Polish Higher Education System

1
Polish Higher Education System

• University of Warsaw

2
Changes in Polish HE after 1989
Rapid growth of HE sector

• social and economic changes

recognition of the impact of education on
well-being and position in the society
3
Primary and secondary education in Poland
Post-secondary school 1-2.5 years
HIGHER EDUCATION
Maturity examination maturity certificate
Complementary lyceum
Complementary technical school
General lyceum 3 years
Specializ. lyceum 3 years
Technical school 4 years
Vocational school 2-3 years
Gymnasium 3 years
Primary school 6 years
4
Higher education in Poland
PhD studies 3-5 years
Post-diploma studies 1-2 years
Second cycle (MA-level courses) 2 years
Uniform Master level courses 5-6 years
First cycle (BA-level courses) 3-4 years
5
Polish HEIs number of students
HEIs
448
public
private
318 (71)
112
130 (29)
106
1990/91
2007/08
6
Autonomy of HEIs
guaranteed by the Polish Constitution Higher
education institutions are provided with autonomy
...

• election of authorities (rectors, deans, ...)
• employment - policy individual decisions
• enrolment limits admission procedures
• curricula (must comply with standards set by
  ministry)
• allocation of funds received from ministry
• tuition fees for paid study programmes

• statutes
• organisational structure
• study programmes
• academic regulations

for small HEIs, to be approved by ministry
list of programme names (fields of study) is
defined by ministry
7
2005 - Law on Higher Education (1)
Bologna process in Poland

• basic form of studies 2-cycle system (from 2007)
• long Master programmes only in a few selected
  fields
• PhD-level education 3rd cycle
• fewer restrictions in introducing
  interdisciplinary degree programmes and
  programmes in new fields
• more flexibility in defining curricula
• more output-oriented and less restrictive
  standards
• credit transfer and accumulation obligatory
  part of academic regulations at HEIs
• obligatory ECTS Diploma Supplement

8
2005 - Law on Higher Education (2)

• INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
• degree programmes or individual courses can
  normally be taught in foreign languages
• degree programmes can be offered jointly by two
  or more HEIs, including international HEIs
• joint diplomas left for regulation by
  Minister
• Polish HEIs can establish their units abroad
  foreign HEIs can establish their units in Poland
• subject to approval by ministry
• simplified procedures for hiring academic staff
  from abroad

9
Participation of students in decision-making
process
State level Students Parliament

• opinion on any state-level decision (incl.
  proposed legal acts) concerning students
• representatives in Council for Higher Education
• representative in Presidium of State
  Accreditation Committee

HEI (faculty) level students self-government

• ? 20 of members of senate (faculty council)
  rector (dean) election committees
• opinion on any senate/rector (faculty
  council/dean) decision concerning students
• should approve academic regulations adopted by
  senate
• must approve a candidate for vice-rector
  (vice-dean) responsible for student affairs
• allocation of financial aid rules individual
  decisions
• participation in periodic evaluation of academic
  staff

10
Need for Lifelong Learning (LLL)

• wrong distribution of graduates with regard to
  their field of study
• saturation of HE system with traditional
  students
• demographic changes

• focus on lifelong learning (non-traditional
• students)
• various age (mostly adult)
• different educational needs and capabilities

11
Participation of adults in LLL
Percentage of population aged 25-64 participating
in education and training in the four weeks prior
to the survey, 2000-2006
Source Delivering lifelong learning for
knowledge, creativity and innovation, European
Commission, COM(2007) 703, Nov. 2007
12
Status of non-formal / informal learning

• dominant position of formal education
• no legislative basis for recognition of
  non-formal / informal learning
• pessimistic perspectives
• need for legal changes that would allow for
  recognition of non-formal / informal learning
• Survey by Conference of Rectors and Academic
  Schools in Poland (CRASP), November 2007

13
Conclusions
Poland doing quite well in many areas of the
Bologna Process needs to focus on LLL

• raising awareness of LLL importance and
  opportunities it offers among education
  professionals, politicians and society in general
• development of a comprehensive vision and
  strategy of LLL, covering all levels of education
  and training, in dialogue with all stakeholders
• breaking barriers hampering the recognition of
  non-formal / informal learning
• securing appropriate financial resources

14
Financing education in Poland
15
Budget of HEIs in 2007/08
research 12.3
- HEIs (PUBLIC PRIVATE)
education 87.1
economic activity 0.6
- PUBLIC
0,7
85.1
14.3
- PRIVATE
98.1
1.5
source Central Statistical Office, 2009
16
Financing education

• State spending on HE 2.5 bn euros 1.00 GDP

• 59 students pay tuition fee
• gt 95 at private HEIs
• gt 40 at public HEIs

17
Student population in Poland
18
Demography
Expected demographic changes within the
population aged 20-29 over the period 2005-2015
19
Structure of graduates

• small proportion of graduates in some areas
• science 3.9
• engineering, manufacturing 7.5
• high proportion of graduates in other areas
• social sciences, business, law 41.4
• education 11.9

source OECD Reviews of Tertiary Education
Poland, Sept. 2007
20
Student population
Change in the number of students in tertiary
education between 1995 2007 ()
The growth has reached its limits! In 2006/07,
for the first time since 1990, the number of
students has decreased
21
Mobility
22
Erasmus student exchange (PL) 1998-2007
23
Erasmus mobility, Europe 2006/07
Poland 11,219
24
Erasmus outgoing students (Polish HEIs,
including University of Warsaw)
25
Erasmus incoming students(Polish HEIs, including
University of Warsaw)
26
Means to enhance mobility

