The public good and higher education in Poland

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to the debate on the varieties of national manifestations of the public good(s) in higher education. Drawing on a set of 33 semi-structured interviews (with politicians, university managers and faculty), it addresses the three following research questions: How do the actors in the field define the public good(s)? To what extent does the global public good play a role in their views? What are the specificities of the national system that shape understandings of the public dimension of higher education in Poland? The three definitions of the public good are proposed. The findings are discussed alongside the following four themes: higher education as a public good, higher education and the state, tuition fees, and the global public good.

KEYWORDS:

• Public good
• global public good
• Poland
• tuition fees

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Representatives of the following collegial bodies were interviewed: Committee for Evaluation of Scientific Units (CESU), Polish Accreditation Committee (PAC), Committee of Science Policy (CSP), National Council of Science and Higher Education (NCSHE), and Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools of Poland (CRASP).

2. According to the recent OECD data (2018) Poland has the smallest number of medical doctors per 1 000 inhabitants amongst 28 countries of the European Union (including, the UK). The rate of doctors per inhabitant in Poland is as little as 2,4, which locates it right after UK (2,9) and far from Germany (4,3). Source: OECD Health Statistics: Health care resources.

3. There are no precise data on the outflow of medical personnel from Poland to EU countries (and elsewhere), yet the government acted with the conviction as if that was a severe problem.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Narodowe Centrum Nauki [2019/03/X/HS6/01387].