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National Congress of Science. A debate on Polish higher education

National Congress of Science. A debate on Polish higher education

On 19–20 September 2017, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Jagiellonian University are hosting a nationwide conference on the current reform of higher education in Poland in the ICE Kraków Congress Centre. It is the most important debate on higher education since 1988. Approximately three thousand participants from both Poland and abroad have confirmed their attendance.

The conference was officially opened by JU Rector Prof. Wojciech Nowak. ‘Today’s meeting is a very special one. It is a breakthrough, comparable only to the 18th-century reforms introduced by Hugo Kołłątaj. It is a summary of over a year’s worth of discussions about the new higher education act, an act that will become the very foundation of university teaching in our country’.

Prof. Nowak stressed that the academic community expects fundamental changes that will facilitate dynamic growth and improve the performance of higher education institutions. ‘As we can see from the overwhelming number of participants, the changes are expected and desirable. We hope that the new act meets our expectations, and that our suggestions and ideas find their place in its final version. However, even the most well-thought-out act will only be successful if the proper amount of funding goes along with it’, stated Prof. Nowak.

The Council of the National Congress of Science, which played a crucial role in the preparation of the act, comprises 58 distinguished researchers. Its president, Prof. Jarosław Górniak, recalled the long road that led to the its first draft. He pointed out that the reform aims to address the issues raised by members of the Polish academic community.

The main part of the conference opening was the speech delivered by Jarosław Gowin, Minister of Science and Higher Education, who presented the basic concepts behind the new higher education act, colloquially known as the ‘constitution for science’.

The meeting is the crowning of a very long process, which lasted 574 days and consisted of hundreds of debates and 9 thematic conferences. Jarosław Gowin stressed the fact that the ‘grassroots’ nature of the project – the act being a response to the expectations of the academic community – holds true to the standards of the European Union. He also added that a reform of this magnitude will require close cooperation and trust between the academic community and politicians.

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