A cultural perspective of higher education governance reform in Poland: divergent interpretations by rectors across distinct categories of universities [Scholarly Article - Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, July 2022]

Title:

A cultural perspective of higher education governance reform in Poland: divergent interpretations by rectors across distinct categories of universities

 

Authors:

Davide Donina, Anna Pokorska, Dominik Antonowicz & Marta Jaworska

 

Authors all from the Department of Science and Higher Education Research, Nicolaus Copernicus University (UMK), Toruń, Poland

 

Published:

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 21 July 2022

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360080X.2022.2103940?src=&journalCode=cjhe20

 

Abstract:

In 2018, a new governance law (Ustawa 2.0) modernised the institutional governance of Polish public higher education institutions. This article investigates the governance changes from the cultural perspective of higher education governance through a survey administered to all Polish rectors. Responses were analysed by splitting higher education institutions into three categories (traditional academic [comprehensive], specialised, and applied sciences) to explore whether distinct institutional environments/subfields influence the perception of the new governance model. This article provides several research contributions: it is the first to adopt a cultural perspective to analyse higher education governance reforms in a Central and Eastern European country; it addresses specialised universities and universities of applied sciences, which are usually overlooked in higher education governance studies; and it extends the knowledge of the recent Polish higher education reform by highlighting divergent interpretations of the same governance framework across distinct institutional subfields within the same higher education system.

Jagiellonian University, Poland - SST-1M Cherenkov telescopes at the Ondřejov Observatory capture their first data

Title: 

SST-1M Cherenkov telescopes at the Ondřejov Observatory capture their first data  

 

Published: 

Jagiellonian University, Poland, February 2022 

https://en.uj.edu.pl/en_GB/news/-/journal_content/56_INSTANCE_SxA5QO0R5BDs/81541894/150036819   

 

From the article: 

On Wednesday, February 23, 2022, during its testing on the grounds of the observatory at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Ondřejov, one of the two SST-1M Cherenkov telescopes recorded its first events initiated by high-energy particles of both the hadronic origin and originating from gamma-ray photons. 

 

POLAND - Reform of higher education governance structures in Poland [Scholarly Article - European Journal of Education, January 2022]

Title:

Reform of higher education governance structures in Poland 

 

Authors:

Anna Waligóra & Marcin Górski

 

Published:

European Journal of Education, 3 January 2022

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ejed.12491

 

Abstract:

The implementation of a new higher education policy started in Poland in 2020. The new policy seeks to internationalise and transform universities to increase their competitiveness. This article describes the historical context, issues and reasoning behind the reform as well as some of the challenges for the future development of higher education governance structures in Poland. Current efforts to implement the new policy at leading universities in Poland are described as examples of the changing higher education governance landscape in Poland. Despite an ideological shift and change of the political system in 1989 in Poland, higher education governance has been slow to change. Polish scientists have called for higher education reforms to address a host of problems: a mismatch of the structure of the higher education system to social and economic challenges; universities suffer from limited financial autonomy; the quality of higher education is not sufficient; barriers for researchers to pursue excellence that have been identified need to be addressed. In 2016 the Polish government started a process of dialogue with the academic world in Poland, creating the foundations for the new, revolutionary bill of higher education, the Constitution for Science. The new policy of the Polish government bases, in theory, the transformation of universities on their internationalisation to make Polish science an equal partner for leading higher education centres in the world. The example of changes in Polish higher education serves a comparative reference for the development of higher education governance in Europe.

 

POLAND - Between a humanistic and economic model of lifelong learning: The validation system in Poland [Scholarly Article - EJED, 2021]

Title:

Between a humanistic and economic model of lifelong learning: The validation system in Poland

 

Authors:

Iwona Gmaj & Barbara Fijalkowska

 

Published:

European Journal of Education, 19 July 2021

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ejed.12466

 

Abstract:

This article showcases the Polish validation system through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis and two models of lifelong learning—the economic and humanistic one, treated as competitive narratives on lifelong learning. We argue that some contradictions can be observed, generated by a clash between the two approaches, as the validation system subscribes to an economic model, while leaning on chosen elements of the humanistic model without maintaining humanistic values. We analyse the premises and structure of the Integrated Qualifications System (IQS) that introduced validation to Poland, as well as the practices emerging with the implementation of the IQS that began in 2015. Our main source of data are legal documents, the systems' institutional structure and core mechanisms as well as various studies conducted by the Educational Research Institute as part of implementing the IQS from 2017 to 2020. We conclude that the most serious consequence of the aforementioned contradictions and the resulting tensions is that the concept of validation as a process aimed at recognising non-formal and informal learning while providing guidance for the individual, is played down in the system. This is particularly concerning as it represents the marginalisation of the needs of learners, who are the systems’ end users.

 

POLAND - Experts Still Stumped By Child Buried With A Bird In Its Mouth [Ancient Origins, 2020]

Title:

Experts Still Stumped By Child Buried With A Bird In Its Mouth

 

Author:

Elizabeth Moore

 

Published:

Ancient Origins, 13 October 2020

https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/child-burial-0014395

From the article:

Between the 18th and 19th century in Poland, a child was given an unusual burial within the Tunel Wielki Cave. A ritualistic burial like this surely would have been a spectacle, however, all information about the child and chaffinch skulls has been lost.

While rummaging amongst some dusty boxes filled with artifacts from old research projects at the University of Warsaw, Dr. Małgorzata Kot came across the aforementioned human remains.

POLAND - Minister to introduce laws protecting free speech at universities

Title:

Minister to introduce laws protecting free speech at universities

 

By:

Polandin

 

Published:

University World News, 21 November 2020

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201121141738670

 

From the article:

Poland’s Minister of Education Przemyslaw Czarnek has announced that he will introduce legislative changes to guarantee “freedom of science” at universities, which, according to the minister, does not exist today, reports Polandin.