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Higher Education 11 (1982) 521-529 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands

POLAND: THE WINDOW TO HIGHER EDUCATION IN

EASTERN EUROPE?*

DON WILLIAMS University of Washington, DQ-12, Seattle 98195, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

Upheavals in Poland during 1980-1981 included proposals for some dramatic changes in its system of higher education. Taking advantage of the momentum for change created by Solidarity and using the strike weapon where necessary, academics and students produced temporary changes which in some cases represent a complete reversal of previous policies. By studying these changes one obtains a view of some of the directions socialist higher education in Eastern Europe might take if the opportunity permitted.

Contemporary descriptions of higher education in Eastern Europe fol- low a common theme (see, for instance, Muradbegovic and Perunicic, 1978; Kamiac, 1980; Kwiatkowski, 1978; Severtsev, 1976; Szczepanski, 1978). Drawing most directly from the Soviet model, these descriptions show the forging of close ties between a nation's economy and its system of higher education. Emphasis goes to scientific and technological development, in the expectation that such an emphasis will further strengthen the nation's move toward a more industrialized economy, In order to achieve these ends a min- istry of higher education engages in highly centralized planning, setting the budgets, determining admissions quotas, identifying r6search priorities, and specifying job placements for all higher institutions within national bound- aries. In order for the planning to work, tight control by the ministry is deemed vital, and that control often extends to the appointment of officials to administrative posts within the institutions. Internally the institutions

* Author's Note: The account that follows results from a sabbatical spent in Poland during the early months of 1981. It reflects the reading I did and the impressions I gained while there. Any conclusions reached are my own and should in no way reflect on the people of Poland who hosted my highly stimulating stay there.

0018-1560/82/0000-0000/$02.75 �9 1982 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company

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exist primarily to prepare students to meet national and local manpower needs and to function within a Marxist-Leninist social framework.

On reading such reports the observer is led to wonder at their surface uniformity. Does there exist behind the facade, behind the rhetoric, another story which gets closer to the preferences of the people engaged in higher education in these countries? Do academics really accept the level of central control, the lack of autonomy, that the official statements describe? If national policy permitted more public soundings of alarm, would a different account emerge? The contrast between the literature on Western European and North American higher education and that of Eastern Europe is espe- cially marked, the one critical of present practice and anticipating a future full of doom and gloom, the other praising the present and looking forward to an ever better future.

The events in Poland between the summer of 1980 and December 1981 opened the window on parts of "this other story." To be certain, Poland's economic and political turmoil during that period did not give a textbook perspective on a nation successfully applying Marxist-Leninist principles. Socialism has not worked well there in recent years. Yet, perhaps because of its difficulties, Poland permits insight into the other side of the story. It makes one wonder, in fact, if some of the changes proposed in Poland during that period might strike a harmonious chord throughout Eastern Europe, if not in the Soviet Union itself, if only the opportunity presented itself.

The Events of Summer and Fall, 1980

All the world hearkened in the summer of 1980 to the events unfolding in Poland. While much of this attention focused on the success of the work- ers, under Lech Walesa, in establishing Solidarity, pressures for change also began to build up within Polish higher education. If the dockyard workers of Gdansk could win concessions from the government, reasoned the academics, why should not the "workers" in institutions of higher education do likewise? Government and academic leaders in September thus came together to discuss the implications of this new mood. In a mid-September meeting, for instance, the Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education, Janusz Gorski, proposed new laws for higher education. These new laws would replace those put in place in the aftermath of academic unrest in 1968, laws which gave the local institutions and their leaders minimal authority over their own affairs. Gorski, a professor of economics at Lodz University, proposed that his office would draft a new law and circulate it for comment to involved parties. He also announced at this particular meeting the need to select new rectors (presidents) for the institutions and promised to make known his selections shortly (Trybuna Ludu, Sept. 13-14, 1980). At about this same

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time, however, the academic senate at Warsaw University took action which led to the removal of an unpopular, government-appointed rector and the election in his place of a new man, medievalist Henryk Samsonowicz. Gorski's acquiescence in the election of Samsonowicz, combined with the govern- ment 's recognition of a new faculty-staff organization affiliated with Solidar- ity, gave indication that further changes within Polish higher education were possible.

