Among 460 higher education institutions in Poland, 132 are state schools and 328 are private schools. Competition between them may stand for a better offer for students, and also translate into an increased education level. However, the fight for survival on the market may lead to some actions breaching the border set by the existing regulations. One of such mechanisms has been described in the NIK report.
Higher education system
Until recently, most state schools did not run a separate accounting records for full-time and extramural studies. Rectors could not prove if the total of the state budget funds - provided to state universities and colleges to cover full-time studies - are allocated properly. In these circumstances, there was a suspicion that a part of the money is designated to finance extramural education. That procedure helped state schools reduce their fees and win a battle for students with private schools in their area. The rectors of the latter perceived the said practice as a sign of unfair competition.
On the other hand, the rectors of state higher education schools point to the problem of disproportion in the costs of education of academic staff. A great majority of academic lecturers come from state schools. Private schools are willing to hire PhDs and professors, although they rarely add something to their academic path.
Polish universities and colleges are still low-ranked in world classifications. E.g. in the Shanghai List, they appear only between the 3rd and the 4th hundreds of evaluated schools. - But we are slowly moving forward - notes Mr. Buczyński and points out that single departments of the Warsaw School of Economics, the Warsaw University of Technology and the University of Science and Technology in Cracow start to be recognised and reach even tops of the European rankings.