• providing adequate financial support for outgoing
  students

1998/99 375 euro/month 2007/08 347 euro/month
(from Erasmus) support from HEIs
source Erasmus National Agency

• programmes courses taught in foreign languages
  at Polish HEIs

• overcoming legal obstacles in the development of
  joint degree programmes
• promotion of the Polish system of HE and Polish
  HEIs

27
Doctoral degree studies
28
Two paths to doctoral degree

• Doctoral degrees awarded by eligible
• HEIs - individual faculties
• research institutes of Polish Academy of Sciences
  and branch RD institutes

• Until early 1990s unstructured training

• teaching or research assistant
• at a university or research institute
• routine teaching and administrative duties
• supervised research work

• structured training

• PhD programme offered by a university
• (faculty) or research institute
• coursework
• supervised research work
• limited teaching duties

29
Doctoral studies Rapid growth after 1990
32,725
31,814
source Central Statistical Office 2009
25,622
no. PhD students
10,482
2,695
1990/91
1995/96
2000/01
2005/06
2006/07
30
PhD students
other institutions (Academy of Sciences, )
31,814
private
7.7
8.5
part-time
25,622
30.3
92.3
91.5
10,482
69.7
2,695
full-time
HEIs
public
1990/91
1995/96
2000/01
2007/08
source Central Statistical Office 2009
31
Age of PhD recipients
source Central Statistical Office 2009
38.6
37.3
34.2
12.8
7.0
4.0
3.4
1.3
up to 26
27-30
31-35
36-40
41-45
46-50
51
age of PhD recipients
32
Problems and challenges (1)
Traditional separation of MSc and PhD programmes
until 2005 Doctoral studies regulated by the
Act on Scientific Title and Degrees (not by the
Act on Higher Education) Doctoral studies
supervised by vice-rector/vice-dean
responsible for research (not for education)
33
Problems and challenges (2)
Unattractive financial status of students

• only 40 of doctoral students receive
  scholarships (from university or faculty budget)
• scholarships are low (300-450 euro/months)
• new forms of financial aid (from university or
  faculty budget) available since 2006
  insufficient
• limited opportunities for extra support from
  research grants

34
Problems and challenges (3)
Mismatch of training goals with needs of labour
market

• ca. 5500 PhD degrees awarded each year
• limited opportunities for hiring at HEIs
  (saturation or decrease in the number of students
  predicted)

professional careers outside of academia
35
Expenditures on science in 2008
36
Structure of expenditures on RD activity in
Poland by fields of science in 2006
Total 1 512 532 000 EUR 5 892 826 000 PLN
Average exchange rate PLN/EUR for 2006 according
to the National Bank of Poland, 1 EUR 3,8960
PLN
37
Structure of RD activity personnel by fields of
science in 2006
38
Researchers in selected type of unit of RD
activity in 2006
39
Expenditures on research within competence of
the ministry as planned for 2008
Research projects in the field of natural sciences 128 520 311
Research projects in the field of technical sciences 160 555 951
Research projects in the field of social sciences, humanities and exact sciences 37 764 525
Statutory, investment activities and particular research 650 703 692
Research-supporting activities 18 875 004
Scientific and scientific-technological international cooperation 46 642 660
Other activities 124 592 217
TOTAL 1 167 654 360
Budgetary Act for 2008 as of 23 January 2008
r. Average exchange rate PLN/EUR for 2008
according to the National Bank of Poland, 1
EUR 3,5129 PLN
40
Expenditures on UW research by type of activity
41
Publications of the teaching staff of the
University of Warsaw
42
Number of participants in FP6 projects by country
(EU-25)
Data source National Contact Point for EU
Research Programmes (http//www.6pr.pl/statystyki/
listopad2006ke.htmltab1)
43
FP6 projects by research discipline
44
Number of participants in FP7 projects by country
(EU-27)
Data source National Contact Point for EU
Research Programmes (http//pako3.ippt.gov.pl/inde
x.php/uczestnicyprojektow/51)
45
Number of projects being implemented under FP7 by
research discipline
Data source UW Research Services Office, own
statistics.
46
Other exemplary sources of research projects
external funding apart from EU programmes

• COST (European Cooperation in Science and
  Technology)
• CULTURE Programme
• European Science Foundation (ESF)
• European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
• Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern
  Europe (CEE Trust)
• International Visegrad Fund
• Norwegian Financial Mechanism and EEA Financial
  Mechanism
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
• Welcome Trust
• Volkswagen Stiftung
• Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation (Taiwan)

47
Thank you for your attention!

• University of Warsaw
• International Relations Office
• www.bwz.uw.edu.pl www.iro.uw.edu.pl
• Presentation prepared by Laura Dryjanska, based
  on materials provided by
• Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in
  Poland (CRASP)
• University of Warsaw Research Services Office
• National Statistical Office
• Foundation for the Development of the Education
  System
• OECD