CHI TIẾT NGHIÊN CỨU …
Tiêu đề
Poland: The place of liberal education in post-soviet higher education
Tác giả
Kowalski E.
Năm xuất bản
2012
Source title
Confronting Challenges to the Liberal Arts Curriculum: Perspectives of Developing and Transitional Countries
Số trích dẫn
1
DOI
10.4324/9780203127322-10
Liên kết
Tóm tắt
The political and economic transformation toward democracy and the market economy on which Poland embarked in 1989, followed by the country’s integration with the European Union in 2004, created a need for an educational system that resonates with the new socio-political, economic, and technological context. With the demand for skilled professionals rapidly rising throughout the 1990s, top priority was given to the reform of higher education, seen by the political and economic sectors as critical to the success of Poland’s democratic and economic transformation. The passage of a new law on higher education in 1990, further amended in 2005 (Law on Higher Education, 2005), brought a number of far-reaching changes in the structure, organization, funding, and governance patterns in Poland’s tertiary system, thus marking its departure from the socialist legacy toward greater democratization and diversification (Sorensen, 1997). The impact of the new law is reflected in changes such as the de-politicization and de-ideologization of teaching and learning in higher education institutions. These changes are critical to revitalizing their vibrant intellectual culture and restoring the importance of the arts, humanities, and social sciences in their curricula. Its impact is also evident in greater diversification of the funding structure, which allows institutions to obtain funds through research grants and from sources outside the state budget (e.g., donations, tuition fees) (MSHE, 2009a). Despite these changes, the subsidies provided by the state continue to be the most important source of funding for public institutions today. Concurrent with the above changes, the structural transformation of Poland’s higher education was initiated in the 1990s, reflecting major political and economic changes and trends at the national, regional, and global levels. The impact of these changes is evident in, among other areas, the emergence of a strong private (non-state) higher education system alongside the public (state) sector and, consequently, in a rapid expansion and massification of a once highly elitist Polish academic system. In addition, most public and private institutions (except for medical and some agricultural universities) introduced a new three-cycle degree structure with the purpose of preparing a more educationally and professionally diverse workforce. As a result, a uniform five-year master’s (magister) level course was replaced with a degree system comprising the bachelor’s level (licencjat/inz?ynier) and master’s level (magister) courses (“3+2?? or “4+2??), followed by three-/four-year doctoral studies (doktorat) (Da?browa-Szefler & Jablecka-Pryslopska, 2006). After Poland joined the Bologna Process in 1999, the new degree structure was further aligned with the requirements of the Bologna’s three-cycle system (undergraduate, graduate, doctoral), in which each level corresponds to a common European Credit Transfer System, with the purpose of preparing students for the world of work. Despite substantial changes in the landscape of Poland’s higher education in recent decades, the institutional structure of higher education has not changed in a significant way and remains, as was the case during the socialist period, fragmented along vocational lines. Based on the Soviet model adopted in the 1950s, a number of faculties were removed from universities and reestablished in separate, vocationally oriented institutions, including academies (akademie), institutes (instytuty), polytechnics (politechniki), and higher vocational schools (wyz?sze szkoly zawodowe). These institutions were placed under the supervision of central government ministries to reinforce professional aspects of their disciplines. For example, medical academies are supervised by the Ministry of Health (Sorensen, 1997). This move also resulted in the separation of the humanities and technology/science tracks. In addition, all institutions were internally fragmented and compartmentalized by narrow specializations created within the disciplines to limit the scope of academic research and activity and to deemphasize interdisciplinary focus (Axer, 2007; Sorensen, 1997). Today Polish higher education institutions continue to offer education under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MSHE) and other pertinent ministries, and the institutional network remains dominated by vocational institutions and narrow specializations. At present, the Polish higher education system comprises 94 public, five denominational, and 250 new private institutions, as well as a large number of colleges (e.g., teacher training colleges), operating in partnership with universities and providing basic professional education (MSHE, 2009a). Among these institutions, 35 new higher vocational schools have been established since 1997 with the purpose of diversifying forms of study at the tertiary level and offering a wide spectrum of practical skills-based specializations specific to particular professions and labor market needs (MSHE, 2009a). The vocational orientation of the recently expanded institutional network can be seen as an indication that higher education is embracing and adjusting to the policy discourse of “practical?? vocationalism and the pragmatization of learning. © 2012 Taylor & Francis.
