Gowin: Massification is the dark side of education in the field of social sciences

"Humanities are responsible for the formation of man, for the formation of his soul, character, views, for building the logical structures of our about the world. They give the foundation for the development of society" - Minister of Science and Higher Education Jarosław Gowin said in Toruń during a conference on the development of the humanities.

The minister noted, however, that education in the fields of social sciences and humanities in Poland has a "dark side", which is "the phenomenon of massification, which exceeds the limits of reason". "Students of courses assigned to the area of social sciences and humanities account for more than half of all students of Polish universities. Social sciences are 40 percent, the humanities 11 percent. Of the nearly 44 thousand doctoral students, 53 percent represent these two areas of knowledge" - said the Minister of Science.

He also emphasised that the results of the first edition of the monitoring of careers of graduates show that the opinion that "the humanities and social sciences do not prepare for the labour market must be approached with great caution". As the minister said, the modern labour market, expects specialist to have not only strictly professional skills, but also broad general competences. This includes the ability to learn and understand the cultural context. "Social sciences and humanities should find and define their mission in this area" - he stressed.

Gowin reminded that Polish humanists have access to grants from the reformed, "revamped" National Programme for the Development of Humanities. The Ministry of Science has also launched the programme "Dialogue", one of the areas of which is addressed to humanists. Another ongoing programme, the "Philosophical Education", focuses on engaging universities in cooperation with educational entities in the field of philosophy and logic. Soon, under the Operational Programme Knowledge, Education, Development POWER another competition for Polish universities will be launched, with the budget amounting to 500-750 million zlotys. "This programme will also be a great opportunity for the humanities and social sciences" - the minister said.

Gowin expressed the view that at Torun conference participants would argue, because there were many issues that required discussion, and there was no unanimity in the community.

"Polish humanities need funding. There is no doubt that the humanities and, to a lesser degree, social sciences, were discriminated against in terms of access to EU funds. Greater internationalisation of the humanities is also needed. I appeal to humanists themselves. Too often they fail to participate in prestigious international competitions, believing that this area has its own national specificity, and the topics pursued by Polish scientists do not translate to the international realities. It is a false idea" - said Minister Gowin.

Deputy Prime Minister also stressed that deepening specialization in the humanities is the road to nowhere.

"By definition, the humanities should be interdisciplinary. You have to push the boundaries of individual disciplines, because very often the creative part is located on their intersection" - added Gowin.

Minister of Science mentioned that talks were underway at the European Union level on the smart specializations, whose goal is to expand the area of humanities and social sciences.

"Today, smart specializations negotiated by the previous government completely ignore the area of humanities and almost completely - the area of social sciences. The consequence of this is the fact that only a very small portion of EU funds could be used for the development of these areas" - he said. In his view, the humanities can be applied in a variety of important economic problems. "It is noteworthy that international corporations engaged in the development of modern technology often seek not the +narrow+ specialists, but broad-minded people with a comprehensive education. They need people who can think creatively. We have to convince the European Commission to support this fields of science. The previous government did not make such attempts. We are in the dialogue with the European Commission, which, I hope, will result in the creation of a new smart specialization that will significantly increase the stream of funds for the humanities"- said Minister Gowin.

Toruń conference "The development of the humanities. What and how should be changed in the social sciences and humanities in Poland?" was organized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Nicolaus Copernicus University. Is the second in a series of program conferences preceding the National Congress of Science planned for 2017.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

twi/ ekr/ mrt/

tr. RL