The University of Pardubice has confirmed its qualities and received institutional accreditation.

The University of Pardubice has confirmed its qualities - it has undergone independent and demanding evaluation and received institutional accreditation.  It is one of the first universities in the Czech Republic.

The National Accreditation Bureau for Higher Education has confirmed the top quality of the University of Pardubice by awarding it the highest quality mark and granting it the so-called institutional accreditation for 10 years for 6 areas of education: transport, economics, history, chemistry, informatics and healthcare. The University is only the fourth institution of higher education in the Czech Republic to win this award.

With effect from September 7, 2018, the University of Pardubice can provide higher education in six areas for the next 10 years while the offered bachelor's, master's and doctoral study programs will only pass through internal accreditation within the University itself. The University is no longer required to send them to the National Accreditation Bureau for approval. These programs cover teaching at six faculties of the University of Pardubice - the Faculty of Chemical Technology, Economics and Administration, Transport Engineering, Arts and Philosophy, Electrical Engineering and Informatics and the Faculty of Health Studies.

"We went through an independent and very demanding evaluation. The institutional accreditation we have acquired is confirmation of our high quality. it is enormously important for us and the further development of the University and its faculties," prof. Ing. Jiří Málek, DrSc., Rector of the University of Pardubice, commented on being granted the quality certificate. "It is a powerful tool that gives us a high degree of autonomy and the power to approve study programs of a long-term guaranteed and proven quality. It will allow us to be more flexible in our offer of study programs. It also strengthens our position and credibility not only at home, in the Czech Republic, where we are only the fourth university to be granted this quality certificate, but also within our international activities," the Rector praises and points out how challenging the process was to acquire the institutional accreditation:

"We went through a very demanding process, set up the legislative environment, prepared a sophisticated system of educational and creative processes and a strict mechanism of their internal evaluation, perfected the teaching evaluation process down to the level of individual subjects, revised their quality assurance, both in personnel and material terms. We introduced an evaluation system for the academic staff. All of this to meet the strict standards of a comprehensive system of quality control and assessment of our educational and creative activities and ensure that our students get a quality education."

The important position of the University of Pardubice among Czech universities is also confirmed by the fact that after Charles University, Masaryk University and Palacký University Olomouc, which were granted the institutional accreditation in the first half of this year, the University of Pardubice is only the fourth Czech higher education institution to be granted the institutional accreditation following a strict assessment by The National Accreditation Bureau for Higher Education.

"The National Accreditation Bureau has confirmed that our system of educational and all related creative activities is very good across the faculties. The University now has autonomy in the six areas of education when deciding on the structure and internal content of the programs taught as well as on their specialization, " says the Vice-Rector for Education and Student Affairs of the University of Pardubice, prof. Ing. Tatiana Molková, Ph.D., who prepared the entire process of institutional accreditation with teams of academics and university staff, and adds: "At the same time, however, much more responsibility is placed on us and our educational and creative work. We are pleased by the acknowledgment and appreciation of our quality, but it also binds us."

Study programs in the six fields of education - transport, economics, history, chemistry, informatics and healthcare – will now undergo the so-called internal accreditation carried out by a new university body specifically established for that purpose - the Internal Evaluation Board of the University of Pardubice. It oversees the quality of all educational processes and their preparation, and approves study programs and their focus. It consists of nine members, internal experts and a representative of students.

The new study programs, which will undergo the internal accreditation process in the near future, are expected to be taught at the University of Pardubice in the academic year 2019/2020.

What is institutional accreditation

• The National Accreditation Bureau for Higher Education (NAB), which accredits, i.e. approves study programs of universities in the Czech Republic, may grant a higher education institution an institutional accreditation for a field or fields of education
• Under certain conditions, it allows a higher education institution in the Czech Republic to independently create and implement study programs of a specified type (bachelor's, master's or doctoral) in one or more specified fields of education.
• the higher education institution must establish an Internal Evaluation Board consisting of its own teachers, student representatives and external teachers; this Board allows granting accreditation of programs
• institutional accreditation is granted to higher education institutions for 10 years, then it must be renewed