Quality of teaching

Ensuring the highest quality of teaching is a priority for the IFB and is implemented by different measures:

• Employment policy – highly qualified personnel
• Ensuring access to modern teaching infrastructure
• Systematic improvement of educational programmes
• Improving teaching skills of teachers
• Monitoring and evaluation of classes
• Fast response to visible educational problems

Thanks to internal legislation, the University of Gdańsk has its own coherent system for quality assurance in teaching. New working groups were established and are responsible for coordination of the implementation of the system. Actions and tools are described in the publication: Education at UG. We care about quality! [PL: Rocznik „Kształcenie w UG. Zależy nam na jakości!”].

The IFB representative in these actions is Prof. Sylwia Jafra (Deputy Dean for Student Affairs and Education).

We have provided courses aiming at the increase of teaching skills. Moreover, we organize meetings for staff and PhD students related to best practices in teaching, based on the experience of foreign academic institutions, on the results of the implementation of the National Qualifications Framework and we train on how to use the advanced equipment at IFB laboratories.

We extended the teaching methods by including e-learning, individual laboratory practice for students, annual presentations of research groups and their interest areas. The presentations enables students to choose their research topic and research group for their master thesis.

As a result of the work of the Faculty Team for Quality Assurance in Teaching we have upgraded our study program and adjusted it to the National Qualifications Framework policy in Poland. In learning outcomes we included results from the project FS Biotech – Future Skills for Biotechnology, pointing key areas of competences of biotechnology graduates that are required by employers.

Since 2011, IFB organizes meetings with the IFB Advisory Board which consists of a dozen of representatives from the biotechnology industry. The IFB Advisory Board actively supports the process of development of our study programmes. Together, we successively provide courses held by experts from biotechnological industry.

In the last few years, we have employed researchers whose competences concentrate on plant biotechnology, analysis of protein structure and bioinformatics. This resulted in the widening of our teaching offer. Due to the implementation of the MOBI4Health project a new mass spectrometry laboratory is going to be open for students for their master thesis.

In 2011, the Polish Accreditation Committee awarded the IFB with a distinction for the quality of teaching, and in 2012 the Ministry of Science and Higher Education granted the specialty of BIOTECHNOLOGY at the IFB the title of The Best Major. The Central Council of Science and Higher Education recognized the set of learning outcomes prepared by the faculty for the specialty of Biotechnology as a model set. These are the only such distinctions in Poland granted in the area of biological sciences.

IFB encourages students and PhD students to participate in national and international competitions and projects funded by the Ministry or research funding agencies. Every year IFB conducts on-line surveys to collect suggestions from students to further improve the education offer. The results of these surveys are published in a form of report.