Abstract

The subject of this article is an analysis of the regulations generally applicable for “educational standards” in universities and schools of higher education. Educating students is one of a university’s fundamental statutory tasks and it is conducted in the fields of study it conducts on the basis of its study programmes. This article presents the approach to educational standards and the changes which have taken place in the Polish regulations on higher education as regards educational standards. It reviews the period since the defnition of the “standard of education” in the Polish Act of 27 July 2005 Law on Higher Education (Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym) and the catalogue of fields of study specified in the Regulation of 12 July 2007 issued by the Minister of Science and Higher Education on educational standards for individual fields of study and levels of education (Rozporządzenie Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego z dnia 12 lipca 2007 r. w sprawie standardów kształcenia dla poszczególnych kierunków oraz poziomów kształcenia), to the changes introduced in 2011 granting autonomy to schools of higher education to determine and conduct their own programmes of study. Te Act of 20 July 2018, Law on Higher Education and Science (Ustawa z 20 lipca 2018 roku Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym i nauce), has maintained the autonomy of schools of higher education qualified in the A+, A, and B+ category to create their own fields of study and study programmes.

Students who graduate in any field of study and leave their alma mater for the labourmarket should not only have the right professional qualifications, but they shouldalso have acquired the digital skills for cybersecurity, personal data protectionand the use of new technologies for study and work. Not only science but alsohumanities and social science graduates need to be well trained in the digital skills,because they will all be required to be familiar with new digital technology andits compliance with the law. Students of all fields of study should receive a digitaltraining corresponding to their future specialization and chosen career.

We may ask whether the current Polish regulations on higher education take into account the obligation to provide digital training as part of the study programmes offered by the country’s universities and schools of higher education.