The Jagiellonian Language Centre (JCJ) is the first academic unit in Poland to have been accredited by the international organisation EAQUALS (Evaluation & Accreditation of Quality in Language Services).
The quality certificate was awarded to JCJ after a rigorous quality assessment process of the Centre's educational activity. The distinction places the Jagiellonian Language Centre among the international elite of institutions providing language services.
EAQUALS is an international association of institutions and organisations that aims to promote high quality of language education. It is an independent, non-commercial organisation acting under the auspices of the Council of Europe, by which it has been granted participatory status. EAQUALS sets the international standards for effective language teaching and awards institutions that meet them with a prestigious quality certificate. The inspection covers 12 different categories, including teaching and learning, course design, management and administration, academic resources, internal and external communications, staff profile, staff employment terms, quality assurance, learning environment, assessment and certification, and client services.
In November 2015 an audit by EAQUALS inspectors was conducted in the JCJ. The organisation decided that the Centre meets all the requirements to become its accredited member. It is the first time the certificate has been awarded to a language centre of a Polish higher education institution. This prestigious award is not only an honour for the JCJ and the entire Jagiellonian University, but also a quality assurance of the language courses it offers.
The Jagiellonian Language Centre is an interfaculty unit of the Jagiellonian University. It conducts language instruction in eight languages to about 11 thousand students a year at all levels, from A1 to C2. It also offers general commercial language courses in eleven foreign languages. The teaching staff of the JCJ also carry out foreign language examinations as part of the PhD examination requirements. Other activities of the Centre include publishing of the journal Zeszyty Glottodydaktyczne.
As stressed by the JCJ Director Dr Monika Stawicka, the Centre's success would not have been possible without the hard work of its staff, and the continued support of the University authorities. The Director also pointed out that accreditation is both a state of mind a process of continual development of an institution, including its staff and students, which contributes to a better quality of educational services.
