Education in Poland

The vast majority of private facilities employ teachers who received their degrees and titles in public schools. In some fields of study multiple employment is commonplace. What undoubtedly needs strengthening is the system of international academic exchange and the introduction of fast track promotion for academic staff.

In Poland there are a dozen or so big academic centres, the biggest of which are Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Lodz, and Lublin - with the student population of more than 50% of the total number of students. At the top of the academic hierarchy is Warsaw, where in 2012/2013 more than 249,800 students studied in 78 facilities, which accounted for 15,2% of all the student population. Private institutions are usually based in smaller urban centres. In terms of the student population, the biggest higher education facilities are universities in Warsaw, Krakow (Jagiellonski University), Poznan, Lodz and Olsztyn and universities of technology in Wroclaw, Warsaw and Krakow.

Fields of study related to security

In the academic year 2013/2014 in Poland there were offered 10 fields of study related to broadly-understood security. They are oriented at social science and management and in terms of their curricula they are basically focused on international, national and internal state security. Some are also oriented at technology, i.e. technical and organisational aspect of rescue and life-saving. These fields were initiated by higher education facilities in the competence of the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Currently, in Poland there are more 630 types, forms and levels faculties of public and private institutions.

There is a lot of interest in security-oriented studies, which is confirmed by a growing number of students at these faculties. In 2007 there were 1,643 students admitted to such faculties, which accounted for 0.3% of the total population of newly-admitted students (488,336). In 2011 the number was 16,748 (a ten-fold increase in 4 years), which was 3.9% of the total number of newly-accepted students in Poland in 2011 (424,776).

In Poland, the significant interest in tertiary education oriented at security is also reflected in other forms of this education: post-graduate (usually two-semester) studies and doctoral (three-year) studies.

Conclusions

After 1989 Poland moved from elite to mass higher education, which despite weaknesses exposed in some instituions and areas of study is an undisputed success. Never before in their history have Polish people been so well educated and never before has higher education been so closely related to better chances for employment and better-than-average pay. Maintaining the dynamic development and in particular continuous improvement of the teaching quality became the main challenge to higher education in Poland in the 2010s.

In the first decade following 1989, the changes in the higher education system in Poland were aimed to make it more available, which was one of the most significant factors affecting the potential for the state's development. Five-fold increase in the number of students in higher education resulted in the net enrolment ratio reaching more than 40 % (the gross enrolment ratio 60%) after 15 years.

Still, the initial surge in the student population, making higher education widely available, was not accompanied with sufficient care for adequate teaching quality. At that time, the changing requirements of the labour market were not sufficiently taken into account. It was only in 2002 when the central body supervising the quality of teaching was established in the form of the State Accreditation Committee (the present Polish Accreditation Committee).

Polish higher education facilities face a challenge of continuing education, which creates learning opportunities at any age and level, both in schools and outside.

Security-related fields of study offered in Poland are undergoing a dynamic development as a result of a huge demand for their graduates. The changes which took and are taking place in the Polish educational system after 1989 are as follows:

> Wide availability of education at all levels of studies .

> Creation of a three-level higher education system.

> Assurance of academic autonomy and freedom of academic/ scientific thought and discussion .

> Establishing of the institutional and functional system of the teaching quality assessment.

> Adaptation of the professional certification system to the EU requirements and world standards.

> Achievement of the recognition of Polish education and academic qualifications in the European Union .

> Creation of conditions for student and academic staff mobility.

> Empowerment of students as full partners in education.

> Creation of conditions for academic competitiveness in obtaining financial resources.

> Linking academic activity with the environment, including the needs of the labour market.

> Fusion of schools offering specialist fields of study into big university-type facilities.

> Emergence of various academic partnerships (consortia), especially private ones.

> Polish higher education is subject to over-extensive legal regulation, which hinders experimenting and flexible modifications (which is the case in many states). The legal rules resulted in many valuable solutions, but some expectations failed to come true.

> The dependence of the academic autonomy on the number of entitlements to confer the doctoral degree hinders diversification of studies and deepens the academic drifting of schools which should be vocational and applicatory in nature.

> There is a gap between self-governing and autonomous facilities and the Minister of Science and Higher Education, which is filled only by buffer opinion-giving bodies. This is the reason why the state's higher education policy can only be implemented by means of high- level legal regulations or financial mechanisms, which prevents public facilities from being held accountable for compliance with the state's strategic objectives.

> The Polish higher education system lacks a strong institution for the evaluation and assurance of the teaching quality. Currently, this role is only partially performed by the Polish Accreditation Commission, mainly as the institution evaluator rather than creator of the system.

> Due to the ongoing drop in the birth rate, many institutions, mainly private ones, may disappear, which can be perceived as the self-regulation of the market.

Article 70 (4) of the Constitution obliges public authorities to provide citizens with universal and equal access to education.

Article 70 (4) of the Constitution says: In order to provide equal access to education public authorities shall establish and support systems for individual financial and organisational assistance to pupils and students.

Article 70 (5) of the Constitution says that the autonomy of the institutions of higher education shall be ensured in accordance with principles specified by statute

This is regulated by the following conventions: Convention on the recognition of studies, diplomas and degrees obtained in another country of the European region, European Convention on the academic recognition of university qualifications, Convention on the recognition of qualifications concerning higher education in the European region.

References

1. Encyklopedia popularna PWN (the PWN Popular Encyclopedia). Warsaw, 2013.

2. Bartnicka K., Szybiak I. Zarys historii wychowania (An Outline of the History of Education), Wydawnictwo Akademickie „Zak”, Wyzsza Szkola Humanistyczna w Pultusku, Warsaw, 2001.

3. Wojcicka M. Dywersyfikacja w szkolnictwie wyzszym, uwarunkowania i perspektywy (Diversification in Higher Education, Conditions and Prospects), Centrum Badan Polityki Naukowej i Szkolnictwa Wyzszego, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Warsaw, 2002.

4. The estimated population in Poland for 2008-2035. GUS (Polish Central Statistical Office), Warsaw, 2008.

5. Institutions of Higher Education and their finances in 2007, GUS (Polish Central Statistical Office), Warsaw, 2008.

6. Long-term National Development Strategy. Poland 2030. Third Wave of Modernity. The Resolution of the Council of Ministers from 5 Feb. 2013. Warsaw, 2013.

7. Institutions of Higher Education and their finances in 2012. GUS (Polish Central Statistical Office), Warsaw, 2013.

8. Higher Education in Poland, MNiSW (Ministry of Science and Higher Education), Warsaw,2013

9. Concise Statistical Yearbook of Poland 2013, GUS (Polish Central Statistical Office), Warsaw, 2013.

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