About DWSPiT

Basic information about the college

Highly qualified academic staff, coming from the best academic centres, low tuition fee, traineeship in the renown companies, well-developed language teaching programme as well as the scholarship programme, modern teaching aids and didactic base constitute the main assets of the College. Due to the engagement of local self-government authorities and placing the college in the Development Strategy of Lower Silesia Voivodship, the college is provided with the stable development. The location of Polkowice (close vicinity to the borders of Germany and the Czech Republic) as well as the dynamic economic development of the region can serve as a forecast of successful future for the college. Poland`s accession to UE creates new opportunities for both the college and the students. The need to obtain the knowledge and skills in the sphere of international relations and the demand for specialists in IT, international political and economic relations, law gives students of DWSPiT enormous chances to find interesting jobs in Poland and abroad.

PRESENTATION OF THE COLLEGE

The Lower Silesian College of Entrepreneurship and Technology was established due to the cooperation between the Polkowice Commune and County. The founder of the school is "ZamPol", whose shareholders are solely the Commune and County of Polkowice. The founder obtained the Permit to create the non-state vocational college from the Ministry of Education on 30 August 2001.

On 8 January 2002, following the decision of the Minister of National Education and Sport, The Lower Silesian College of Entrepreneurship and Technology was registered in the register of non-state vocational colleges at the number 91, maintained by the Minister of National Education and Sport (currently Minister of Education and Science). The college is seated in Polkowice.

The Lower Silesian College of Entrepreneurship and Technology has the status of legal personality. It operates following the regulations of Law on the Higher Education Act. The college is entitled to run the studies of the first level in the fields of Information Technology and International Relations.

DWSPiT began its academic activity in the academic year 2002/2003 by carrying out the recruitment process of students within the period July-September 2002. The solemn Inauguration of the Academic Year 2002/2003 took place on 1 October 2002, which initiated the official activity of the College. The Inauguration Lecture was conducted by professor Jacek Sobczak.

The very first Graduation was a special celebration in the college. It occurred on 30 September 2005. The students of International Relations were the first graduates. (see the gallery). This celebration was joined with the Solemn Inauguration of the Academic Year 2005/2006 (see the gallery). The inauguration lecture devoted to the differences as to the understanding of "Human Capital and Social Capital" was done by dr hab. Roman Galar.

In September 2007, during the Inauguration of Academic Year 2007/2008, the college celebrated the 5th Anniversary of college`s activity. A film presenting the college`s achievements was prepared for that celebration and the opening of optical fibre connection was also the event of the day. The investment enabled the college to access the Wrocław Computer - Network Centre by Technical University in Wrocław. The college will make it available for the local educational institutions. The use of HotSpot was also initiated, enabling the wireless access to the Internet within the premises of the college.

MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS

As a result of the dynamic development of school and increasing number of students, in 2004 two Faculties were created: Faculty of Information Technology, with the studies in the filed of IT and the Faculty of Social Sciences, with the studies in the field of International Relations. At that time the very first Deans of Faculties were appointed, relatively dr Witold Komorowski and dr Bronisław Bladocha.

In the same year the college moved to modern premises, located within the area of the biggest educational complex in Polkowice, in Skalników street 6b (the estimated value of the investment amounts 3 mln PLN (Polish currency). At the same time, the works related to construction of another didactic building were started. This time the use of European Structural Funds is anticipated in order to finance the investment.

Since the academic Year 2005/2006 the college has participated in the programme "Sybase Academy", which is meant to make the software as well as the knowledge on IT available.

In November 2005 the College organized the conference " Regional Development Strategy - joint work of Lower Silesia society". During the conference, the following aspects were raised: preparation works as to development strategies related to the development of communication settlement network and its influence on the economic development of Lower Silesia, small and medium enterprises in the plan of Lower Silesia development. The conference was held under the Marshall of Lower Silesia auspices. The representatives of the greatest Universities and Institutions participated in the works of the Programming Committee. The publication: Regional Development Strategy - joint work of Lower Silesia society" was the result of the conference. The book was published in November last year. It`s the first book out of the series of publications "Academic publications".

The college organizes the series of lectures for talented students from secondary and high schools as well as for the inhabitants of Polkowice. The first series was organized in two parts, each consisting of 8 lectures; the one held in Spring 2005 was devoted to the Science (coordinator dr hab. A.C. Mituś, prof. nadzw..) and History (coordinator dr hab. J. Tyszkiewicz, prof. nadzw.)

The College has been the member of the Conference of Rectors of Polish Vocational Schools since the moment it was established. On 5 January 2006, the College received the positive evaluation of quality of education in the Faculty of IT (Resolution No. 16/2006 of the Executive Committee of National Acreditation Commission of 5 January 2006).

In July 2006, following the decision of the Director of the Lower Silesia Province Labour Office, operating as the Institution implementing the Activity 2.1 "The development of skills related to the needs of the regional labour market and opportunities of education in the region" financed from the resources of European Social Fund within the Integrated Operational Programme of Human Resources Development, the College received the financial resources from EU and State budgets to carry out the project "Doctor and nurse - highly-qualified employee on European Labour Market". The value of the project amounts to almost 1 mln PLN (Polish currency). The project was carried in three locations of Polkowice County : Polkowice, Lubin and Legnica, within the period July 2006-June 2008. It was devoted to extensive trainings for the health care employees.

