Country Preview: Poland - Inexpensive European Education

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by AsianStew, May 24, 2023.

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  1. Johann766

    Johann766 Active Member

    A comparison with European International University or the Paris University of International is inapproproate because these schools are not state-recognized.
     
  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Possibly - but there's the same level of "murky."
     
  3. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    Let us know how that goes and what you find out.

    My concern at this point is that apparently this Jagiellonian (founded in 2003) picks the name of the oldest (700 years old) and most prestigious university in Poland, slaps "college" on it, and opens up in an office building. Roughly the equivalent of being in the UK and taking the name of Oxford or Cambridge and slapping college on it. Was the confusion intentional?

    Then they get spurious US accreditation in the form of AAHE. Why? Does it give the appearance of a US accreditation stamp?

    Those two factors alone seem odd. Perhaps they do have some degree granting authority in Poland and Czechoslovakia that give them legitimacy as an institution of higher education.

    I hope someone posts as they find out more about the degree granting authority so we can unfold this as with the Azteca and UCN degree situation.
     
  4. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    That is an oxymoron. And it's not Spanish.
     
  5. Johann766

    Johann766 Active Member

    To be honest I of course respect but sometimes don't understand your judgement. Regarding EENI you seem rather positive even though they 've been around for decades without any accreditation. Steve Foerster's University project you called "highly promising" (or similar, I'd have to look it up) even though it seems he didn't put much effort into it recently and didn't pursue any form of accreditation for 10 years.

    This in contrast is a real state recognized school.
     
  6. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Neither Steve's school nor EENI were murky or misrepresented themselves. Being unaccredited, in itself, is not a bad thing.
     
  7. tadj

    tadj Active Member

    I like your posts about the differences in terms of the prestige awarded to graduates of Uniwersytet Jagielloński in Kraków vs. Akademia Jagiellońska w Toruniu. Clearly, the latter is a non-prestigious small college. You've explained it quite well. But I wouldn't consider this to be a concern. The similarities in terms of names are normal among Polish institutions. Plus the specific Polish names still show a significant dissimilarity.
     
  8. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    Can someone lay out how degree granting authority works in Poland and Czechoslovakia and then what Jagiellonian College (English Translation) possesses (where they fall in that). How would the Jagiellonian College DBA degree be classed.
     
  9. tadj

    tadj Active Member

    I'll try, but later cause I am super busy. ;-)
     
    Garp likes this.
  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    ..but buying "accreditation" for show --- yeah, in my book, that's bad.
     
  11. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    Definitely raises some questions.
     
  12. Messdiener

    Messdiener Active Member

    Did we have someone here complete a PUIE program and have it evaluated by Validential? If so, can someone point me to the thread? I must have missed it!

    I can't speak for EIU, but I remember PUIE being a private university, but approved by local authorities. A quick glance at their own site points to the general approvals here:

    https://www.education.gouv.fr/acce_public/uai.php?uai_mode=list&uai_ndx=1

    And the individual degree approvals here:

    B.Ed. in TESOL: https://puie.ac/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Bachelor-TESOL.pdf
    B.Ed. in ECE, M.A. in ECE, and the M.A. in TESOL: https://puie.ac/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Master-Early-Child-Ed.pdf
    M.A. in TESOL: https://puie.ac/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Master-TESOL.pdf
    MBA and PhD in Education: https://puie.ac/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Master-MBA.pdf
    PhD in Business Administration: https://puie.ac/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/PHD-Business-Adm.pdf
    PhD in Law: https://puie.ac/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/PARISC-1.pdf

    We've had quite lengthy discussions in various threads about this university and how it may or may not stack up to public institutions. Nevertheless, can we really say that they are not state-approved when they do have all of these permissions and approvals?
     
  13. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    In that letter, I see also:

    "Le dossier d’ouverture de la formation baccalauréat en Administration des Affaires (BBA GB) n’est pas conforme au code de l’éducation car l’établissement ne peut se prévaloir du terme baccalauréat. Lorsque ce terme aura été modifié la formation sera conforme au code de l’éducation."

    The BBA was refused permission because that school "cannot make use of the term baccalauréat" and they were advised to modify it. However, a B. Ed. degree in TESOL was approved using this term. What gives???
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2023
  14. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I note another Bachelor's (ECE) was approved, but as a "licence" not a "baccalauréat." This is the "piece that passeth all understanding!"
     