Polish newspapers during the autumn of 1981 continued to print com- plaints from academe. Even the official Party paper, Trybuna Ludu, made public some of these concerns. One such report quoted Stanislaw Gabrielski, chairman of the Polish Students Socialist Association (SZSP), regarding the poor quality of teaching in the nation's institutions, the neglect of young researchers, the low standards in extramural education, and the deteriorating conditions under which students lived (Trybuna Ludu, Sept. 25, 1980). Another story a few days later in the same newspaper reported complaints issued at a meeting of SZSP to the effect that Lublin's Academy of Medicine used 1950-vintage textbooks and that students throughout Polish higheredu- cation did not have sufficient involvement in the governance of their institu- tions (Trybuna Ludu, Sept. 30, 1980). Attending this latter meeting were many of the highest Party and government leaders, including Party chief Stanistaw Kania and the Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Educa- tion, Gorski.

Students in those early months of the 1980-1981 academic year had a number of other concerns which they addressed to the authorities. One con- cerned the required course in Marxist-Leninist philosophy, which the stu- dents considered poorly taught and propagandistic. In another case they called for an end to the required courses in the Russian language, asking instead for a broader range of language courses from which to choose. Stu- dents also complained that job placement for recent graduates had been slow. In the socialist systems of Eastern Europe, graduates are assured of job place- ment by the government, but in October of 1980 students complained that of 53,000 of their number who had graduated in 1980 only 31,000 had gained employment (Trybuna Ludu, Oct. 25,26, 1980).

Some considerable explanation of Trybuna Ludu's printing of stories containing student criticism lies in pressures building among the students at that time for a new national student organization. Prior to 1968 students had two separate groups, one affiliated with the Communist Party and the other separate (see, for instance, Kerr, 1961). After the 1968 unrest, however, the government merged them. Students in the autumn of 1980 sought once again to separate the two groups; but Trybuna Ludu and its Party leaders could hope, by printing the stories in question, to show that the student Party organization (SZSP) had the ear of national leaders.

If such were the strategy, it failed. Students continued to press for a

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separate organization. Early efforts were aimed at designation as a student branch of Solidarity; but, since Solidarity is a workers' organization and stu- dents were judged not to work, such an affiliation was denied them. So they pressed instead for a separate organization called the Independent Union of Students (NZS). Several strikes and several months would pass before NZS finally obtained official recognition from the Polish government. In the meantime Party leaders continued to nurture SZSP.

As the autumn term continued it became apparent that academics could gain from Minister Gorski and the government prerogatives they had lost in recent decades. Rector Samsonowicz's election at Warsaw University set a pattern for the secret-ballot election of rectors; and a committee representing the various constituencies within Polish higher education set to work writing the draft of the new law for higher education. Initiative in these two highly important domains thus moved from the ministry to the institutions.

Despite these concessions by the government, unrest continued. Stu- dents at the University of-Lodz, for example, where Minister Gorski held his faculty appointment, began a strike on January 21 which brought new pres- sures on his ministry. Taking over the university's Polish Studies Institute, the ~odz students converted it into a dormitory, arranged for food service, organized a publication called "Strike," and vowed not to leave until author- ities had responded to their concerns. Communication with other Polish institutions of higher education kept students there informed of the t~odz efforts and in some cases resulted in the movement spreading to other insti- tutions (Slowo Powszechne, 1981 ).

The demands connected with the Lodz-led strike grew in number as the days passed. The final list covered a full spectrum, not only of student con- cerns but also those of instructors and other staff members of the higher schools, not to mention the concerns of other groups in Polish society. A look at these demands opens the window on changes sought not only by Polish society in general but also more directly by Polish higher education.

Demands of the -Lodz Strikers

While the number of demands made by the students varied from day to day, those on which agreement eventually was achieved numbered 26 (Sztander Mlodych, 1981). The first demand reflected the election of Rector Samsonowicz and called for the election, not only of the rectors but also of deans and department (institute) chairpersons. It went further 10y calling for a governance process in which students, tenured professors, and non-tenured instructors and staff members would have an equal voice. Under this proce- dure collegial bodies - the university senates, the faculty councils, and the departmental (institute) councils - would consist of one-third students, one-

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third tenured professors, and one-third non-tenured instructors and staff members. University senates in the post-Stalinist days of 1956-1968 elected their rectors, and they even elected deans and department chairpersons for a short period after 1956 (Pastwa, 1978); but they had not held this privilege since those early times. Moreover, the student prop()sal of 1981, reminiscent of changes made in West Germany in the aftermath of student protests there, called for one-third membership in the collegial bodies by students and junior staff people. Such a move would have either tripled the size of the collegial bodies or taken voting privileges away from some sizable portion of senior professors then holding them. This demand alone prompted a great deal of debate.

