Higher education for security in Poland

Even though the autonomy of higher education institutions is guaranteed by the Constitution, acts and ordinances based on these acts significantly suppress this autonomy in terms of merit, but also in terms of organization, financing and economy.

After 1989 the educational revolution in Poland affected higher education significantly. The solutions promoted by the previous political system favored elementary schools and postelementary schools, prioritizing vocational schools above all, in the public education system. The enrollment rate for higher education back then was so low that Poland ranked quite poorly in this respect compared to other European countries. The current enrollment rate for Poland places it among other well developed Western European countries. What made it possible was the rapid growth of private schooling. The growing popularity of private schools contributed extensively to the creation of educational institutions outside of traditional academic hubs.

Changes were applied to profiles, degree programmes and learning programmes apart from legislative and structural changes which took place in higher education. The main curricular issue was the need to determine the proportions between the general education and specialized education. On one hand, the market expects the graduate to be ready to perform certain specialized tasks; on the other hand, it also needs specialists who possess general knowledge and are able to flexibly accustom themselves to the evolving conditions of the work environment, fitting into a specific organizational culture, with a prevailing habit of self-improvement.

Another significant change was the introduction of external assessment and control over the functioning of academic institutions, the introduction of European standards of acknowledging the student's achievements in school, and the implementation of learning programmes, which made it possible to graduate from two different universities in two different countries

The gross enrollment rate is the ratio between the number of people who study at a given education level (regardless of age) and the total number of people in the age group suitable for that education level. The net enrollment rate is the ratio between the number of people who study at a given education level (within a specific age group) and the total number of people in the age group suitable for that education level. Simultaneously.

After 1989, higher education in Poland was affected by changes in terms of the system, organization, financing and content-wise; however, these changes did not spark any social tensions. The Polish education system is currently comprised of three tiers: elementary (a 6-yearelementary school is compulsory), post-elementary (a compulsory 3-year gymnasium and a non-compulsory 3-year general secondary school which ends with a maturity exam allowing the student to apply to a university) and higher education.

As soon as the political system changed in Poland in 1989, the first private schools started to appear. In the 2001/2002 academic year there were 241 private schools compared with 123 public schools. In 2013 the total number of schools was 454, where 142 were public and 312 were private. Caused by the shrinking number of students and tuition fees, the number of private schools has been falling since 2010, simply because students prefer to study in tuition-free public schools.

Up to 2005, Poland had a rigid number of 128 degree programs not connected to particular fields of knowledge. Each university, meeting the requirements of each degree programme, was able to teach these courses upon the approval of the appropriate minister. Since 2005 the rigid register of degree programmes was liberalized and currently each university has the right to create a degree programme, providing they inform the appropriate ministry (universities who have the right to grant post-doctoral degrees and the title of professor) or acquire a permission from the appropriate ministry (the remaining universities). At present, there are more than 400 degree programmes in Poland.

All universities (public and private alike) are subject to the same legal regulations and, to a limited extent, they are supervised by the Minister of Science and Higher Education, with the exception of ministerial academic schools (translator's note: such as police or military academies for uniformed personnel) which are supervised by appropriate ministers (they take over the supervisory function of the Minister of Science and Higher Education over ministerial academic schools) .

The Minister of Science and Higher Education serves as the supervising authority of universities and academies by passing ordinances to regulate the institutional, financial and organizational rules of a particular university, therefore influencing its internal order by approving names for new degree courses, rules for conducting these courses, the number and profile of the faculty members who accredit these courses, the rules of establishing new satellite campuses and extension offices of the university, forms of studies and trainings which are allowed to accept foreign students and the requirements they have to meet in order to be eligible to enroll.

The external institutions which enforce academic standards also include supra-academic institutions which may have direct influence on higher education institutions and the higher education system as a whole; they are, among others: The General Council of Science and Higher Education, Council of Scientific Exellence, Scientific Evaluation Committee, The Polish Accreditation Committee and rectors' conferences.

The General Council of Science and Higher Education is a representative body of the academic society. It serves as expert advisory authority for the minister, e.g. by expressing its opinion on drafts of normative acts related to higher education, it may also propose changes which should be applied to ordinances related to education, however, the decision whether to apply these changes or not ultimately belongs to the minister. The role of the Council is quite limited and there have been multiple doubts as to the actual purpose of its existence.

