Institution: University of Krakow
Name of the tool: Inter-university Psychological Assistance Centre (IPAC)
Key actors: Students with special needs
Students
Teachers
Support office
Technical staff
Employment office
State of the tool: Evaluated
Student's areas involved: Studying
Dealing with professor and administrative staff
Relation with supporting staff
Peers relations
Social life
Description of the tool:

The Office for Students with Disabilities at Cracow University of Economics is the initiator of the Inter-university Psychological Assistance Centre. This is a project of psychological support mainly (but not exclusively) for students with disabilities, started in 2009. The Polish name of the project is ‘Międzyuczelniane Centrum Wsparcia Psychologicznego’, abbreviated to MCWP.

MCWP (IPAC) enables cooperation between the Offices for Students with Disabilities operating at five of Krakow’s universities: AGH University of Science and Technology, Cracow University of Technology, Cracow University of Economics, Pedagogical University of Cracow and Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow. MCWP (IPAC) consists of a team of psychologists and has two coordinators employed at Cracow University of Economics:

-          content coordinator, who is a psychologist responsible mainly for the selection of workshops and trainings as well as the modification of the MCWP (IPAC) portfolio of services to make it meet beneficiaries’ needs,

-          administration coordinator, who is in charge of organising workshops and trainings.

User manual:

MCWP (IPAC) supports students and staff of the above mentioned five universities offering individual and collective forms of support.

Individual psychological support

Every disabled student of one of five universities forming MCWP (IPAC) is allowed to use the psychological support free of charge. Students can arrange psychological consultations in advance or simply come to the regular consultation hours. There are three consultation points where psychologists are available on a regular basis several times a week, depending on the needs. What is more, a student of one university can visit the psychologist working on another university during their consultation hours. Students without a certificate of disability is entitled to receive individual support once in order to get information on the forms of support available in their case.

Collective support includes:

-          workshops on personal development for students with disabilities (Negotiations, Time Management etc.),

-          a series of trainings on mental illnesses and mental disorders Mental Health versus Mental Disorder that is aimed at all students,

-          a series of trainings on mental illnesses and mental disorders for academic and administrative staff called: University Approach to Students with Mental Disorders.

Trainings on mental illnesses and mental disorders both for students and academic and administrative staff consist of three separate meetings on three different subjects: Neurosis, Depression, Schizophrenia.

Details of the tool: image/jpeg Logo of the IPAC project.jpg
Web page: Training 'University Approach to Students with Mental Disorders'