Accreditation committee formed to monitor higher education facilities

President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Education Minister Krystyna Lybacka officially appointed members to the newly-formed National Accreditation Committee (PKA) on Friday, calling it the most important event for higher education in ten years. The number of students in Poland has quadrupled in the last decade, as hundreds of private higher education facilities were opened. "While we can be happy about the quantity, it is time to think about the quality," said Lybacka. The PKA's task will be to evaluate the quality of teaching at both public and private universities. It will have the right to motion for closing a facility which does not maintain required standards. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Jan 12-13, p. 5) T.J.