non-public) institutions of higher education, the latter founded since 1990. Non-State institutions of higher education are founded on the grounds of a license issued by the Minister of Science and Higher Education, and acquire legal personality upon their entry into the register of non-State institutions of higher education kept by the Minister.
Another type of institution of tertiary education founded since 1998 alongside existing university-type institutions are the State and non-State higher schools of vocational education and professional training. A major component of the training in these schools is a mandatory 15-week practical placement.
Higher education syllabuses may be offered as full-time, part-time or extramural studies. Full time studies are the basic mode of study, unless the statutes of the higher education institution (HEI) concerned state otherwise. The minimum requirement for admission to an institution of higher education is a secondary school leaving certificate(the matura or an equivalent). Procedures for admission are laid down independently by individual institutions of higher education.
Tuition during the academic year lasts from 1 October till the end of June and is divided into two semesters with a one- or two-week winter vacation in February.
Degrees
The academic titles, professional qualifications, and academic degrees awarded to graduates of Polish institutions of higher education are:
Licencjat (Bachelor): the professional qualification obtained upon completion of a first-cycle course of study which lasts 3 or 3 ½ years;
Inżynier (Master’s of Science): the professional qualification awarded to graduates of first-cycle courses of study in Engineering and Technology (except Architecture and Urban Planning), Agriculture and Forestry, and other fields of study where course units involving Engineering and Technology, Agriculture or Forestry account for no less than 50% of the total course of study;
Magister (Master’s of Arts): academic titles awarded upon completion of a 4- to 6-year Master’s course of study offered in one cycle;
Doktor (PhD): the academic degree awarded to doctoral students who have successfully presented and defended a doctoral dissertation and passed the examinations prescribed for the award of the degree;
Doktor Habilitowany: the postdoctoral academic degree awarded to candidates who can prove a substantial independent scholarly achievement, hold the degree of Doktor, have published a habilitation dissertation, and are admitted (habilitated) to full membership (fellowship) of a university faculty or equivalent unit of an academic institution.
In order to obtain the above-mentioned qualifications or titles, a student is required to complete all the course units and practical placements prescribed in a syllabus, to submit and defend a thesis and to pass the final examination. In Medicine, Medicine and Dentistry, and Veterinary Surgery, students graduate on the grounds of their results in the prescribed final examination.
Examinations
Students sit examinations separately in each subject. A performance assessment period covers either one semester or one academic year. To successfully complete a semester (or a year) a student must receive passing (i.e. at least “satisfactory”) marks for all assessments and examinations in the subjects covered by his or her curriculum and to obtain performance assessment credits for all integrated placements on his or her curriculum.
Each HEI identifies its grading scale in its Study Rules. The most common scale comprises the following marks:
- Very good (5)
- Good plus (4+ or 4.5)
- Good (4)
- Satisfactory plus (3+ or 3.5)
- Satisfactory (3)
- Failing (2)
In addition to this grading scale Polish HEIs have been phasing in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) under which a certain number of credits is allocated to a given subject, independently of marks awarded. Depending on a subject, passing a performance assessment can earn the student from 2 to 12-14 ECTS credits. On passing an examination the student should request that this be put on his or her record together with the credits awarded. To complete successfully a year or a semester a student must collect, respectively, 30 or 60 credits. With the ECTS system in place, more and more Polish students can do part of their studies at foreign higher education institutions. Also, ECTS credits allow foreign students’ periods of study at Polish HEIs to be recognized.
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 Studying in English
There are a very large number of courses in Poland taught in English. By 2007 there were almost 2000 courses on offer in the fields of Medicine, Computer and Information Science, the Humanities, and the Social Sciences including economics and business. The Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP) provides a specific website dedicated to providing information about courses offered in the English language at Polish institutions. The site will enable you to search via course or program title, by school name or type, by city, by subject area, or by Erasmus subject code.
