Transforming the Engineering Higher Education System in Silesian University of Technology for Better Adapting to New Realities in Poland

ZIELINSKI, Wojciech

Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland, RDyd@polsl.gliwice.pl

Abstract: The Silesian University of Technology is one of the biggest Polish technical universities. Its research and didactic potential is discussed, as well as the impact of the political and social conditions in Poland in the last 19 years on the pursuit of a university education by the Polish youth. The University's participation in the restructuring of the region is presented, with particular focus on the cooperation between the University and local economic entities to create a modern university education model, well adjusted to the new job market demands and new economic reality.

The activities enhancing foreign exchange of students are discussed in view of Poland's opening to the world, and also Student Career Agency operating at the University to prepare the graduates for entering successfully the labour market.

Keywords: education, students, cooperation with industry, foreign exchange, promotion

The Silesian University of Technology is one of the biggest technical universities in Poland. It consists of 11 faculties, which offer courses covering almost all-engineering disciplines. More than 25 thousand students are being educated here among whom 5 thousand are students of the evening courses.

We have also more than 700 Ph.D. students. 1900 teaching staff including over 300 full-time professors employed at Silesian University of Technology, who do research work. The combination of those factors produces huge research and didactic potential.

However, the political and economic conditions have an impact on the pursuit of a university education. Profound political changes initiated in Poland in 1980 had a considerable influence on the attitude of young people towards the education at a university level. Starting with 1980 a constant slump in the popularity of university education was observed, reaching the lowest level in 1990.

Figure 1. The number of students in 1953-1998

Such situation was not only a result of newly created opportunities of making money in the free market economy, opening the Polish borders for imported products, but also of a release of tremendous social energy involved in the activity of the Solidarity Trade Union. Furthermore, decreased popularity of university education was also spurred by an erroneous conviction prevailing in the Polish industrial circles, that industrial production can be sustained for a long time on the grounds of the technology at hand only. The Polish industry was not interested in new technologies, and, consistently, there was a lesser demand for engineers. Fortunately, in the face of the new economic reality, it turned out that the better-educated people were the more chance they had to get a better job. At the same time, as the market was stabilizing, it was more and more difficult to make fast and easy money. Since that time, a rapid growth of the popularity of university education has occurred, and the number of university students has increased from 400 thousand in 1994 to 1 300 thousand to date. According to a recent survey, Polish young people, unlike their counterparts in Western Europe who favor university education as such, prefer to get a real profession by studying at a technical university. This trend has also been observed at the Silesian University of Technology, where the number of students has risen three times

Figure 2. Ph.D. courses run at The Silesian Technical University

The Silesian University of Technology is located in Upper Silesia. It's the most industrialised part in Poland and one of the most industrialised in Europe.

Figure 3

However, the region in question is dominated by mining industry, metallurgy and power engineering. The specified industries, which constituted the principal force for the development of state economy only a few decades ago, are now burdens hindering its further development due to low profit, high investment costs and considerable, unfavourable impact on the natural environment. Therefore, the industry in the area of Upper Silesia must be subjected to thorough restructuring process.

Table 1. The register of faculties and disciplines

Offering courses in 25 engineering disciplines, of which 20 are in different fields of science, practically covering the whole domain of industrial interest, the Silesian University of Technology has an important role in restructuring processes. First and foremost, we provide well-qualified engineering staff for the expanding automotive industry, food manufacturing and processing industry, banking sector, and other fields of economic activity. At the same time, representatives of the University participate in the decision-making bodies and thus exert a strong influence on the directions in the development of the region. Because of the cooperation with the industry and close contacts with local governments it is easy to translate their needs and suggestions into the process of university teaching, which improves the quality of university education.

Another aspect of the problem involves the changes in the whole Polish economy, where the subjects are more and more aware of the economic calculation, and the necessity to manufacture goods, which can be sold on the market, seems to be a priority.

With respect to the above, also the attitude to the education of engineering staff must be modified. The Silesian University of Technology has always successfully cooperated with the industrial sector, and, after the stagnation coming on the turn of 1980s and 1990s, the University is again gaining attention in the technological environment of the country. Yet the requirements the graduates must satisfy are presently much higher than before. According to the opinion poll carried out among employers, apart from knowledge, general knowledge in particular; the graduate should be characterised by the following:

• creativity,

• ability to work with people,

• willingness to analyse and develop the already accumulated knowledge and skills,

• ability to speak foreign languages and use computers,

• knowledge involving the fundamentals of economy and marketing.

The creation and development of such qualities requires that the whole education process is approached in a totally different way. Assuming (according to the data published by the British Audio-visual Society) that an average student can remember

• 10% of what he has read,

• 20% of what he has heard,

• 30% of what he has seen,

but

• 80% of what he has said himself

and

• as much as 90% of what he has said and done at the same time,

new educational methods should be focused on principles where the student solves the problems he is facing by himself. In new teaching programmes introduced now at the Silesian University of Technology the emphasis is placed on collective elaboration of problems and discussion at seminars. Through establishing numerous contacts with the industry and local authorities, we present students with real work environment, which they may experience in their future careers, organising training courses where students collectively solve real problems. The programmes are supplemented with economical and humanising elements.

By connecting the University and student hostels to the Internet, students have access to databases all over the world, which stimulates the development of self-study habits.

Our special concern is the cooperation with local governments. Our experience with the neighbouring towns of Zabrze, Rybnik and Katowice indicates that educating young people at the place of their residence holds at least two great advantages. First of all, it reduces the costs involved for both the students and the University in question, as the local governments support the development of university education systems. Secondly, the students operate in their home town environment, and in most cases, actively participating in the regional business activity while still studying, they remain in the region after graduating, which has a positive effect on the development of local industry and the prosperity and importance of the region as a whole.

Therefore, the adoption of the multi-campus university model is a solution especially feasible for Silesia, which includes local areas with the lowest percentage of people with a university degree.

For many years Polish students were not sufficiently motivated to learn foreign languages, which together with ineffective system of foreign language teaching in schools contributed to their poor level of foreign language acquisition. Therefore, apart from regular compulsory language courses at the University, students may attend additional language courses sponsored by the industry. Hence, a considerable number of students can take advantage of international student exchange programmes such as "Socrates", or they can continue their studies abroad, e.g. at the International Hochschulinstitut in Zittau established together by the authorities of Saxons, Silesian University of Technology and University in Liberec.

In order to make the graduates of the University competitive on labour market, a Student Career Agency has been formed at the University, which is principally engaged in active search for work opportunities, but it also provides advice on professional skills and predisposition to take up future careers and organises meetings with home and overseas employers. Since its formation, the Agency has been popular with a considerable number of students from our University and from the neighbouring ones.