Council of Scientific Exellence is subordinate to Minister of Science and Higher Education and serves as a government administrative body. It gives universities the right to grant doctoral and post-doctoral degrees. It also participates in post-doctoral and professorial programs by appointing appropriate committees and thesis reviewers, assesses drafts of normative acts related to granting academic degrees and titles. Furthermore, it is entitled to review cases

In Poland, the following ministers are responsible for their respective higher education institutions:

> Science and Higher Education, excluding all ministerial universities and academies;

> Health (medical academies);

> Culture and National Heritage (visual and performing arts schools);

> Infrastructure (civilian maritime universities);

> Internal Affairs and Administration (fire service and police academies);

> National Defense (military academies).

Where applicants do not meet the required criteria when applying for a university position. The members of the Council of Scientific Exellence are elected by persons who already possess an academic title. The rigid and centrally formalized, to a large extent, Polish system of granting academic degrees and titles is a peculiar one. Unquestionably, in the majority of countries degrees are granted by universities with no involvement of state organs, and the institution of academic titles is absent. There is no professor title per se, one can only be employed as a university professor.

The Polish Accreditation Committee is a statutory body of higher education serving to ensure the quality of education. The Committee members are nominated by the Minister of Science and Higher Education from among the candidates appointed by the universities. The Committee submits its opinions and conclusions to the president, especially on issues related to: establishing a university, granting a university the right to conduct degree courses in a specific field and the accompanying standards of teaching, establishing a remote branch office by a university, assessing the quality of teaching of a given degree course, assessing the teachers' quality of teaching, meeting the legal criteria of conducting degree courses, assigning specialization in education, conducted in higher vocational schools, to specific degree courses.

The Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland and The Conference of Rectors of Polish Vocational Schools both possess the status of an association. The authority which supervises the rectors' conferences is the Minister. Public authorities seek the opinion of the rectors' conferences in matters related to the rules of functioning and directions of higher education development as well as drafts of legal acts regarding higher education, science and culture. The conferences have the right to present their own proposals to the Minister.

The organisation of higher education institutions

During the last 25 years, every type of higher education institution has undergone a major transformation. The Act on Higher Education from 1990 brought about substantial changes in that it enabled non-public (private) universities to be established and tuition fees to be collected for certain education services, which made it possible to develop extra-mural and post-graduate studies scheme in public schools. On the basis of prerogatives and rights (in terms of competences, financing, organization) within the Polish higher education system the following institutions have been introduced: universities, academies, and higher vocational schools .

The internal academic order within a university or academy is as follows: board universities, the rector, the senate, administrative staff. Depending on university model, i.e. the hierarchy concept, all management tasks such as: determining strategical directions of development, acquiring material resources for development, supervising finances, staff development, etc. may be outsourced or carried out by organs within the school itself. However, management tasks such as outlining plans of achieving strategic goals, staff policy, organizing research and didactics, making new local contacts, and administrative management are carried out within the school.

Unquestionably, the internal order of the Polish academies and universities - according to the Polish legislation in force - is characterized by self-government which nevertheless remains limited by multiple legal regulations. This self-government feature concerns various management tasks of the school and stems from the fact that a considerable amount of decision-making competences is handed down to representative organs of employees and students which have a varying share in the decision-making process. It is required by the law that each university establishes many collegiate bodies and a system of electing university authorities by representative organs (an electoral college) or through competitive selection. The right to academic freedom causes some academic teachers (especially professors) to enjoy independence from university authorities.

Electable senate represent the academic society, which makes them local government authorities. Those authorities pass internal laws, they either take managerial decisions or at least assess them (including staff related ones), they supervise rectors who at the same time preside over them.

Board universities may include representatives of state authorities, local authority organs and professional self-governments, scientific, trade and creative associations and institutions, associations of employers, business self-government, as well as local businessmen

This distinction results from the total number of rights a higher education institution has to grant the academic degree of doctor.

And financial institutions. Usually an board universities would be responsible for giving opinions on the direction in which a university is heading, giving opinions on research activities, suggesting new degree courses and specialisations, promoting the university and it involvement in community partnerships. Only higher vocational schools have the requirement of electing the assembly. The assembly's recommendations are not legally binding for university authorities, which is why a substantial amount of the recommendations may happen to be purely pretentious.

The university senate, as a representative of all employee groups and students of a university, possesses significant legislative, consultative and supervisory powers. It also possesses a statutory prerogative to make statutes of a higher education institution, to regulate its financial operation, it also possesses huge consultative competences.

