EVALUATION OF STUDENT PROFESSIONAL TRAINING IN THE STUDENT EDUCATION PROCESS
University of Science and Technology (POLAND)
About this paper:
Conference name: 9th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies
Dates: 3-5 July, 2017
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Abstract:
Professional training is an essential milestone in the higher education process and it is obligatory in the studies syllabus. Professional training should be evaluated due to its great importance in the process of education. Such training is a form of learning how to acquire knowledge in the education process, mostly facilitating students' acquisition of the key skills and competences. This research problem concerns the analysis of the professional training process operating at the UTP University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz, the biggest technical school of higher education in the Kujawy and Pomorze region in Poland. Since 2012 the University has been running the Internal Education Quality Assurance System; its basic document is the Quality Book. As part of the comparative analysis, student training was evaluated across all the faculties. To solve the research problem, a few research methods were applied. A detailed internal documents analysis was made. With the research scope and topic in mind, the available information provided on faculty websites was reviewed and the general professional training regulations, framework training plans for respective majors, degree programs and forms of studies, contact details of tutors and coordinators, training schedules and the availability of forms required for the adequate training organization. Each deputy dean for teaching and students affairs was interviewed and provided their evaluation of the operation of professional training and offered how to enhance the training were factored in. This is how the professional training organization method was analyzed for all the faculties, e.g. the organizational structure, the number of people responsible, the number of hours per tutor and the number of students per tutor. The professional training organization form was verified and the student documents, including the professional training daily reports, were randomly evaluated. A high variation in organizational training structures was identified. Even though the organizational professional training structure individually adjusted to the specific nature of studies at faculties is mostly positive, frequently an excessive number of students per tutor and a low number of tutors involved in the process of professional training organization can trigger some concern. All that can have a negative effect on the evaluation of the education effects reported throughout the training. A decrease in the number of students per tutor acting as a professional training supervisor would be required. The daily training reports used by the student have been operating at the University in an almost unchanged form for a dozen or so years. Taking care of a high education quality requires actions to update the reporting document and to adjust it to contemporary standards compliant with the major. It is recommended to decrease the number of students per tutor acting as a professional training supervisor as well as to adjust the structures to a given major. Website information must be immediately updated. Launching practical-application profile majors requires a variation in the principles of training organization, as compared with general academic profile studies. It is also necessary to increase the active participation of employers in, for example, the process of verifying the education effects. Keywords:
Evaluation, professional training, education process, school of higher education.