Wyższa Szkoła Turystyki i Ekologii w Suchej Beskidzkiej

Graduates receive a diploma with a Bachelor's degree and can continue their education at every higher education institution offering Master and/or post-graduate courses in Tourism and Recreation or similar faculties.

Bachelor's degree students who have completed 6 semesters of Tourism and Recreation Faculty or Political Sciences Faculty, succeeded in passing all their examinations and defended their bachelor's dissertation in the form of a project in Polish and in English may receive a Bachelor's degree. Engineering degree it is granted to students who have completed 7 semesters of Information Technology Faculty, succeeded in passing all their examinations and defended their thesis in Polish.

Detailed recruitment rules and regulations for admissions may be found in point I.6 of this document. All courses are paid. Tuition fees cover all classes within a given programme of studies including credits and exams with the first attempt.

Tuition fees for the academic year 2007/2008: Registration fee 300PLN Tuition fee for full-time courses 1800PLN a year Tuition fee for extra-mural courses 1680PLN a year

3.Educational/professional aims of programmes of studies Professional competence of graduates

Professional competence of a Tourism and Recreation faculty graduate lies within the following fields:

• general competence defining a graduate as a human being and a highly qualified specialist,

• detailed competence in the field of a graduate's main professional specializations i.e. Tourist Business Operations, Hotel and Catering Industry,

• detailed competence within supplementary specializations which is management of Tourist Business Operations units.

In the established educational model obtained competence is a complex category which consists of three elements: knowledge, skills and personal characteristics which decide how much a person uses the first two elements.

4. Aims of studies

The main aim of studies is acquiring by students enough competence to perform their professional role as a specialist with a bachelor's degree. This means that the Academy creates good possibilities for students to:

• acquire general and specialist knowledge required in their future professional career,

• acquire knowledge necessary to understand the relationships in the services of Tourist Business Operations sector on the intermediate technical supervisory level, as well as managerial functions in hotel units,

• develop in future graduates skills and abilities necessary to recognize and successfully deal with managerial problems

• develop in future graduates skills and abilities to function well in their future professional world.

Programme of studies covers four groups of subjects: basic subjects, principal subjects, connected with given fields of study, subjects in Economics, Tourist Business Operations, Hotel Industry and Catering Management and General education subjects.

Graduates' knowledge comprises knowledge of general subjects such as: philosophy, psychology, sociology, history of culture and art, statistics, information science. Moreover, it covers issues from political and social sciences (general history of XX century, history of contemporary political doctrines, history of Poland, political systems of contemporary states, civil rights and liberties), as well as specialist subjects connected with methods and techniques of tourist business operations, hotel industry and catering industry, ecology, monitoring of tourist movements streams, free time pedagogy, creation of a tourist product etc. A group of economics subjects includes: economics, the basis of accounting, economics of tourism and recreation, the basis of marketing, marketing of tourism and recreation services, quality management in a company.

The above presented knowledge is the basis for students to acquire the following skills:

• assessing the state of tourist expansion and identifying the directions and ways of its expansion,

• making a correct assessment and forecasts for the development of tourist business operations units,

• implementing plans and programmes of development for tourism business operations units,

A graduate during the course of studies, in the range of specialist subjects both general and vocational, should develop characteristics essential for every contemporary, highly qualified specialist, particularly:

• acceptance of the aims and objectives of the economic unit a graduate will work for,

• a sense of responsibility for the results of one's work and subordinates' work,

• willingness to cooperate with local communities and all units co-responsible for successful operation of a given economic unit,

• emphasis on continuous improvement of one's professional skills arising from the necessity to keep up with constantly changing circumstances,

• has a wide range of general knowledge enabling diverse activities and holding various professional positions,

• has specific practical skills resulting from numerous field trips in Poland and abroad as well as traineeships held during studies,

• is used to constant self-education which arises from the necessity to keep pace with the fast changing environment,

• can work independently, and what is more the knowledge of two foreign languages enables them to start work abroad.

Within the range of the above described competence graduates should also acquire special competence arising from economic and political reforms, particularly communicative competence which makes one's work easier and is needed to identify, modify and solve current managerial issues.