The rector is the supreme one-man organ of the university, serving as the head of the self-government (the senate) at the same time. The relatively powerful collegiate bodies (the senate) may obstruct the swift operation of all one-man organs (the rector), being the only instrument of supervision over their activities.

Unlike public schools, non-public ones are free to work out their own management system, authorities, supervisory boards, employment policies and wages. Usually the internal order of such universities is as described below:

^ a legal person or a foundation is often the founder of the university;

^ a legal person or the senate can appoint and dismiss the rector as a one-man authority, it also establishes the statutes which are passed on to the Minister of Science and Higher Education for approval;

^ the rector hires staff on individual employment contracts;

^ the senate possess only advisory and consultative powers, legislative powers only within their capacity to grant academic degrees.

Significant differences between public and non-public higher education institutions may be identified in terms of their transformation, where non-public institutions are subordinate to the Minister, whereas public institutions are subordinate to The National Assembly or the appropriate overseeing Minister. Another noticeable difference between these two types of higher education institutions is the way in which the rector, the pro-rector, deans and pro-deans are appointed. In the case of a public higher education institution they are appointed by an electoral college (an indirect electoral self-government organ). Because of the nature of their powers, they are unable to enforce any political platforms, unlike any founder of a non-public higher education institution who enjoys such powers.

The higher education institutions in Poland are allowed to organize their internal structure according to their needs. Larger institutions (mainly universities and public academies) are divided into, so called, basic organizational units (most often these would be departments) which focus on a specific branch of knowledge, offering specific degree programmes and conducting research they are most interested in. They possess complete substantive autonomy, some decision-making powers and often financial autonomy as well. They are further subdivided into institutes, sub-faculties, units and problem groups. They are supported by non- departmental units which teach subjects beyond the borders of the departments' competences.

A university is led by an elective (or chosen through competitive selection) rector and pro-rectors; analogically, a department is led by an elective dean along with pro-deans. The most crucial decisions for the university (such as development strategies, statutes, study regulations, establishing new degree programmes, finances) are made by an elective senate, the constitution of which is strictly regulated by a legal act.

Poland has a traditional organization scheme of students, each student is assigned to a department, a year, a group, and depending on the situation groups can be divided further into lab groups, project groups, etc.

2. The structure of higher education in Poland

In 1989 in Poland there were 1,101 students per 100,000 inhabitants (compared to 2,700 students in Great Britain, 2,995 in France and 1,927 in Greece). In 2002 the number went up to as many as 4,000, in 2012 - 4,580, which placed Poland among the world leaders in this respect.

Starting from 1990, over the period of fifteen years the number of students increased by five times. For full-time studies, the number was almost a million in 2011/2012, which accounted for more than half of the total number of students. The number of students in public facilities was twice and a half as big as in private ones. This trend can be illustrated using the enrolment ratio. In the academic year 1990/1991 the net ratio did not exceed 10% while in 2012 it went up to over 40%. The figure reached the peak point in 2005/2006.

As seen from the data above, the enrolment ratio for higher education has more than quadrupled over the past 25 years. Taking into account the highly developed countries, however, Polish post-secondary education is still at a lower level. To give an example, 88% of young Canadians complete secondary education, 81% of Americans, 80% of Australians, 63% of New Zealanders and 62% of Norwegians. Still, these figures are not fully comparable because of short, two-year or even one-year studies being very common in these countries.

The number of students in Poland was on the rise till the mid first decade of the 21st c. Due to the drop in the birth rate, the number started going down, which is forecast to continue until 2021-2026. The drop in the population number as a result of the demographic decline among people aged 19-24 will cause the number of students to decrease in the mid third decade of the 21st c. by more than a third compared to 2005.

Owing to a considerable increase in the number of students in the 1990s, the Polish higher education experienced a growing problem of the shortage of academic staff with the highest qualifications, i.e. professors and associate professors. The student number which was several times as big as before was not accompanied by a proportional increase in the number of academic teachers. The increase reached only 24%, which means that at the beginning there were 6 students per one teacher, 20 students in the late 1990s, and 17 students at present.

The vast majority of private facilities employ teachers who received their degrees and titles in public schools. In some fields of study multiple employment is commonplace. What undoubtedly needs strengthening is the system of international academic exchange and the introduction of fast track promotion for academic staff.