  15. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    And yes, I know what "licence" means. Now you do, too. :)

    "Licence (L1, L2, L3) is an undergraduate degree awarded after a period of study lasting 6 semesters (3 years)." - Google

    OK - a standard 3-year UK and euro-style bachelor's. So why are some approved as "baccalauréat" and others as "licence?"
    And of course, there's the traditional "baccalauréat" that represents a national standard of secondary school completion.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baccalauréat#:~:text=According to French law, the,by full professors at universities.

    This nomenclature is pretty convoluted. I think understanding French makes it worse...

    "Licence" was a degree term also used in English in medieval times. Some years back, a Welsh university offered a distance program - a "Licence" in Latin. They said the degree was at Master's level and the credits matched up to that, IIRC. However, the whole thing crashed in the University of Wales consortium implosion, that resulted from U. of Wales validating 200+ overseas programs without proper oversight. That's the last - and only - "Licence" program I've seen offered in English.
     
  16. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Heu, misera Licentia. Eam numquam cognovi. "Alas, poor Licence. I never knew her." :)
     
  17. tadj

    tadj Active Member

    Disclaimer: If you don’t like long reading, you’re not going to like this post. But this topic requires a great deal of nuance. ;-)

    I told Garp that I will address this issue:

    Garp: “Can someone lay out how degree granting authority works in Poland and Czechoslovakia and then what Jagiellonian College (English Translation) possesses (where they fall in that). How would the Jagiellonian College DBA degree be classed.”

    I hope that my contribution will somehow help our forum participants in making decisions as to the worth (or the lack thereof in their own context) of the offered Czech, Polish and Slovak titles. While I am a fluent Polish speaker (it’s my first language), I had to rely on translations for the documents of Poland’s neighboring countries to the south.

    I will begin with the issue of degree-granting authority. This is typically spelled out in legal terms in “Higher Education Acts” of each country. I’ve only posted the most relevant parts for our discussion and placed my comments in brackets. I will mainly focus on the Czech Republic now and provide a brief comparison to Slovakia and Poland.

    Source document: https://www.msmt.cz/uploads/odbor_30/TF/Legislativa_a_metodicke_pokyny/Novela_2016/Zakon_o_vysokych_skolach_AJ.pdf

    The Czech Higher Education Act provides the following information:

    “Higher education institutions provide accredited degree programmes as well as lifelong learning programmes.”

    “Higher education institutions of the university type may provide all types of degree programmes. Higher education institutions of the non-university type provide Bachelor’s degree programmes and may also carry out Master’s degree programmes…”

    “Legal entities that have their domicile or central administration or carry out most of their commercial activities in a member country of the European Union, or were organized or founded pursuant to the laws of a member country of the European Union, are entitled to operate as private higher education institutions if the Ministry grants them such approval.”

    “A higher education is earned through studies within the framework of an accredited degree programme offered in line with the curriculum for the given mode of studies. For these purposes, a degree programme offered by a higher education institution in the scope of a field or fields of education for which the institution has an accreditation is also considered an accredited degree programme.”

    “Graduates of Master’s degree programmes are awarded the following academic degrees:

    “Magistr” (“Master”, abbreviated as “Mgr.”, used in front of the name) in other areas of study” (‘other areas of study’ means all non-medical, engineering and fine arts areas of study, as these titles may be different).

    (I will also avoid talking about the “small doctorate” (PhDr.), which is a unique Master’s level degree in the Czech Republic (and Slovakia) and could not be officially recognized in Poland. You can read about this Czech and Slovak degree in the source document. It’s not relevant for our discussion though. But I do want you to notice that this Higher Education Act-approved Czech degree is also written before the name like this: PhDr. Jan Novak).

    Let’s now examine the real doctoral-level degrees in the Czech Republic using the same Higher Education Act document. Oh wait, there is only one degree here!

    Section 47: “Doctoral degree programmes are aimed at scientific research and independent creative activities in the area of research or development, or independent theoretical and creative activities in the area of the fine arts.”

    “The standard length of studies is no less than three and no more than four years.”

    “Graduates of doctoral degree programmes are awarded the academic degree of “Doktor” (“Doctor”, abbreviated as “Ph.D.”, used after the name).” (And obviously Dr. before the name too!)