Several other demands called for taking authority for higher education decision-making away from the Ministry and giving it to the local institutions. One required giving freedom to the faculties and the departments to deter- mine teaching programs. Another demanded student participation "in all works on legal acts of concern to higher education." Still another gave indi- vidual institutions a greater voice in distributing the money they received from the government. Another demanded that appointments to managerial posts be based on standards and opinions of university people. Finances also concerned the students, who called for an increase in the government's fund- ing of higher education (Sztander Mlodych, 1981).

Another set of demands dealt with curricular matters. In one such instance the students asked for more general education, in the form o f a compulsory course in the history of philosophy plus a group of "non-voca- tional" courses in economics, aesthetics, ethics, history of art, methodology of science, political science, psychology, and sociology from which students would select two. Another student demand called for a wider range of lan- guage courses - not only in Russian but also in English, French, German, Italian, and other tongues. And they asked that their textbooks tell the full truth concerning Poland's "latest history" (Sztander Mlodych, 1981 ).

Another particularly controversial student demand called for an end to preferential admissions to higher education based on academic performance and social origin. In the former case students who performed especially well in their secondary schools or in national competitions called Olympiads faced fewer obstacles in meeting the decidedly competitive requirements for admission to a higher institution. In the case of social origin, the Ministry reduced admissions obstacles for the sons and daughters of workers and farmers in an effort to increase the numbers of people from these social classes holding higher degrees. Students demanded that such preferences should end.

A host of other demands dealt with conditions in Poland in January and February of 1981. The Polish citizen, the students declared, had the right to express his or her opinions. Public authorities responsible for the "brutal sup-

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pression of workers' protests" in 1970 and 1976 should account for their actions. Censorship of the press and of scientific publications should end. The court system needed reform in order to insure justice. Polish people should have the right to celebrate holidays commemorating important events in Polish history. Films showing the events of 1980-1981 should be distrib- uted. Polish cultural and scientific writing, including that written abroad (works of Nobel prizewinner Czes%w Mi~osz come to mind), required better distribution. Responsible persons needed better access to small circulation printing equipment. Parliament should investigate abuses perpetrated by the militia and security forces, and universities should be considered off-bounds for these forces. Environmental protection regulations required better enforcement. Finally, the students asked that information concerning cul- tural agreements between Poland, the United States, France and other nations be made more available.

With the approach of mid-February, tension over the strike and its potential for expanding grew. Students at Warsaw University and a number of other institutions returned from midwinter vacations at this time and gave their attention to the -Eodz strike. At about this same time the new Polish prime minister, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, asked, however, ~'or an end to strikes and other forms of social unrest, and national Solidarity leaders agreed to his request. The student move toward a wider strike conflicted, therefore, with the policy both of the government and of the workers' organization.

Nevertheless, students at Warsaw University and a number of other insti- tutions voted in mid-February to join the -Eodz strike. Thus on the morning of February 17, people entering the flag-bedecked main gates to Warsaw Uni- versity, for example, received leaflets explaining the students' decision and found small groups everywhere discussing the strike. The next morning the gates were closed, and only people holding identification as bona fide Univer- sity personnel were permitted inside. Instructors continued to offer their courses, however; and one, who gave an examination on the 18th, had almost perfect attendance.

