In 2010 Pope John II State School of
  
  
    Higher Education in Biała Podlaska
  
  
    celebrated its tenth anniversary. It was
  
  
    founded as the State School of Higher
  
  
    Education on August 1, 2000 and
  
  
    initially it had 345 students pursuing
  
  
    4 specializations. Today it boasts 3,500
  
  
    students doing 32 diff
  
  
    erent courses
  
  
    in 14 subject areas. Most of them are
  
  
    undergraduate students enrolled in
  
  
    Bachelor's programmes. In October 2009
  
  
    we off
  
  
    ered the fi rst postgraduate course
  
  
    - a Master's programme in Tourism and
  
  
    Recreation. Currently we are also running
  
  
    Master's programmes in Public Health
  
  
    and in Economics, and we are planning
  
  
    to launch some new undergraduate and
  
  
    graduate degree courses. Our School
  
  
    employs 48 professors and it is one of the
  
  
    leading employers in the region.
  
  
    Our School falls back on the tradition of
  
  
    the Academy in Biała Podlaska founded
  
  
    in 1628, but at the same time it aspires to
  
  
    be modern, major institution of higher
  
  
    education in the region. We are committed
  
  
    to providing high quality academic
  
  
    education, initiating research studies
  
  
    supporting the development and growth of
  
  
    our region and becoming a cultural center
  
in Biała Podlaska