Two degree programmes at the University of Silesia have received the Education Excellence Certificate from the Polish Accreditation Committee (PKA) in the category of Excellent Degree Programme – excellence in providing education as part of a degree programme. These are Environmental Protection at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, and Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences. The University of Silesia in Katowice is the only public university in Silesia Voivodeship acknowledged by the Polish Accreditation Committee this year.
According to the Committee, the USil Faculties awarded with the Certificate implement effective, innovative and exemplary solutions promoting the quality of education, characterised in particular by:
- effectiveness i.e. the ability to achieve objectives in the sphere of improving the quality of education;
- universality, i.e. the transferability to other universities;
- innovativeness, i.e. an innovative character in the sphere of improving the quality of education;
- exemplariness i.e. possibility of serving as a point of reference;
- ethicality, i.e. compliance with standards and ethical values and the principles of social responsibility;
- sustainability, i.e. repetitiveness and durability of impact on education quality improvement.
The application for awarding a degree programme with the Certificate in Excellent Degree Programme – excellence in providing education as part of a degree programme is conditioned by the report of good practices referring to as many as six of the ten criteria taken into account in the PKA assessment. These are:
- structure of the study programme: concept of education, learning objectives and outcomes;
- implementation of the study programme: programme contents, timetable for the implementation of the study programme, forms and organisation of classes, methods of education, student placements, organisation of the teaching and learning process;
- admission to studies, verification of learning outcomes achievement by students, giving credit for individual semesters and years and awarding diplomas;
- competencies, experience, qualifications, the number of employees providing education, and staff development and in-service training;
- education infrastructure and resources used in the implementation of the study programme and their improvement;
- quality assurance policy, designing, approving, monitoring, reviewing, and improving the study programme.
The Certificates have been awarded to a total of 26 degree programmes implemented at various institutions across Poland.
