Gowin: The law on universities will be passed at the beginning of June

During the Krosno visit, the Deputy Prime Minister reminded that at the last meeting (in May) the Sejm started work on the Higher Education and Science bill (also called Law 2.0, Constitution for Science). All parliamentary clubs were in favour of referring the bill to the committee. The committee meeting, however, did not take place because "its chairman, from an opposition party, cancelled the meeting" - said the Minister of Science.

"Fortunately, it turned out that there are parliamentary procedures allowing the Marshal of the Sejm to convene a committee meeting. This decision was taken by Marshal Kuchciński and the committee meeting will be held on Thursday" - said the Deputy Prime Minister.

He added that according to preliminary arrangements, "the whole bill will be pocessed, reviewed, analysed by the deputies at that one committee meeting, perhaps it will be necessary to meet again the next day". "At the beginning of June it will be passed by the Sejm, then by the Senate, and then everything will be in the hands of the President" - Gowin announced.

"If the media are not interested - it means that all is good. If they were interested, it would mean that there were disputes. And we did have disputes within the government camp - some colleagues in the coalition thought that this reform was too radical, that it was going in a wrong direction - and the media wrote about it. Now it`s quiet, which means we`re heading for a quick finale" - said Gowin.

According to the minister, the Law on Higher Education and Science has been created "in a dialogue" and it is evolutionary, not revolutionary. It contains some of the solutions that have worked well in the previous law. It will be introduced gradually; the last changes will enter into force in 2026.

The changes introduced by the Constitution for Science are, according to Gowin, "discussed, gradual, precisely scheduled, but profound". "We can not afford mediocrity. We have to break out of this medium growth trap, the trap of mediocrity" - he noted.

"The European Commission that, to put it mildly, does not praise all the activities of our government, says that the way we are working on the Constitution for Science should be an example for other EU countries how to introduce all types of system changes" - noted Deputy Prime Minister Gowin.

The bill was prepared by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Simultaneously with this document, the Sejm is also working on the bill Introducing the Law on Higher Education and Science. It regulates the functioning of universities during the transition period, before the reform is in full effect. The law, as proposed by the Ministry of Science, should become effective from the next academic year. (PAP)

author: Alfred Kyc

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