Gowin: We want an additional PLN 1 billion for science to be included in the budget

"We have agreed with the PiS leader that we will endeavour to add another billion zlotys for science in the next year\'s budget. This one billion zlotys will finance groundbreaking economic and scientific discoveries, the Polish economy will gain new impetus" - said Gowin.

Deputy Prime Minister added that with these additional funds, hundreds of young scientists will remain in Poland. "They will not try to find their future at universities around the world; we are also counting on the fact that with this billion, with all the reforms we carry out in the area of science and higher education, many of the 35,000 scientists, most of them young and very talented, who emigrated after Poland\'s entry into the EU, will start returning to Poland" - Gowin noted.

"It is time for returns, time to reverse the brain drain vector" - he emphasised.

He pointed out that it is also worth it to attract talented young scientists from all over the world to Polish universities. "They come to Poland because they see us in a stable country, they see us as a safe country, and they see the positive changes that are being made in Poland" - he said.

The Minister of Science thanked Jarosław Kaczyński for the support for changes in higher education and science. The Ministry of Education is in the process of preparing a new law on higher education - the so-called Law 2.0. Gowin assured that after the reform, Polish higher education institutions will educate at a significantly higher level. "Polish science will definitely be ranked higher in world rankings, which is the most important investment that can be. It is an investment in the minds of young Poles" - he said.

"We need young elites (...). Every nation, every country, needs elites - but real ones - to develop. Those who treat their activity not as an opportunity to rise, but as an opportunity to serve all Polish citizens" - Gowin added.

He reported that the Ministry of Finance and Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego prepared a project on student loans. "Today, these loans are unattractive. What the MF and BGK propose will be an opportunity for many young, talented people" - said Deputy Prime Minister.

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński also spoke about higher education during the convention. He noted that some academic circles had raised the issue that the reform of science minister Jarosław Gowin would lead to the fall of smaller colleges. "Well, I talked about this with the Deputy Prime Minister (Gowin) and I can say that these are unjustified doubts" - he assured. He added that PiS was not about creating "a mechanism that would makes higher education mean less".

"Our goal is to rebuild, revitalize Polish intelligentsia, in the traditional sense of the word, connected with the ethos of the social service, with the patriotic ethos, in a large part ... connected with the Church, with Catholicism, sometimes with other religions. We want to appeal to these motivations, but also give young people adequate knowledge" - said PiS leader.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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