On the evening of February 18, members of the Inter-University Coor- dinating Commission, which represented the students, and Minister Gorski signed an agreement ending the 29-day-old strike. This action occurred in -Eodz, but it had immediate effect nationally. With most of the student demands Gorski registered his agreement. In some cases he indicated that his ministry had no authority over the matter but that other officials had already begun working on the changes students sought. In a few cases, such as the recognition of NSZ, the Minister exacted some conditions of his own. Future student strikes could occur, according to the agreement, only if half of the students affected voted to do so. No longer could smaller groups claiming to represent all students call a strike on behalf of their colleagues. The agree- ment between the Ministry and the students closed with a ringing call for

"the principle of Weltanschauung," an "openness in teaching, and social activity (Sztander Mlodych, 1981 ).

scientific

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research,

Drafting a New Law for Higher Education

With resolution of the student strike, efforts moved forward to com- plete writing the new law for higher education. The contents of the new law reflected the agreements that had been reached since the previous September, including the agreements with the students in February. While several groups, including academics in Solidarity, prepared drafts of the new law, that which went to the Polish parliament in March of 1981 represented most directly the work of the Codifying Commission for the Resolution on Higher Educa- tion. Chaired by a former chief justice of the Polish supreme court and pro- fessor of law at Warsaw University, the commission consisted of representa- tives of the important constituencies within Polish higher education.

The most striking feature of the proposed new law was the almost total reversal of the flow of authority. This flow - which had previously come down from the Ministry to the rector's office and from that office to posi- tions within the institution - now took a 180-degree turn. Institute directors (departmental chairpersons) were to be elected by secret ballot of the insti- tute council. Deans, by the same token, were to be elected by the faculty council and rectors by the academic senate. Whether, as the students sought, these collegial bodies would consist of one-third tenured professors, one-third students, and one-third untenured instructors and staff members was not, however, resolved by the proposed new law. Such a structure was left for individual institutions to develop, should they so choose.

At the national level the Supreme Council of Science, Technology, and Higher Education, an advisory body to the ministry of that name, underwent reorganization under the new law, making the council more representative of Polish higher education in general. Henceforth its members would be elected, each by their particular constituency. Members of the commission writing the new law went so far as to consider seriously the election of the minister by the newly reconstituted council, but they stepped back from that pro- posal. Such a move, even in those times of dramatic change, proved too radi- cal to propose.

Minister Gorski received the draft of the new law in March. Endorsing it heartily, he forwarded it to Parliament for final action. Observers anticipated that Parliament would act on the law prior to the start of the new academic year in October of 1981.

During the summer of 1981, however, Dr. Gorski was removed from his position. Weakened by the positions he had taken during negotiations of the previous year, he became a ready target for the purge of government leaders

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that occurred during those months. Stories coming from Poland in late sum- mer indicated that his successor, Jerzy Nawrocki, had second thoughts about the draft of the law which his predecessor had so readily forwarded to Parlia- ment. Nawrocki had begun changing items without giving academics adequate time to respond to his changes.

Nor did Parliament move with dispatch to approve the new law. October classes began and still the new law awaited action. Impatient over the govern- ment's inaction and concerned with the changes Nawrocki had begun making, students and others returned to the strategies of the previous year. Meanwhile students at the polytechnical institute in Radom began a strike aimed at removing an unpopular rector there. Several of these strikes were still under- way when the government declared martial law on December 13.

The End of Autonomy

The action taken by General Jaruzelski on December 13 put an end, at least for the time being, to the efforts to democratize Polish higher educa- tion. Fragmentary reports arriving in the West in subsequent months indicate t h a t the universities had been closed and would not reopen until after February 15, the proposed newlaw on higher education had been set aside, many intellectuals had been arrested, Minister Nawrocki had resigned, and the new students' organization, NZS, had been disbanded. Dissidents not arrested had apparently gone underground, and no one knew for certain who had been arrested and who had gone into hiding.

The Solidarity movement and its counterpart in Polish higher education had sought a broader participation outside the ministries of government in the decisions affecting the people. Those ministries had made disastrous deci- sions during the seventies, and some people within them were found to be corrupt. The effort to control planning from within central government had not worked well. The Polish people had evidence of that fact all around them during 1980-1981. So they tried to change the process, to democratize it. But they failed.

The fact remains, however, that during this period of change and tumult the rest of the world saw through the window into Eastern Europe. We saw there an alternative to the kind of centralized control so much a feature of higher education in those countries. We saw academics reaching out for prerog- atives enjoyed by their counterparts in the Western world, prerogatives which give them a voice in the affairs of their institutions and in the relations of those institutions to civil government. To be sure, the window has closed again; but Polish history and the dynamics of dialectical materialism suggest that the kinds of changes sought during 1980-1981 will be promoted again at some future date. For the sake of academics in that part of the world, one has to hope that the next effort will be more successful.

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References

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