dr Krzysztof Pawłowski dr Krzysztof Pawłowski

Founder, former Rector, Founder, former Rector, President of WSB-NLU in Nowy SączPresident of WSB-NLU in Nowy Sącz

The wonderful world of a subsidized European university

versus the terrible system of American universities

condemned to fees and grants?

Does it still make sense to ridicule the Lisbon Strategy and seek the reasons why it failed?

Why did the European education systems fail to become global reference level in 2010?

as this was the aim the European Council set at its Barcelona meeting in 2002.*

* The Commission of the European Communities’ Communication entitled „The role of the universities in the Europe of knowledge” COM (2003) 58 final from February 2003.

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It is a sad kind of satisfaction for me to see that my conclusions presented in my books:

„Rediscovering higher education in Europe” (UNESCO-CEPES – Bucharest 2004)

„Społeczeństwo wiedzy – szansa dla Polski” [The knowledge society – opportunities for Poland] (Znak-Kraków 2004)

concerning both the Lisbon Strategy and the conclusions drawn by the Commission in the Communication „The role of the universities in the Europe of knowledge” proved to be correct and the European Academic world generally stayed still.

  Positive influence of the Bologna Process – unfortunately mainly on the education process (essential, but not sufficient to obtain competitive advantage, merely to achieve the same level)

most important – introducing mobility on the I and II levels of studying, important – implementation of ECTS and national frameworks of qualifications.

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Key difference between the European and American systems of higher education

in the USA: (I)

lack of ministry on federal level and therefore lack of federal and bureaucratic regulations (acts, law enforcement provisions)

freedom to subject oneself to accreditation evaluation

strong concentration of resources for scientific research in the best centers.

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Key difference between the European and American systems of higher education

(II) in Europe:

state finances universities which leads to employment security (in principle it decreases motivation and mobilization) and separating the employment of staff from the conditions of recruitment of students who start their studies financed fully or partially by the state

equal spreading of most subsidies financing universities and research institutes.

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In my books in 2004 I identified the advantages of American universities over their European

counterparts mainly in:

1. Effective managerial system of running universities2. Shortening the time in which staff achieve scientific

and didactic independence3. Financial (often resulting from possessing great

endowment) and organizational stability4. Atmosphere of academic life which brings scientists

and students close to each other.5. Much stronger than in Europe ties between the

university and its particular staff with the surrounding world, especially with economy.

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From today’s (2010) perspective I would like toemphasize the meaning1) possibility of flexible activity in competitive conditions connected with existing in a real autonomy (own sources of finance, no rules imposed on how to employ staff, freedom to offer programs of studies within a chosen accreditation system)2) the matter of scientific and didactic staff mobility.

Is lack of lifetime employment security the only way to achieve effectiveness of university operations?

No, because part of American system is „tenure”

There is a different reason: the organizational culture, the willingness to compete, to be the leader, different hierarchy of values and evaluations.

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POLISH DISASTERS

SIMPLE QUESTIONS:

-what percentage of staff spend at university more than 20 hours per week apart from their regular classes?

-what percentage of staff keep their doors open encouraging in this way students to consult and to discuss things with them?

-what percentage of staff keeps e-mail correspondence with their students?

- what percentage of staff publish at least one paper in English every two years?

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POLISH DISASTERS

SIMPLE QUESTIONS:

- what percentage of staff cooperate as experts or researchers with at least one person employed in real business?

- what percentage of staff have at least one patent, applied formula or particular research work which ended in implementation?

- what percentage of staff applied within the last two years in at least one research project financed externally?

- what percentage of staff participate in research teams running jointly research financed from grants obtained by means of contest?

- what percentage of staff of universities (including private ones) lost their job in the last three years because of lack of progress in didactic or research work?

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and the final question:are the answers to the above questions known to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education? And is the Ministry doing or has it done or commissioned any research of this type?

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Returning to the USA – EU rivalry

Will the financial crisis from 2008 and its consequences for the American economy cause the resources allocated for Research and Development in the USA to decrease?

Many experts, for example J. Staniszkis claim that, on the contrary, the crisis will strengthen the concentration of resources on Research and Development in countries where multinational corporations have their headquarters (80% of them – in the USA)

The biggest (and best) American universities have so big own capital (endowments) that they can self-finance research for many years to come.

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Final conclusion for us, Poles:

Observing the devotion of the European academic world to the „Holy European System of Academic Values” it is necessary to build in Poland an effective system which will use the experience from the American system that can be applied in Poland, as it is the only way for us to at least partially participate in the tough struggle for added value and not only „consume the leftovers from the feast of other giants”.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !

KRZYSZTOF PAWŁOWSKI