A growing demand for higher education was accompanied by a development of the private education sector and by a rapid expansion of the system of fee based extramural studies at state- supported and private schools. The above list could easily be extended. Therefore, a growing concern has been observed with the ways of keeping the quality standards among many of the academics. The need to create an accreditation agency able to continuously control quality standards has also been noticed by authors of all legislative projects concerned with Polish higher education. However, the lack of funding, a proper logistic support, and the fact that it is mainly focused on issuing licences to open new colleges and courses resulted in its incapability to begin a proper accreditation procedure.
Universities still hold their special position among all higher education institutions in Poland.
Although subject to pressures resulting from the economic situation and increasing number of students, universities still cultivate the old academic culture and try to evolve in order to respond to challenges of the new socio-economic situation, needs of the society, and more generally, of their external environment. Always willing to extend co-operation with foreign schools, universities were enthusiastic to make the most of the opportunity given by the Socrates programme. However, while preparing to introduce the ECTS points, universities realised that what was really needed was a more general solution ensuring compatible and agreed quality standards, thus allowing for the mobility of students, and for a general solution to assurance and management of quality of higher education. Very soon it became clear that the only way to achieve those goals was to create a system of accreditation. The problem was urgent and since neither the Ministry of Higher Education nor the Higher Education Council were capable of delivering a solution in the foreseeable future it was decided to found an organisation that, at least for the time being, would help familiarise academic communities with the idea of accreditation.