    Summary:

    The only degrees that can be used as titles before one’s name and quality as real academic degrees in the Czech Republic are as follows;

    Master’s level degrees:

    Mgr. (+ PhDr. and the various remaining Czech medical, engineering and fine arts Master’s level degree tiles that I’ve purposefully omitted to avoid confusion)

    Doctorate level degrees:

    Doktor (or PhD)

    Based on this Czech Higher Education Act, we can see that there are no other Czech degree programs that are officially accredited by the Czech Ministry in charge of higher education. Yet other degree programs are clearly offered by accredited institutions in Czechia. Why? We can see that higher education institutions can provide “lifelong learning programmes” besides their accredited academic (‘Magistr’ and ‘Doktor/PhD’) programs. That’s actually the key to solving this whole puzzle!

    BRIEF COMPARISON WITH POLAND AND SLOVAKIA:

    It’s important to note that MBA and DBA aren’t even mentioned in the Czech Higher Education Act. You’ll find the same thing in Slovakia and Poland when examining their legal acts on higher education. In both cases, these type of programs are entirely absent from official ministry-approved and accredited academic degree lists.

    In Poland, you would say Magister instead of Magistr, but the degree recognition scope is largely the same. And there’s also the one Doctor title – Doktor (PhD) just like in Czechia. But the non-Act approved programs (MBAs, DBAs, Doctor of Laws) can still be offered as postgraduate-level “lifelong learning programmes.” In the Czech Republic, it is more common to refer to these type of lifelong learning programs as professional “non-academic degrees.” (degrees that fall outside the scope of recognized academic degrees in Czechia). In Poland, you would normally use the term “Świadectwo ukończenia studiów podyplomowych” instead (typically translated as “Certificate of Completion of Postgraduate Studies”) for the actual Polish award that one receives at the end of MBA, DBA and Doctor of Laws studies (as well as any other “Postgraduate Studies” programs) that are carried out on Polish territory. Besides the official certificate, you would also receive an MBA, DBA diploma (in some cases even a degree from a controversial place like Apsley Business School), but these are given outside the system of Polish higher education. Only the Polish language “Certificate of Completion of Postgraduate Studies” award is granted inside the actual system of Polish higher education.

    As far as I understand, FVES (Akademia Jagiellońska branch in the Czech Republic) doesn’t grant the official Polish document, but a Czech non-academic degree award. But their diploma/degree titles frequently refer to “studies” (which may appear weird to some; example: Doctor of Laws Studies) to highlight the fact that they are based off the Polish Postgraduate Studies.

    To answer Garp's question: In the Czech Republic, the MBA and DBA would not be classified at all, at least not in the Higher Education Act. But the Ministry allows for the granting of these programs. See this links. Do you see how MBA/LLM are placed outside the normal academic “degree programmes” structure?

    https://portal.studyin.cz/en/

    The Czech MBA/DBA programmes that are structurally more similar (length/quality assurance) to American-style degrees with the same name are most likely to be found here: https://cambas.cz/#o-asociaci. This voluntary association’s main activity is to ensure that these programs “meet internationally recognized standards.”

    My subjective evaluation of the offered professional-type programs in Central Europe:

    1) Highest level: CAMBAS accredited members represent the top-tier for these type of professional non-ministry approved programs in the Czech Republic (also easiest to evaluate abroad) In Poland, it is institutions like Kozminski University which represent the top tier with Triple Crown Accreditation: AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS,

    2) Middle level: FVES – Akademia Jagiellońska w Toruniu (accredited for two degree programs in Czechia (more degrees in Poland at the Master’s level) and legally offering foreign lifelong learning programs. FVES doesn’t attempt to meet internationally recognized standards, as evidences by AAHEA affiliation, but it clearly represents the middle-tier in Czech professional education offerings. Here is another institution that’s operating at this level; https://www.cie-study.cz/faq/

    In Slovakia, you will find this institution as representative of this middle level professional program offering: https://www.vsbm.sk/DBA.html

    3) Lowest level: Lastly, places such as EDU Effective represent the lowest tier (no government-based accreditation for any program, but still operating legally as a training institution in Czechia).

    But these type of lifelong learning non-academic degrees/postgraduate studies programs are essentially offered throughout Central Europe.

    I’ll possibly add more things later. I am looking forward to your contributions.
     
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  18. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    Thank you. So if I am understanding this, the DBA (and MBA) are basically Proprio degrees in both Poland and the Czech Republic.
     
  19. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    It doesn't sound like it means that at all. For some reason people on this forum have taken to misusing titulo propio to mean "anything unusual in a non-English speaking country".

    If we're making a comparison, it sounds more like a Swiss school with cantonal approval or a school in France operating under the VAE process. (Not perfectly like either, but closer.)
     
    Rachel83az likes this.
  20. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    The Doctor of Science looks interesting.
     

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