Exploring the governance of Polish public higher education: balancing restored historical legacies with Europeanization and market pressures

Abstract

This article places developments in Polish public higher education (HE) in the broader context of the literature on HE governance and, in particular, marketization. The Polish case stands out due to the parallel existence of prestigious large universities with long histories of scientific advancement and the largest number of private HE institutions in Europe. Since 1989 Poland has undergone a process of extreme massification, with student numbers having exponentially multiplied. The analysis aims to offer theoretical explanations based on historical institutionalism and organizational isomorphism for the differential development of Polish public and private HE. The author argues that Polish public HE has been characterized by fragmentary state-driven attempts to inject more competition into the system and altogether relative policy inertia – despite an internal and external environment which is highly conducive to policy change and in particular marketization. The author presents a series of empirical indicators to assess the degree of marketization and/or attachment to the historical governance model, which was reinstated in 1990.

Keywords:

• Poland
• public higher education
• marketization
• Europeanization
• Bologna Process

Note on contributor

Michael Dobbins studied political science and Slavic studies at the Universities of Konstanz, Warsaw and Rutgers. He has completed his doctoral dissertation in Konstanz, which dealt with comparative HE policies in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. He has worked as a senior researcher at the Chair of Comparative Public Policy and Administration (Professor C. Knill) at the University of Konstanz and the Collaborative Research Center ‘Transformations of the State’ (Project Internationalization of Education Policy) at the University of Bremen. His main areas of research are HE policy, secondary education policy, policy-making in the EU, policy-making in the USA, transformation processes in Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Caucasus countries. He was appointed as junior professor for policy analysis with the specialization education policy at the Goethe University of Frankfurt in 2013.

Notes

1. Then finance minister Balcerowicz devised a plan to facilitate the rapid transformation of Poland to a market economy through economic liberalization and deregulation. Specifically, the Balcerowicz plan prohibited the central bank from financing the budget deficit and banned unlimited issues of empty money, abolished preferential lending for state-owned firms and pegged interest rates to inflation, abolished the state's monopoly over international trade and regulated the responsibilities of employment agencies (Warsaw Voice 2009).

2. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland (Art. 70) guarantees that education is free of charge in public sector institutions. It also stipulates that tuition may be levied for certain educational services offered by public HE providers.

3. Although the formula was input oriented, it placed strong focus on academic degrees of teaching and research staff, who were weighted according to the academic titles doctor, habilitowany doktor and professor (Jongbloed 2003, 132). It hence partially rewarded institutions for employing highly qualified academics.

4. Public HE institutions receive block grants, but must submit proposed financial activities to the Ministry of Finance for approval and spend the funds in compliance with broad budget headings (Eurydice 2008).

5. It consisted of 35 professors, 10 additional high-ranking university lecturers and a small number of student representatives (World Bank 2004, 5).

6. Konferencja Rektorów Akademickich Szkół Polskich.

7. These are conducted by a national institution for the evaluation of scientific units (KEJN) and two institutions dedicated to applied (NCBR) and fundamental (NCN) research who fund projects on a competitive basis (since the 2010 law on research). However, research-generated revenues account for less than 1/5 of public university budgets.

8. Failure to notify university management of dual employment also results in the termination of primary employment in public HE institutions (HE Law 2005, Art. 265).