Minister of Science and Higher Education Barbara Kurdycka has summed up her first 100 days in Donald Tusk’s government and presented the main aims of the ministry.
Kurdycka said that world rankings show that Polish science is not at the highest level. She stressed that Polish universities have serious problems with making it to the league of the best.
She pointed out that so far, the universities have been fighting first of all to attract the highest number of students, not the best minds. Kurdycka criticized the present system of financing the universities, which pays no attention to their profile and achievements.
The minister announced that a detailed plan of reforms of the higher education sector will be presented at the end of March. She wants to introduce modern ways of management, i.e. make the sector more open to change and the staff more mobile. Another aim of the department is to increase government spending on universities, which is to boost their competitiveness. (mo)