In Poland there are a dozen or so big academic centres, the biggest of which are Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Lodz, and Lublin - with the student population of more than 50% of the total number of students. At the top of the academic hierarchy is Warsaw, where in 2012/2013 more than 249,800 students studied in 78 facilities, which accounted for 15,2% of all the student population. Private institutions are usually based in smaller urban centres. In terms of the student population, the biggest higher education facilities are universities in Warsaw, Krakow (Jagiellonski University), Poznan, Lodz and Olsztyn and universities of technology in Wroclaw, Warsaw and Krakow.

3. Fields of study related to security

In the academic year 2013/2014 in Poland there were offered 10 fields of study related to broadly-understood security. They are oriented at social science and management and in terms of their curricula they are basically focused on international, national and internal state security. Some are also oriented at technology, i.e. technical and organisational aspect of rescue and life-saving. These fields were initiated by higher education facilities in the competence of the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Currently, in Poland there are more 630 types, forms and levels faculties of public and private institutions.

There is a lot of interest in security-oriented studies, which is confirmed by a growing number of students at these faculties. In 2007 there were 1,643 students admitted to such faculties, which accounted for 0.3% of the total population of newly-admitted students (488,336). In 2011 the number was 16,748 (a ten-fold increase in 4 years), which was 3.9% of the total number of newly-accepted students in Poland in 2011 (424,776).

In Poland, the significant interest in tertiary education oriented at security is also reflected in other forms of this education: post-graduate (usually two-semester) studies and doctoral (three-year) studies.

Conclusions

After 1989 Poland moved from elite to mass higher education, which despite weaknesses exposed in some institutions and areas of study is an undisputed success. Never before in their history have Polish people been so well educated and never before has higher education been so closely related to better chances for employment and better-than-average pay. Maintaining the dynamic development and in particular continuous improvement of the teaching quality became the main challenge to higher education in Poland in the 2010s.

In the first decade following 1989, the changes in the higher education system in Poland were aimed to make it more available, which was one of the most significant factors affecting the potential for the state's development. Five-fold increase in the number of students in higher education resulted in the net enrolment ratio reaching more than 40 % (the gross enrolment ratio 60%) after 15 years.

Still, the initial surge in the student population, making higher education widely available, was not accompanied with sufficient care for adequate teaching quality. At that time, the changing requirements of the labour market were not sufficiently taken into account. It was only in 2002 when the central body supervising the quality of teaching was established in the form of the State Accreditation Committee (the present Polish Accreditation Committee).

Polish higher education facilities face a challenge of continuing education, which creates learning opportunities at any age and level, both in schools and outside.

Security-related fields of study offered in Poland are undergoing a dynamic development as a result of a huge demand for their graduates. The changes which took and are taking place in the Polish educational system after 1989 are as follows:

> Wide availability of education at all levels of studies .

> Creation of a three-level higher education system.

> Assurance of academic autonomy and freedom of academic/ scientific thought and discussion .

> Establishing of the institutional and functional system of the teaching quality assessment.

> Adaptation of the professional certification system to the EU requirements and world standards.

> Achievement of the recognition of Polish education and academic qualifications in the European Union .

> Creation of conditions for student and academic staff mobility.

> Empowerment of students as full partners in education.

> Creation of conditions for academic competitiveness in obtaining financial resources.

> Linking academic activity with the environment, including the needs of the labour market.

> Fusion of schools offering specialist fields of study into big university-type facilities.

> Emergence of various academic partnerships (consortia), especially private ones.

> Polish higher education is subject to over-extensive legal regulation, which hinders experimenting and flexible modifications (which is the case in many states). The legal rules resulted in many valuable solutions, but some expectations failed to come true.

> The dependence of the academic autonomy on the number of entitlements to confer the doctoral degree hinders diversification of studies and deepens the academic drifting of schools which should be vocational and applicatory in nature.

> There is a gap between self-governing and autonomous facilities and the Minister of Science and Higher Education, which is filled only by buffer opinion-giving bodies. This is the reason why the state's higher education policy can only be implemented by means of high- level legal regulations or financial mechanisms, which prevents public facilities from being held accountable for compliance with the state's strategic objectives.

> The Polish higher education system lacks a strong institution for the evaluation and assurance of the teaching quality. Currently, this role is only partially performed by the Polish Accreditation Commission, mainly as the institution evaluator rather than creator of the system.

> Due to the ongoing drop in the birth rate, many institutions, mainly private ones, may disappear, which can be perceived as the self-regulation of the market.

Article 70 (4) of the Constitution obliges public authorities to provide citizens with universal and equal access to education.

Article 70 (4) of the Constitution says: In order to provide equal access to education public authorities shall establish and support systems for individual financial and organisational assistance to pupils and students.