CURRENT ACCREDITATION SYSTEM IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN POLAND - EXAMPLE OF EVALUATION OF THE "CIVIL ENGINEERING" FIELD-OF-STUDY

This paper discusses the course of the development and functioning of the system of accreditation in higher education in Poland with an emphasis on accreditation of fields of studies in the area of technical sciences. Since 2002 in Poland operates the Polish Accreditation Committee (PKA) - an independent institution working with the aim of education quality improvement. The primary objective of the PKA is to support Polish public and non-public higher education institutions in the development of educational standards matching the best models adopted in the European and global academic area. Another institution dedicated exclusively to assessment of technical fields of studies is the Accreditation Commission of Universities of Technology (KAUT). Area of KAUT activity refers to the agreement between the rectors of Polish universities of technology, where the emphasis is put on improving the quality of education, the creation of clear procedures for assessing the conditions and methods of education and study programs, creating conditions to facilitate the national and international exchange of students and promoting programmes of study to meet the high quality standards. A detailed process of the so-called "program accreditation" will be discussed on the example of the "civil engineering" field-of-study. This major at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology was evaluated by PKA three times in the last 14 years, in each case based on the modified assessment methodology.