DIPLOMA SUPPLEMENT
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DS IN POLAND
The process of implementation of Diploma Supplement in Poland started in the year 2000, when the Bureau for Academic Recognition and International Exchange organized a conference promoting the idea of DS among the rectors of Polish higher education institutions.
As a result of the conference, Polish pilot project was launched. It lasted from May 2000 to October 2002. Around 70 higher education institutions, both state and non-state ones, participated in the project. At the end of academic year 2001/2002 almost 4.000 Diploma Supplements were issued (both in Polish and English language versions).
At the same time, a legislative initiative has been started, whose aim was to create legal frames for the implementation of
the Diploma Supplement in Poland.
In October 2002 a new conference on Diploma Supplement was organized by the Polish NARIC. Over 220 persons (representatives of 150 higher education institutions) participated in it. One of the purposes was to present the experience of institutions which issued Diploma Supplements during the pilot project.
The last conference on Diploma Supplement was organized by the Bureau for
Academic Recognition and International Exchange in November 2003.
In August 2004, a new regulation of the Minister of National Education and Sport
on the types of professional titles and specimens of diplomas awarded in higher education
came in force, by which Polish higher education institutions are obliged to
issue Diploma Supplement since 2005.
CONFERENCE ON DIPLOMA SUPPLEMENT
The first step in the implementation of Diploma Supplement in Poland was conference for the rectors of higher education institutions organized by the Bureau for Academic Recognition and International Exchange (Polish NARIC) in co-operation with the Ministry of National Education in May 2000. The title of the conference was "Diploma Supplement as a way of promoting graduates' qualifications and implementation of the provisions of Lisbon Recognition Convention".
The purpose of the conference was the promotion of the Diploma Supplement in Poland, according to the recommendation of the final report published by the joint working party on the Diploma Supplement, which considers the DS an important tool in the implementation of the Lisbon Convention.
The presentation of Diploma Supplement was prepared by professor Jan Kusiak of Akademia Grórniczo-Hutnicza w Krakowie (Academy of Mining and Metallurgy), who participated in the pilot project of the joint working party established by European Commission, Council of Europe and UNESCO/CEPES. The head of the Polish NARIC, Ms Ewa Majdowska, presented the Lisbon Recognition Convention. A representative of the Ministry of National Education described the legal frames of implementation of Diploma Supplement in Poland.
Polish NARIC elaborated a publication comprising the report of the DS joint working party established by the European Commission, Council of Europe and UNESCO/CEPES. The publication and the Polish version of Diploma Supplement outline was disseminated to all the participants of the conference and sent to the higher education institutions whose representatives did not participate in the conference. It is also available on-line on the Polish NARIC website.
Besides the rectors of higher education institutions and their representatives, the participants of the conference were also representatives of authorities supervising higher education institutions (like Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Health…) and the representatives of other social partners, such as organizations of employers and students.
The conference was co-financed by the Bureau for Academic Recognition and International Exchange (Polish NARIC) and the PHARE Program for Cooperation in Higher Education.
One of the outcomes of the conference was setting up a pilot project for Polish higher education institutions.
POLISH PILOT PROJECT
The Polish pilot project on Diploma Supplement was launched in June 2000 as a result of the conference on DS organized in May. It was coordinated by the Bureau for Academic Recognition and International Exchange (Polish NARIC) together with the Department of Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of National Education.
The aim of the pilot project was to examine the organizational aspects of issuing Diploma Supplements and to prepare the legal frames for its introduction in Poland.
The overall number of 68 higher education institutions, both State and non-State ones, participated in the project. Complete information on the participants and outcomes of the pilot project is available in the final Report.
The participants held 4 meetings (in November 2000, March, June and October 2001). During the pilot project, a number of questionnaires concerning the production of Diploma Supplements and the organizational aspects of issuing these documents were answered by the participants. The analysis of the questionnaires are included in the final report.
For the needs of the project, an electronic form of the Diploma Supplement was created. It was used by the participants of the project in the production of Diploma Supplements. To assure uniformity of English versions of Diploma Supplements, Polish NARIC placed on its website English translations of minimum curriculum requirements for selected fields of study, elaborated for this purpose.
Since the participants in the pilot project acknowledged that the Diploma Supplement should be a document issued on an obligatory basis, they expressed the need for legal regulations concerning this document in a letter to the Minister of National Education and gave their opinion on the possible changes in the provisions regarding higher education credentials.
As a result of the project, at the end of academic year 2001/2002 almost 4.000 Diploma Supplements were issued (both in Polish and English language versions).