Từ khóa
Tài liệu tham khảo
Axer J., Komandosi edukacji [Education Commandos], Gazeta Wyborcza., (2000); Axer J., Liberal arts: Liberated from what?, Polish Market, 6, pp. 36-37, (2002); Axer J., On civic virtue and the university, Autonomia uniwerystetu: Jej przyjaciele i wrogowie, pp. 143-148, (2007); Behar L.S., Pajares F., George P.S., The effect of teachers’ beliefs on students’ academic performance during curriculum innovation, High School Journal, 79, pp. 324-332, (1996); The European higher education area: Achieving the goals., (2005); Bologna Declaration on the European Space for Higher Education: An explanation, (2000); The official Bologna Process website.; Dabrowa-Szefler M., Jablecka-Pryslopska J., [The] OECD [Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development] thematic review of tertiary education: Country background report for Poland, (2006); Building [a] liberal arts program.; Szko?y wy?sze i ich finanse w 2005r [Tertiary institutions and their finances in 2005], (2006); Heyneman S.P., From the party/state to multi-ethnic democracy: Education and its influence on social cohesion in the Europe and Central Asia region., (1998); The past and the present., (2010); Jung-Miklaszewska J., The education system in Poland, (2003); Karseth B., Curriculum restructuring in higher education after the Bologna Process: A new pedagogical regime?, Revista Española de Educación Comparada, 12, pp. 255-284, (2006); Kieniewicz J., Poszukiwanie prawdy i przestrze? dialogu [Searching for the truth and the space of the dialogue], Autonomia uniwerystetu: Jej przyjaciele i wrogowie, pp. 61-63, (2007); Kowalski E., Changing teaching in Polish higher education in the new political and economic climate: A case study of perspectives of Polish university teachers., (2004); Tom I: Strategia rozwoju szkolnictwa wy?szego 2010-2020. Projekt ?rodowiskowy [Higher Education development strategy 2010-2020: Proposal], (2009); Tom II: Polskie szkolnictwo wy?sze. Stan, uwarunkowania i perspektywy [Poland’s higher education], (2009); Kwiek M., Academe in transition: Transformations in the Polish academic profession, The decline of the guru: The academic profession in developing and middle-income countries, pp. 281-305, (2002); Kwiek M., Poland: A higher education policy review., (2005); Warsaw: Ministry of National Education, (2005); Lewowicki T., Przemiany o?wiaty: Szkice o ideach i praktyce edukacyjnej [Changes in education], (1997); Lutynski J., Nauka i polskie problemy: Komentarz socjologa. [Education and Polish problems: A sociologist’s commentary], (1990); Reforma Programowa [National Curriculum Reform], (2009); Dane statystyczne [Statistical data], (2009); Higher education., (2009); Informacja o wynikach rekrutacji na studia na rok akademicki 20082009 w uczelniach nadzorowanych przez Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wy?szego oraz uczelniach niepublicznych [Recruitment/admission data], (2009); Szkolnictwo wy?sze: Krajowe ramy kwalifikacji [Higher education: The national qualifications framework], (2009); Za?o?enia do nowelizacji ustawy: Prawo o szkolnictwie wy?szym oraz ustawy o stopniach naukowych i tytule naukowym oraz o stopniach i tytule w zakresie sztuki [Amendments to the Law on Higher Education], (2010); Sorensen K., Polish higher education en route to the market: Institutional change and autonomy at two economics academies, (1997); Szapiro T., Autonomia uczelni i jej relacje z biznesem: Uczelnia zaczarowana [The autonomy of the university and its relation to the world of business: The university under a spell], pp. 37-48, (2007); Tomusk V., Bologna Process: For the men of integrity, for the women of letters, Autonomia uniwerystetu: Jej przyjaciele i wrogowie, pp. 65-80, (2007); Tygielski W., Czy wspó?czesny uniwersytet zas?uguje na autonomie? [Does the contemporary university deserve autonomy?], Autonomia uniwerystetu: Jej przyjaciele i wrogowie, pp. 49-59, (2007); Wasowicz M., Cnoty republika?skie a uniwersytet [Republican virtues and university] Dyskusja panelowa, Autonomia uniwerystetu: Jej przyjaciele i wrogowie, pp. 149-152, (2007); Wilczek P., Director of the Collegium of Inter-Faculty/Interdisciplinary Individual Studies in the Humanities (MISH), (2009); Wilczek P., Uniwersytet: Innowacyjno?? i to?samo?? [University: Innovation and identity], pp. 53-65, (2010)
Nơi xuất bản
Taylor and Francis
Hình thức xuất bản
Book chapter
Open Access
Nguồn
Scopus