09.03.2016 change 09.03.2016

Three teams prepare competing drafts of the higher education law

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Science and Higher Education Jarosław Gowin. Photo: PAP/ Marcin Obara 11.01.2016 Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Science and Higher Education Jarosław Gowin. Photo: PAP/ Marcin Obara 11.01.2016

The competition for the three teams of experts that will prepare three competing drafts of the new law on higher education was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science Jarosław Gowin. Each of the teams may receive up to 300 thousand zlotys for the project.

"The current law on higher education has already been amended several times. It is unclear in many places, it is also not adapted well to the labour market needs and ambitions of Polish scientists. There is need for a new law on higher education. However, working on it requires deep thought, and secondly broad debates within academia and between academia and the ministry" - said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science Jarosław Gowin.

Ministry of Science and Higher Education decided on a novel - as the minister emphasised - formula of work on the new law. The starting point is the competition announced on Monday that will select three teams of experts. Those teams, based on framework assumptions prepared by the Ministry of Science, will prepare three competing concepts of specific objectives of the new law. "They will also identify the main decisions on the model of higher education" - said Gowin.

The teams will be selected from among the academic community. "This time - unlike in previous terms - the provisions on higher education, science, will be prepared not by research companies, but by representatives of the academic community" - said the Minister of Science. Each team will receive a grant of up to 300 thousand zlotys for the project. Teams of experts should be affiliated with universities, research institutes or institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

According to the Minister of Science, teams will now have two months to prepare proposals. Then, within 2-3 weeks these proposals will be evaluated by a special committee appointed by the Ministry of Science. From June 1 individual teams will be able to start working on their projects. "A very important element of the competition will be an obligation to carry out - by all three teams - consultations within the academic community" - said Gowin. "We want to not only receive three competing projects, although it is obviously a huge value. We also want to initiate a grassroots debate in the academic community about what Polish universities and research institutes should look like" - he noted.

Work on the project will be concluded by the end of February 2017. "We have a year to work. I am convinced that our approach will allow to work out a much better shape of this law, better adjusted to the needs of Polish students and Polish science, than if it were written by the Minister or by ministerial officials" - said the Minister of Science.

The minister announced the schedule of work on the new Law on Higher Education in mid-January during the meeting of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP) in Katowice. At that meeting he said that after selecting three competing projects and debate with the academic community, the ministry - in collaboration with scientists and representatives of universities - will proceed to write the bill.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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