11.01.2016 change 11.01.2016

Prof. Krzysztof Diks is the new head of the Polish Accreditation Committee

Photo: PAP 2015 / Rafał Guz Photo: PAP 2015 / Rafał Guz

Prof. Krzysztof Diks from the University of Warsaw (UW) will become the new head of the Polish Accreditation Committee - the Minister of Science and Higher Education Jarosław Gowin announced on December 8. The minister also announced changes in the Regulation on the Polish Accreditation Committee.

The Polish Accreditation Committee, existing since 2002, is an independent institution whose purpose is to ensure and improve the quality of education at Polish public and private universities. It is financed from the state budget. It operates on the basis of the Law on Higher Education and executive acts issued on the basis thereof.

The new chairman of the Polish Accreditation Committee, Prof. Diks, has been teaching for 40 years at the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering of the University of Warsaw. He is currently director of the Institute of Mathematics at the University of Warsaw. Together with Prof. Jan Madey he supervises the UW collegiate teams. He was the supervisor and teacher of world champions in collegiate programming in the years 2003 and 2007. In 2012, he co-organized the world finals of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest in Warsaw.

Prof. Diks already has experience in the Polish Accreditation Committee activities - in 2012-2015 he was a member of the committee, where he headed the Sciences Team. He was also the co-author of computer education standards in 2007.

"He represents a different philosophy of accreditation; a philosophy of accreditation based on quality rather than formalities" - emphasized Minister Gowin while presenting the new chairman of the committee at a press conference in Warsaw.

During the conference, Prof. Diks reminded that the committee members are appointed by the minister from among candidates proposed by universities. It makes the Polish Accreditation Committee an institution rooted in the community and based on merits. "We would like to emphasize this in the next term. We have to evaluate, but (we want - ed. PAP) the view of reviewed unit to be the view of expert colleagues from another university" - he said.

He stressed that the commission would pay special attention to the quality education of students and the quality of staff. "Quality is derived from the strength of scientific staff. Universities will not offer good education, if the staff members do not have scientific achievements" - he said.

The Minister of Science also announced legislative changes concerning the operation of the Polish Accreditation Committee. He informed that work is already underway on the changes in the Regulation on the Polish Accreditation Committee. The changes are being prepared by a team at the General Council for Science and Higher Education, which includes representatives of the Council, the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland, the Ministry of Science and non-governmental institutions, for example the Citizens of Science association and the Students\' Parliament.

"I think that in mid-February we will be ready to put forward the proposals for a new form of this regulation for public consultation" - said Gowin. He added that the regulation in its new form should take effect from the new academic year.

Minister explained that these actions were taken in relation to the complaints concerning the Polish Accreditation Committee, formulated by the scientific and teaching community. According to Gowin, a large portion of these complaints concern not so much the way the committee functions, but the regulations that cause "extremely formal" operation of the committee and "excessive bureaucracy" of its work.

Prof. Diks confirmed that so far during the inspection of units the committee had to focus on the formal and legal issues. In his view, if after changes to the Regulation the committee will be able to focus on substantive activities of units, then its assessment will actually an expert one. "It will not only be a quality evaluation, but also the starting point for improving the quality of each unit" - concluded the professor.

Gowin also announced that the draft of the new law (on Higher Education), which the Ministry of Science wants to prepare over the next three years, will separate the two functions of the committee. The task of licensing (for example issuing authorization to open a new field of study) should be at the discretion of the ministry - he said. "Ultimately, the Polish Accreditation Committee should be a community institution and perform the functions of accreditation, helping universities to improve quality" - the minister added.

Changes will also me made to the Regulation on the National Qualifications Framework, which is correlated with the Regulation the Polish Accreditation Committee and also "generates gigantic bureaucracy at universities" - said Gowin. The National Qualifications Framework is a description of qualifications obtained in the higher education system in the country.

During the conference the minister announced that his ministry plans to introduce more changes that will unburden universities and research institutes from "a gigantic overhang of unnecessary bureaucracy". He added that changes may concern, for example, the system POL-on (Integrated Science and Higher Education Information System), which "generates a tremendous amount of reporting obligations for universities, while still being completely dysfunctional".

The Polish Accreditation Committee has 80 to 90 members - appointed by the Minister of Science and Higher Education - who have at least a doctoral degree. "When choosing the members we tried to take the need for continuity into account (in the new composition of the committee, approx. 40 percent of its previous members remain - ed. PAP), but also make a change of generations. The committee composition, in terms of age, is significantly younger than the previous one" - said Gowin.

The term of the committee begins on 1 January and will last four years.

Since the beginning of its activity (years 2002-2014), the Polish Accreditation Committee awarded 5363 assessments, including 147 distinctions, 4427 positive, 601 conditional and 188 negative assessments. It also issued opinion on 6196 proposals, including 3174 positive opinions.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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