November 2006 was the date when the Polkowice University of Third Age began its activity. The Local authorities of both Commune and County, The College as well as the chiefs of Polkowice schools, institutions and companies took part in the event. Though the College prepared itself for 50 participants, the first solemn pledge was given by 90 students.

24 lutego 2006 r. mury Uczelni opuścili pierwsi absolwenci Wydziału Informatyki.

In December 2006 the Faculty of International Relations received the positive evaluation of the quality of education. The decision was made by the National Acreditation Commission after the audit carried out in 2006. The following aspects were considered: quality of education, study programme, academic staff as well as the didactic base. Thereby all of the college`s Faculties obtained the approval from the National Acreditation Commission, which accounts for the high quality of the education process it realizes.

In January 2007, the college started the project "Polkowice Commune in the Information Society". Its goal is to provide the inhabitants of Polkowice with free trainings within the area of using the computer technologies.

At the beginning of the Academic Year 2007/2008 the College created a unique in Poland field of study in IT Faculty: "Programming Mechatronic Systems".

October 2008 - two-semester postgraduate studies "Local and International Policy of Local Self-Government" were created in the College. The studies are the part of the project carried out by Polkowice Commune Office and County of Polkowice Office "Competent employee- satisfied inhabitant. The Academy of staff development of the Commune Office and County Office in Polkowice."

The College received the permit from the Minister of Science and Higher Education to open the unique field of study in Poland "Mechatronics". The studies in that field were started at the beginning of the Academic Year 2008/2009.

Since the Academic Year 2008/2009 dr Arkadiusz Kotliński has been appointed to the position of Dean of Social Science Faculty; he replaced the former Dean in that position Dr Magdalena Bartkiewicz.

In November 2008, the next Conference on the initiative of the College was held "Exploitation of non-renewable resources within the aspect of sustainable development and the EU requirements". The conference was held under the Marshall of Vovodship auspices. One of the main aims of the conference was to present such aspects as reconversion of mine fields referring to post-industrial areas, as well as the aspects of appropriate evaluation of non-renewable energy resources. The conference was meant to be the platform for factual discussion on the issue of exploitation brown coal in the Legnica-Ścinawa region.

MISSION OF THE COLLEGE

The mission of the college is determined by basic levels of its activity as follow:

• Educating students within the fields of studies which the College has obtained the permits for
• Preparing students for self-dependent job career
• Carrying out the different forms of lifelong education, thereby providing the region with specialists with higher education
• Educating students in the spirit of respect for human rights, patriotism, democracy and responsibility for the good of society, country and one`s own skills.

RELATIONS WITH THE ENVIRONMENT

Polkowice is a dynamically developing town. There are approximately 26 thousand inhabitants. It is located within the Legnica-Głogów Copper District. The development of this area was initially related to the copper mines "Polkowice" and "Runda" existing in the region. The location of the town and the local authoritie`s policy which is favourably inclined towards the investments caused that the town has become a very attractive place for national and foreign investors establishing here their subsidiaries, branches or even independent production plants especially after the Legnica Special Economic Zone was created. Currently, there are more than 1700 production plants, trade and services units operating in Polkowice; among them there are such companies as : KGHM "Polish Copper" joint stock company, Volkswagen Motor Poland LTd., Sitech LTd., Royal Europa LTd., CCC joint stock company, Sanden Manufacturing Poland LTd. Polkowice enterprises are modern, highly computerized, using foreign capital and having established relations with many European business subjects. Those companies seek highly-qualified staff, that would be able to develop foreign relations as well as to use the methods and techniques of IT to support the process of their current activity. The college has already established contacts with many of them, which makes the process of organizing the traineeships and then employment of our students easier.

Taking into account all of those facts as well as the demography, the fields of studies were created in such way as to make them as attractive as possible from the point of view of local enterprises and future graduates. The main aim when creating the College was to educate the staff to meet the needs of local industry and public institutions running their business and activity within the sub-region of Polkowice ( Units of the local self-government are the founders of the College).

Another propitious aspect is the College`s contribution as to the creation of Regional Industrial and Technological Park in Polkowice, where the investment related to high technology will be located and for which the access to highly-qualified staff is the key issue. Efficiently operating College will undoubtedly be the factor considered while making the decision about locating the business activity within the Technological Park in Polkowice. It is worth mentioning that College employees participate actively in the work of the Team for Creation of the Regional Industrial and Technological Park in Polkowice.

Besides the tight contacts with local industry and self-government, the College has established the cooperation with Institutions of Higher Education in Poland and abroad:

• The Zielona Góra University,
• The University of Technology in Wrocław, mainly with the Center of Lifelong Education by the University of Technology in Wrocław
• The Poznań University of Technology
• Poznań School of Humane Sciences and Journalism
• Technische Universität oraz TUDAG z Drezna (TU Dresden Aktiengesellschaft),
• Volkswagen Bildungsinstitut z Zittau (AutoUni).

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Single person authorities of the College are Rector and Chancellor who are appointed by the Founder. The Chancellor is appointed by the Rector after obtaining the approval from the Founder. Senate is the collective authority of the College. The following Faculties are the basic organization units of the school

• Faculty of Humane Sciences,
• Faculty of Information Technology.

The work of each Faculty is managed by the Dean. Faculty Councils have the advisory competences as well as the competences to pass the resolutions. Individual units are: Foreign Language Centre, Physical Education and Sports Centre.

The basis for the College`s Library functioning is the agreement with town-commune Public Library. The Library premises have been marked off both as to the organization and place aspect. (see the organisational structure of the College)