At a meeting addressed by Jarosław Gowin, Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education, and Robert-Jan Smits, Director-General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, the panel presented a set of recommendations to boost the role of higher education and science as drivers of scientific, technological and economic change in Poland.

The PSF Peer Review panel was led by Professor Georg Winckler, former Rector of the University of Vienna and former chairman of the Austrian Rectors’ Conference. “More links between science and business are needed,” he said, but the key is to “overcome fragmentation in the institutional landscape, replace state bureaucracy with institutional autonomy and good governance structures, and internationalise the higher education and science system.”

Poland is reforming its higher education and science system to step up its race towards a knowledge-based economy. The country requested PSF support as part of its preparation of the ‘Law 2.0’, also called the ‘Constitution for Science’, a major reform to modernise the higher education and science system. That reform is being prepared with the strong involvement of stakeholders, with several conferences of the ‘National Congress of Science’ being held in different Polish cities. In addition, an open call for ideas for the new Law 2.0 resulted in three distinct visions being presented by different teams of Polish scientists.

Potential in reform

“With its brilliant young talents and its long and noble tradition of excellent science, characterised by many excellent scientists such as Copernicus or Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Poland has a solid basis to become a strong science and innovation leader. This will, however, require a modernisation of its science system which should include measures to make it more open and international,” said Robert-Jan Smits, Director-General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission. “I am confident that the reforms that Poland is planning to reinforce the country’s scientific excellence, create stronger and more autonomous universities, provide much bigger opportunities for its human capital, and contribute to economic growth, will be successful on the condition that stakeholders will continue to be fully involved.”

The panel’s seven key policy messages tackle all ingredients of a successful higher education and science reform, i.e. institutional autonomy and governance, researchers’ careers, science-business links, internationalisation and the need for an evaluation culture:

1. Develop a strong-performing higher education (HE) and science system through a carefully designed consolidation process, with the aim of creating a binary HE system with robust universities of applied sciences and university sectors. The fragmentation of research capacity across universities, public research institutes and the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) should be reduced by the incorporation of well-performing public research and academy units into research-intensive universities.
2. Ensure effective governance and regulation. Facilitate the development of sufficient, professional and executive leadership in public HE institutions in line with their profiles.
3. Introduce a public investment target for the HE and science and innovation system and a multi-annual budgeting system for HE institutions.
4. Enhance the quality of the HE and science and innovation system by radically reforming the doctoral training and academic career system
5. Enhance the adoption of sound evaluation practices and a quality culture to support the diversified HE and science system. This should be based on a lean, effective and transparent system of QA and evaluation for HE and science built on the following principles: (i) simplify the QA system architecture; (ii) align the system with international standards to enhance excellence and reduce state control; and (iii) improve transparency and openness.
6. Ensure a broad approach to innovation through universities’ third mission and system linkages, by stimulating academic and student entrepreneurship and third-mission activities based on cooperation between universities and industry, as well as with the public sector and civil society.
7. Develop a broad-based internationalisation strategy for Poland that sets out clear orientations and actions to promote the internationalisation of Polish science and innovation, mainstreaming internationalisation in existing policies, programmes and institutions.

An outside eye

“The most valuable aspect of the PSF Review is the outside view of its experts on the Polish system,” says Professor Winckler. “The panel of experts all come from outside Poland and have a host of international experiences.” The review process included fact-finding visits to Poland and close interaction with many stakeholders. The panel included experts from Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, as well as senior officials from Austria, Belgium and Sweden.

“The PSF report is the result of the work of a group of the best European experts in the field of higher education and science,” said Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime-Minister and Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education. “It is always worth learning from others and, as well as our Polish point of view, it is always worth consulting with the experience of our European friends.”

As underlined by Mr Gowin during the event, several recommendations of the panel are convergent with the Polish assessment of the reforms needed, which will be reflected in the ‘Constitution for Science’: in particular, a stronger role for university rectors, improved links between universities and the socio-economic environment, a clear distinction between research universities and professional higher education, simplification of the university funding system and reporting obligations, establishment of doctoral schools, bottom-up consolidation process, greater differentiation and increased autonomy of universities, and reorientation of university evaluation (‘impact’ factor).

The experts note Poland’s huge potential and entrepreneurial energy, with students organising their own incubators for start-ups and a relatively well-developed higher education system – even if it suffers from fragmentation and a lack of institutional autonomy.

“Internationalisation and opening up is key for Poland,” says Jaana Puukka, rapporteur of the Review panel and independent expert on higher education and innovation policy. She also stresses the importance of developing a dynamic, attractive and professionally oriented higher education sector. “A knowledge society requires diverse skills that universities of applied sciences can provide,” she says.

Designing and implementing these reforms successfully will require continuous and consistent efforts, notes the Peer Review report. “Reforming education is a long-term process,” says Ms Puukka, “but it is important for Poland to tackle this in order to unleash the full potential of their higher education institutions. Currently Poland struggles in three key measures: internationally excellent science, international research collaboration, and international mobility and talent attraction.”

The full final report of the PSF Peer Review of Poland’s higher education and science system is available at (PDF, 3.3MB):

https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/report/PSF-Peer_review_Poland__FINAL%20REPORT.pdf

For more information on the PSF Peer Review of Poland’s higher education and science system, please see:

https://rio.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/policy-support-facility/peer-review-polish-higher-education-and-science-system