After completing Tourism and Recreation faculty graduates will have thorough general education as well as very good knowledge of the latest solutions in tourist business operations, hotel industry and catering. They will also possess skills and abilities to create tourism products in the European Union market.

Graduates of these faculties will find employment in various branches of Tourism due to their broad knowledge of tourism business operations, hotel industry and catering in all the above mentioned components. Well-educated specialists with these professional skills may also find employment in local and district authorities and central government bodies at provincial and ministerial levels.

Graduates of the College of Tourism and Ecology receive a Bachelor's degree but in majority they continue education to receive a Master's degree at various prestigious universities.

Graduates of the Tourism and Recreation faculty have possibilities to continue their studies at the Academy of Physical Education in Cracow and at University of Bedfordshire in Great Britain .

Graduates of Political Sciences faculty can continue their studies at Pedagogical University of Cracow.

Graduates of Information Technology faculty may continue their studies at AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow .

College of Tourism and Ecology has signed bilateral agreements with the above mentioned Universities.

The formula of the graduation exam is included in chapter XI of the College Rules:

A diploma examination means a final Bachelor's or Engineering examination.
A graduate is allowed to sit an exam by the Dean.
The following conditions must be met in order to be allowed to sit a diploma examination:

• submitting an accepted and positively assessed by the thesis supervisor thesis or project of the presentation of an undertaking to the College's Deans Office'

• receiving all credits and passing all exams required by the programme of studies during the whole period , being positively assessed for obligatory traineeships, camps and sports and recreational activities and potential curricular differences,

A diploma exam is an oral exam, and in the case of a presentation of an undertaking it is a multimedia presentation.
The exam is assessed by a special Board consisting of the College authorities' representative ( Rector, Dean or Deputy Dean), thesis supervisor, thesis reviewer and examiner and a teacher of the chosen foreign language.
The Board is appointed by the Dean.

The aim of a diploma examination is an assessment of the actual state of a student's knowledge within specialist subjects of his faulty at the College of Tourism and Ecology.
A diploma examination is paid. Fees for a given academic year are announced by the Chancellor of the Academy

Students are obliged to take the final examination within time limits set by the Dean. Unexcused absences result in failing the exam and having to take a resit in the set resit session.

In the case of receiving a fail mark from the diploma examination or an unexcused absence on the set date of the examination, a new, final resit date is set by the Dean.
In the case of receiving a fail mark during the resit session the Dean decides whether a student can repeat the diploma semester or has to be crossed off a list of students.
A student who has been crossed off a list of students of the College of Tourism and Ecology because of the reasons described in point 2 above receives a certificate of completing all semesters of studies.

The process of education in the College of Tourism and Ecology is complete after passing a diploma examination with a positive result. A graduate receives a higher education diploma and a degree corresponding to a given type and faculty of studies. In the case of completing two faculties it is allowed to enter two faculties on a diploma.

• the average grade calculated from all exam and credit results during studies including all fails,

The final mark is constituted in the following way: 1 of the mark mentioned in paragraph 2 point a and 1 of the marks mentioned in point s b) and c) above.

Marks without decimals are only given on the diploma certificate, but in students' record books and other certificates students receive exact marks, calculated as mentioned in paragraph 2.
The Board may increase the mark mentioned in point 3 by 0.1 if a student receives very good marks from the thesis and final exam.
The Board's proposal to increase the mark must be written in the final exam report and approved by the Dean.
A student who has received an average mark from the whole period of studies below 3.0 receives a pass mark on the diploma certificate regardless of the marks received from the thesis and the diploma exam (except receiving a fail).

Each subject is concluded with a credit or exam in the written form for which students receive marks from fail to very good.

In accordance with the College Regulations students receive marks from the following range:

To calculate the average mark all marks (including fail marks) from the whole period of studies are taken into consideration.

In the College of Tourism and Ecology, after completing each semester there are surveys carried out which assess the educational process. Students assess the ways of carrying out classes, syllabuses of particular courses and the work of all teachers working during a given semester. An example of such a survey is attached to this document.