Study Tour Poland
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Inspiring professionalism in higher education Study Tour Poland October 2015 Contents Welcome Welcome 3 Ever wondered how a country emerged from the devastation of the Second World War, the rise Theme 1: Governance and the and fall of communism, and how it forged a higher education system on its own terms? Student Voice 6 The AUA Poland Study Tour took place • To allow tour participants the Based on desk research, the team decided Theme 2: Quality Assurance 8 between 10th and 17th May 2015. Covering opportunity to challenge their existing on three overarching themes: three cities, a diverse range of public and notions about HE and undertake private HEIs, and related organisations, it research in a non-UK environment. • Governance, including the student voice Theme 3: Internationalisation had the following objectives: • Quality assurance and Student Demand 12 Though Polish higher education has • Growing student demand, including • To undertake a fact-finding mission previously been reported (including an internationalisation and the rise of the and produce a report on the Polish HE OECD report, 2007 – see Further Reading), Private Sector Other Emerging Issues 16 system which incorporates analysis of much of what we saw provides an update similarities and differences and considers on the present system, and the lessons The report of this Study Tour will provide Reflections and Further Reading 20 ways of sharing best practise; that perhaps we can draw from it. The insights into these topics, and demonstrate • To enable participants to gain an system has more change on the way. how Polish higher education is moving international perspective on aspects of Demographics have been, and will be, a onto a new set of challenges. We hope, as Appendices and HE decision making, policy and practice; major driver. The Polish system had to with all AUA Study Tours, that this report Acknowledgements 21 expand rapidly post-communism to cope will help the UK’s university administration with increasing student numbers, and now community to reflect upon our own work, there is a contraction that will undoubtedly share practice and build relationships. HEI Profiles and Good Practice 22 lead to some restructuring. 2 3 Poland: History The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth dominated Eastern Europe and the Baltic in the 16th and 17th centuries. Although Key Facts strongly Catholic, in the 16th century Poland took a comparatively liberal approach to the rise of Protestantism Populat ion: 38 million (6t h most populous in t he EU) and avoided the tensions and violence experienced by many European states. Land area: 121,000 sq miles (9t h largest in Europe) It also embraced decentralisation of power and a form of democracy, with Kingdom of Poland founded 1025 considerable authority given to the nobility Current Republic of Poland established in 1989 after t he fall of Communism and parliament. This allowed the country to experience a Golden Age of culture and Joined t he EU in 2004 (outside t he Eurozone) prosperity. From the 17th century on, however, Poland’s neighbours began to cause groups so that ethnically, the country 1990s, which the public HEIs could not problems and decentralisation proved a is surprisingly homogenous, with 93% meet. The theme on student demand will weakness. The Crimeans, Russians and describing themselves as Polish. explore this issue further, but currently, the Swedes all invaded. By the 18th century the private sector is consolidating. diminished kingdom was easy prey to the It is also a country that is very much on emerging powerhouses of Prussia, Austria the up. Since 1990, the economy has By law, higher education is free for Polish and Russia. Between 1772 and 1796, these been in constant growth, with no quarters students studying full-time at public three empires divided Poland between them of recession even during the dark days universities. Students studying part- and it disappeared officially from the map. of 2008-9. There has been considerable time (from outside the EU or at private The nation was not restored until 1918 as investment in infrastructure. Although the universities) would expect to pay fees of part of the Treaty of Versailles. economy is improving and employment is 2,500-3,000 euros for an entire bachelor’s relatively high, wages remain low compared degree. This, compared to the UK system, Further disaster was to follow. In 1939, to the UK and Germany, and many young is exceptionally low. Germany invaded, shortly followed by the people still travel abroad for work. Soviet Union. Poland became caught up in To confirm perceptions of the exceptional the front line of the Second World War and Overview of Polish HE Polish work ethic, part-time students was divided between two occupying armies. typically complete a bachelor’s degree over The Polish resistance was so well organised The Polish Higher Education sector is three years, studying on weekends. This that it even encompassed underground characterised by both a large number of intensive weekend delivery pattern is driven university education (the Germans had HEIs compared to the UK, and a large by the preferences of the student market. closed all universities). The Polish people private sector. The public sector consists paid a high price for their stubbornness of 132 HEIs, but note that the Polish When communism fell in 1989, only 5% and it is estimated that 6 million Poles were population is little more than half of that of the Polish population had a degree. casualties of the war and the occupation. of the UK. The high number of public In response, the market was completely universities is partly due to communist deregulated and many private institutions In negotiations at the end of the war, the policies of dividing bigger universities. In started in the 1990’s. This period saw Soviet Union secured de facto control of Poznan, a university town by any criterion, a huge growth in numbers, but present Poland and arranged for a Communist there are ten public universities in a demographics are changing and student government to be installed. The success of city of 600,000 (compare Edinburgh – 4 demand is in sharp decline. the Solidarity movement in the 1980s was a universities, 500,000). Many of the Poznan signal that helped to encourage other anti- public HEIs are specialist institutions The Ministry of Science and Higher Communist movements in Eastern Europe. covering areas such as: arts, music, Education works to ensure continued In 1989, Solidarity was victorious in the physical education, economics. sustainability of the university system and country’s elections, leading to the formation its international standing. It also manages of a non-Communist republic. The private sector has c.a. 300 institutions the funding of public HEIs. (referred to here as PEIs), of which 19 have Poland’s history is evident, with monuments doctoral degree granting powers. to the past everywhere; war dead, victims of massacres, or heroes of the Resistance, The high numbers of PEIs is largely due army and air force. The constant shifting of to the rapid growth and initial low entry FACT: 20% of students in Poland boundaries and political control has been requirements of a private sector that had are attending private HEIs accompanied by movements of population to quickly service excess demand in the 4 5 Public HEI Governance property rents, but fundamentally, profits must be returned to the Governance in Polish HEIs can be education provision. Theme 1: Governance characterised broadly by whether they are public or private, though the legal Consequently, providers are generally framework underpinning them is similar. For running their business as a long-term and the Student Voice example, plagiarism is a criminal offence investment, and as a source of steady and HE law describes the framework for income (because the founders often how all universities should investigate and appoint themselves as chancellors and punish plagiarism. rectors etc. and draw a salary). Some The role of legislation, challenges of involving students in are family businesses, or established Public sector HEIs in Poland are owned by by groups of academics who wanted to free to determine their own internal the state, though financially autonomous, create a good working environment for governance but the rules were changed decision making, private and public governance and ownership and have both research and education themselves, to teach in the way they liked, in 2005. Most PEIs have a charter that missions. The governance structures would and to supplement their low pay in the defines their governance, and how it can be considered, by a UK viewpoint, as rather public institutions. Additionally, with the be changed. In practice, the charters have structures, and academic democracy verses management are traditional. Decisions are made through low fees offered by the PEIs, it becomes to be changed every 2-3 years to adapt consensus of an institution’s Rector, Deans clear why private equity firms have not yet to new legislation. The Ministry can veto explored in this theme. and Vice-Rectors (who typically meet once entered this market; they would not be the charter if it does not comply with per month), and Senate and its sub- able to realise a level of return considered their regulations. This usually leads to a committees. In addition, many important worthwhile. clear managerial structure where strategy positions, such as the head of the university development includes some consultation (Rector), are elected typically for a four Unsurprisingly, PEI governance structures and iteration, but is essentially similar to year term, which can possibly extend into a are as business-oriented as is permitted by the process in a post-92 university. second term. the legal framework. PEIs were originally In many respects, this is entirely understandable given Poland’s recent The Student Voice past and its desire for democracy.