Krystian Szadkowski presented at CGHE seminar, Institute of Education, UCL. ‘The common’ as the condition of living autonomy of universities in Poland

Overview:

Since 1989, despite the efforts of policymakers, the higher education system in Poland remains one of the most collegial in Europe. This is seen as the most significant obstacle to its further modernisation.

‘The common’, falsely connected with the idea of collegiality, is a democratic regime of self-organisation that lies beyond notions of public/private and constitutes the academic field.

The aim of this seminar was to present the results of an empirical study into aspects of the changing institutional autonomy of higher education institutions in Poland. The results show that the creation of the common within the institution is a condition of, rather than a barrier to, the successful expansion of ‘living autonomy’ within a highly collegial system.

Dr Szadkowski presented and explained the contemporary history of reforms, as well as the essential characteristics of the Polish system.

The material for this seminar draws from a large-scale study of Polish higher education institutions and the academic profession in Poland, based on four case studies of Polish public universities, as well as 15 departmental case studies and more than 161 interviews with management, administration and senior academic faculty.

Visit the CGHE website for the audio recording and the presentation slides.
http://www.researchcghe.org/events/2018-03-01-the-common-as-the-condition-of-living-autonomy-of-universities-in-poland/