Accreditation

In the course of accreditation, learning objectives and their implementation are assessed and compared to standards. A positive result of accreditation is given to the public by the university concerned. The aim of the assessment is a decision on the quality of a level of education achieved, by comparing the performance of a school with certain pre-defined standards and placing the results on the scale of assessments. It allows a comparison of the achievements of different schools, which the accreditation does not allow for. Assessment is usually performed by a body (government, professional, sponsor) external to the one assessed it is given to the public and may have financial implications for the evaluated university. Licensing, i.e. vesting an educational institution with the right to operate is of a different character. It may be granted ex ante or renewed after a certain period of activity. In both cases, the licensing body verifies whether a school fulfills certain formal requirements - pre-established indicators, and decides on the operation of an academic institution. Licensing, as a prerequisite for schools' operation, precedes any form of quality assurance and is performed by national or regional institutions. The above-quoted ""definitions"" were taken from the paper "Akredytacja w szkolnictwie wyższym w Polsce: doświadczenia i propozycje" ("Accreditation in Higher Education in Poland: Experiences and Prospects") delivered by Ewa Chmielecka, PhD, during the Conference of Vice - Rectors for Education of Polish Technical Universities held between 19 and 20 of April, 1999, at Gdansk University of Technology. It was at this conference where a discussion began on the evaluation of the quality of education at technical universities, on the desirability of introducing accreditation and on the accreditation procedures already applied, both in Poland and a broad. Nowadays, when more and more young people are studying at universities, one should pay special attention to the quality of education. Specifically one should pay attention to the level of the educational offer, which mainly for extramural and evening courses may be inappropriate. Increasing the number of students, so burdensome to the generally not growing number of university teachers, forced primarily by the dependence on budgetary allocations, is certainly not beneficial to the educational process. There are many reasons that may lead to a deterioration of the level of education, while it is the responsibility of university authorities to oversee the level of teaching and learning and to apply control procedures. In 1999-2001, during the subsequent discussions, the vice - rectors found that not only the possibility of accreditation of courses, but also becoming acquainted with the requirements of standards of fields of studies, together with self–evaluation reports (that is with accreditation documents), and also the awareness that a large number of educational units will take the trouble of accreditation, will influence on the process of improving the quality of education, on the desire to meet accreditation requirements. It was therefore concluded that it was purposeful to prepare the rules and procedures for accreditation because, as already mentioned, even the knowledge of evaluation criteria, in terms of quality of education, can produce beneficial results. Consultation with the rectors of universities of technology confirmed the views of the majority of vice rectors for education, that the works on the establishment of the Accreditation Commission of Universities of Technology (KAUT) should be started. At that time, the University Accreditation Commission (UKA) already existed, whose documents and activities served as models and helped to go through the stage of setting up a committee, developing an accreditation procedure and preparing documents templates. Professor Bohdan Macukow and Professor Marek Witkowski participated very actively in the preparation of the first versions of the text of all documents, for which I am very grateful. The following assumptions were adopted: accreditation refers to fields of studies, it is voluntary, the costs associated with the accreditation procedure shall be borne by a unit applying for accreditation. Accreditation will be carried out by academic experts together with representatives of employers. Accreditation will be granted by the Accreditation Commission of Universities of Technology. The activities of the Commission will be supervised by the Conference of Rectors of Polish Technical Universities. KAUT activities should include the operation for the quality of education in a broad sense, also related to the promotion of the idea of accreditation, of standards for assessing the quality of education for individual fields of studies, of collaboration with accreditation committees already existing in Poland, as well as with structures abroad.

Professor Alicja Konczakowska
Honorary KAUT member

The subject of accreditation is a FIELD OF STUDY not the unit requesting accreditation (curricular accreditation).

The unit requesting accreditation, following familiarization with the accreditation documents, draws up a Self-Assessment Report.

1. The Report’s layout should be consistent with the model. If it is not possible to provide an opinion on a particular topic, it should be pointed out by inserting the relevant information, e.g. does not concern, not applicable.

2. Where the accreditation covers the undergraduate and graduate studies – the Self-Assessment Report shall be joint for both types of studies however with a clear marking of satisfaction of the respective items of Standards.

3. The Self-Assessment Report may not exceed 25 A4 size pages (exclusive of attachments) written using character size 12 and single-line spacing; none of the attachments should exceed two pages.

4. Attachments should be numbered; if references, the report should specify the relevant attachment numbers. The list of attachments should constitute a separate document attached to the Self-Assessment Report.

5. In a situation where the size of the attachment exceeds the required two pages, the complete attachment should append the electronic Self-Assessment Report version with the printed version of the Self-Assessment Report containing solely its title, summary of the content and the name of the file containing the full attachment version (as attached to the electronic Self-Assessment Report version).

6. Data concerning financial ratios and figures (e.g. the number of students, grants awarded, cooperation agreements, etc.) should be provided for the previous academic year. The deadline for the provision of the accreditation application (e.g. the beginning or end of the academic year) does not constitute a premise for the change of the rule.

The basis for the assessment on the side of the Evatuation Team of KAUT are the Standards and accreditation criteria for the undergraduate and graduate studies. The Standards and accreditation criteria concern the undergraduate and graduate studies offered by the unit both in the form of the full-time as well as part-time courses.

Subject to evaluation is a particular level (Io, IIo) of studies as identified by the unit in the application for accreditation and all the form of courses (full-time, part-time) carried out by the unit within the framework of the accredited field of study.

The Evaluation Team is composed of 3-4 Experts and includes an employer representative; the members work under the leadership of the Evaluation Team Chair (appointed at the plenary session of KAUT) plus a student representative. The duty of the visited unit shall be to ensure involvement of the employer representative, who will take an active part in the visitation process, and in agreement with the Self-government the student representative (best from another university). Earlier provision of the data of the individuals to KAUT Office shall be required.

Accreditation may be obtained by a unit whose University has a clearly defined operating strategy consistent with the university’s mission statement and whose accredited educational programme unequivocally coincides with the university’s mission and strategy.

Accreditation may be obtained by a unit which prior to the submission of the accreditation application promoted at least to years of full-time undergraduate and graduate students.

Accreditation standards and criteria define the educational attributes taken into consideration by the unit in the accreditation process. These attributes were divided into two parts:

• Basic – satisfaction of each attribute is a condition necessary to obtain accreditation,
• Additional – satisfaction of any of the attributes is a confirmation of a more superior quality of education than could be expected solely based on satisfaction of basic attributes.

KAUT accreditation may be requested solely by the units which have obtained a positive institutional assessment or a positive curricular assessment of the Polish Accreditation Commission (PKA) of the field of study subject to accreditation whose validity period elapses not earlier than in two years of the date of submission of the accreditation application. The unit which has a positive PKA curricular assessment of the accredited field of study is relieved from the evaluation of the attributes which have been marked with an asterisk in the following parts [*)].

The accreditation is granted for the period of five or two years. Accreditation may be granted if an organisation unit has satisfied all the basic attributes and at least half of the additional attributes in each sub-group.

A condition necessary to obtain accreditation for five years is the possession of the right to award a scientific degree in at least one of the disciplines of technical sciences (applicable only to graduate courses).