Kolarska-Bobińska: Successful scientists show that the reforms have produced results
Photo: PAP
Introducing further changes in higher education was necessary because of rapidly changing expectations and requirements - told PAP science minister in the PO-PSL government, Lena Kolarska-Bobińska. The reforms have produced results, as shown by the success of Polish scientists.
Minister of Science and Higher Education in the government of Ewa Kopacz - Lena Kolarska-Bobińska referred to the Wednesday speech of the Minister of Science Jarosława Gowin. Summarising the rule of PO-PSL in science and higher education he said, among other things, that the law on higher education was subject to so many amendments that in many points it is currently unreadable.
"The law was indeed changed and amended often, because the expectations and requirements were changing. There were the results of changes, and then it turned out that they were insufficient, so we wanted to take it a step further. The law is over-regulated, but I am surprised by the manner in which the minister intends to prepare the new law. The minister decided to hold a competition among scientists, and it seems to me that he should be the one setting the direction of all the changes" - told PAP former science minister.
She emphasized the last amendment - prepared during her term of office - changed many provisions which imposed bureaucratic duties on scientists. "Of course you could go much further, but then appropriate mechanisms must be proposed. It is impossible to simply remove the bureaucracy. If you give away money, you need to define the criteria" - emphasised the Minister of Science.
She also addressed the allegation that the reforms introduced during the rule of PO-PSL failed to meet the needs of science and universities. "The reforms have produced results, because many scientists have international success. We are in many consortia and research grants, Polish scientists are involved in many international projects, receive grants. The whole process is slow, but that is a problem of the entire system, not just the minister" - believes Kolarska-Bobińska.
Gowin also said that despite spending billions of zlotys on innovation, in the innovation ranking Poland fell to the lowest category in the European Union. "Conversion of the entire system to greater innovation means long years of hard work at all levels. It is not that a minister snaps fingers, issues a regulation. It requires changing the mentality of all actors: scientists, rectors and business. This means years of work" - commented the former head of the science ministry.
The current minister also said that one of the reasons for the failure of the reform was a "arbitrary" and "authoritarian manner of making changes - without consultation with the academic community. The context indicated that he meant the time of minister Barbara Kudrycka, who was responsible for the Ministry of Science in the government of Donald Tusk.
"My +authoritarian reform+: assumptions prepared together with scientists, consultations with all scientific institutions. And most importantly: letters to 90 thousand scientists asking for opinions, many of which have been taken into account" - Kudrycka retorted on Twitter.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland
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