Gowin: This academic year will be the time of conclusive debates

He attended the inauguration of the academic year at Białystok University of Technology, which is the largest public technical university in Podlasie.

Gowin assured that all the proposed changes will be widely discussed by the government with the academic community through dialogue. He also said that he meant a dialogue within the university environment.

Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin said, for example, that in the coming weeks the concept will be presented of obtaining - in the beginning - a doctoral degree for implementation (this would apply from calendar year 2017), and in the future ultimately a habilitation (if - as he noted - habilitation would still exist) and professorships for implementation. He emphasised that actions concerning science/business relations would be consistent with the so-called Morawiecki plan.

Gowin said that also in the coming weeks the plan will be presented for the formation of the National Academic Cooperation Agency, which will offer scholarships to support young Polish scientists going abroad, but also foreign scientists in Poland to "internationalise" universities.

"A lot has to change at Polish universities. We are all aware that a stage is coming to an end, that going forward in this way, sooner or later we will reach a dead end. I want you to promise that the changes that we are collectively facing will be peaceful, evolutionary, well thought out, thoroughly discussed with academia" - said Gowin.

Gowin recalled that deregulation law entered into force, reducing bureaucracy at universities. He encouraged the university rectors participating in the inauguration to review internal regulations and additionally reduce the unnecessary bureaucracy wherever possible. He also expressed his support for increasing the autonomy of universities.

The main reason for the weakness of universities in Poland according to Minister Gowin is the current financing method. "This seemingly correct idea that the money should follow the student, in times of demographic decline led to excessive massification of studies. This in turn is often associated with lower quality of education. I want to say very clearly that this new financial algorithm should lead to the situation in which it literally pays off for the universities to educate fewer students, but at the highest level" - said Gowin. He mentioned that this could be done in an "evolutionary" manner.

Deputy Prime Minister also announced the ministry plans, according to which universities, which would lose on the new algorithm, could receive support "even with a surplus" in the framework of the "remedial" programs using the European funds.

"The vector of the state scientific policy is changing. Now the emphasis will be on the one hand, of course, on education at a higher level than before, on the other hand, not coincidentally (...) on scientific excellence" - said Gowin. He emphasised that "a large part" of money from the additional 550 million zlotys, which in 2017 will be allocated to science in the state budget, will be directed to the "contact point of basic and applied research" because the relations between science and economy are crucial for universities.

Approx. 10 thousand students study at Białystok University of Technology. 2.7 thousand people began the first year of undergraduate studies, 380 people - 2nd degree studies. Rector of the university Prof. Lech Dzienis said that the commercialisation of research and further "internationalisation" of universities, including cooperation with China, are among the priorities of the university, consistent with the priorities of the ministry.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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