Kierunki zmian w akademickim kształceniu geograficznym w Czechach i w Polsce
The directions of change in the academic geographical education in the Czech Republic and Poland

Author(s): Elżbieta Szkurłat, Barbara Baarová
Subject(s): Geography, Regional studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: academic geographical education;directions of change;Bologna strategy;student education in the Czech Republic;student education in Poland;comparison;geography education centres
Summary/Abstract: The article presents the general tendencies of change in the higher education systems in Czechia and Poland in the last years. Secondly, the directions of change in the academic geographical education in the above mentioned countries have been compared. The main criteria for the comparison embrace the following: change in the number of candidates and students of geography, changes in the recruitment policies, development of centres, faculties and institutes of the academic geographical education, new courses of study at the geography faculties, accreditation requirements and changes in the funding system.There have been many, usually disadvantageous, changes common for Czechia and Poland, such as: declining number of candidates, dispersion of geographical education over different faculties, creation of many new study courses, which do not use the term“geography” any more, drastic drop in the number of students of geography, formal and organizational difficulties in the geography teacher education. These changes are connected with the implementation of the Bologna strategy as well as the unfavorable demographic shift (falling population number) and the social transformation (rising scholarization ratio).The main differences in the direction of change in the academic education in Czechia and Poland include: functioning of many more private schools in Poland, lower growth of the number of students in the Czech Republic than in Poland, higher dispersion of geographical education over different faculties in Czechia than in Poland, cancellation of educational standards in Poland and the attempts of their implementation in Czechia and lastly different systems of study funding.

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