The Bologna Process in Poland:
Poland was one of the signatory countries of the Bologna Declaration of 1999. Currently the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education is supervising the implementation of the Bologna Process. In this task the Ministry is being supported by the institutions involved in higher education: the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP), the Conference of Rectors of Non-University Higher Education Institutions in Poland, the General Council for Higher Education, the State Accreditation Committee, the Students’ Parliament of the Republic of Poland, the Bureau for Academic Recognition and International Exchange, and the Socrates-Erasmus National Agency.
The three-cycle system of higher education: at Polish institutions of higher education a three-stage system of Licencjat (BA), Magister (MA) and Doktor (PhD) studies will be compulsory as of the 2007/2008 academic year. According to the new Higher Education Act of 2005, syllabuses in all fields of study except Law, Pharmacy, Psychology, Veterinary Medicine, Medicine, and Medicine and Dentistry are provided on a two-cycle basis. The third cycle, doctoral studies, is open to those who hold the academic title of Magister or an equivalent title or degree. Doctoral studies last 4 years but may be shortened or extended in some circumstances.
Quality assurance: the State Accreditation Committee, which has been operating in Poland since January 2002, monitors and controls educational standards at Polish institutions of higher education, and serves to improve and guarantee quality standards as well. 81% of the Polish state institutions of higher education have received outstanding and good ratings. The State Accreditation Committee has developed close co-operation with accreditation committees from other countries. The Polish quality assurance system complies with the ENQA Standards and Guidelines. There is also a voluntary accreditation system supervised by the academic community; accreditation procedures are carried out by commissions appointed by rectors of the different types of institutions of higher education. The voluntary accreditation system is considered the hallmark of high quality in teaching.
ECTS: under the new Higher Education Act of 2005, institutions of higher education in Poland implement a credit transfer system based on the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). The overwhelming majority of Polish institutions of higher education have adopted the ECTS in all fields of study, some of them not only as an instrument for credit transfer, but also for credit accumulation. All Polish universities have been required to introduce ECTS as of January 2007.
The Diploma Supplement: under the new legal regulations, as of 1 January 2005 a Diploma Supplement is issued to all graduating from Polish institutions of higher education. The Supplement is available free of charge and is issued in Polish, and on request in other languages (English, German, French, Spanish or Russian). The recognition of degrees has also become easier since Poland’s ratification of the Lisbon Convention on Recognition of Degrees in 2004.
Student and staff mobility: Polish institutions of higher education are contributing to international student exchange programmes like SOCRATES/Erasmus, and engaging in bilateral agreements and individual exchange programmes pursued by particular schools. All these initiatives are enhancing the development of relations between Polish and foreign institutions of higher education. The mobility of Polish students is growing rapidly, especially since the introduction of the Socrates-Erasmus programme. The number of Polish institutions of higher education awarded an Erasmus University Charter is approaching 200. Nevertheless, the percentage of young Polish students going abroad for a period of study is still quite low –only about 1% of the student population. One of the main reasons for this relatively low number is related to financing – the cost of living abroad is much higher than in Poland and this difference is not sufficiently compensated by support from the Socrates-Erasmus programme. The countries most frequently visited by our students are Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Mobility varies significantly from one institution to another – at some universities nearly 10% of the students have a chance to gain international experience. However, all the Polish institutions suffer from an imbalance in mobility - the number of outgoing students is much higher than the number of incoming students. The situation is being remedied by foreign students enrolled for complete courses of study at Polish institutions of higher education; their numbers are now close on 10, 000.
A number of international events have been organized or co-organized by CRASP in order to strengthen the relations of Polish institutions of higher education with universities in other countries. Over the last two years, meetings have been held with the groups of rectors and other higher education representatives from France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. As a results of meetings with academics from our Eastern neighbours, an East-European Net – a higher education network from 7 Central and East-European countries – has been established.
More information about CRASP and its members visit here
And http://www.eng.nauka.gov.pl/ms/index.jsp?place=Menu08&news_cat_id=448&layout=2
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