Description
Supervision over the distribution of public funds for doctoral students by academic institutions and the Polish Academy of Sciences and the agreements they sign with doctoral students concerning tuition for doctoral studies. The project is an answer to the need to identify and eliminate bad academic regulations, procedures and practices, being a continuation of the program Watchdog.edu.pl. The objective is to change legal position of doctoral students in Poland, to protect their rights, and to ensure their equal access to public support. The monitoring is important for several reasons: 1) it is the first controlling activity in the interest of 42 000 doctoral students in Poland, 2) many public support tools are of discretionary nature, 3) the activity concerns Polish Academy of Sciences and other institutions that so far have never been monitored. Monitored institutions will receive individual recommendations for necessary change. The report will be delivered to all interested parties.
Summary of project results
"More than 40,000 of PhD students from all across Poland may benefit from state funding scholarships. To-date, no comprehensive supervision of distribution of these funds across universities was put in place by relevant appointed institutions, while research or scientific institutes were never subject to any monitoring in this respect. Meanwhile, the monitoring of EU fund spending conducted by the Polish Student Support Fund from 2010 until 2012 revealed several hundred of irregularities in regulations and procedures applicable to distribution of scholarships at public and private universities. Long-term monitoring goals include ensuring equal access to public aid for all PhD students by safeguarding their rights in internal documents of universities, R&D institutes, and provisions of the act Higher Education Law. 111 entities were covered by monitoring. Each institution received an application for access to public information and a request for internal regulations, contracts made with PhD students, procedures of various types of scholarships and administrative decisions. Individual recommendations for changes were developed for 98 entities. Research findings were recapped in the final report distributed to all Polish universities, institutions consulting legal acts on behalf of the academic community and their supervising institutions. 32 entities made a commitment to eliminate deficiencies in their legal documents as well as applicable procedures and contract templates, while 26 entities actually met their commitments. Findings of the monitoring reveal that it's essential to launch legislative efforts in order to enhance funding vehicles for PhD courses. One of the key project results is awareness demonstrated by surveyed entities that their activities are subject to civic scrutiny. The report is a stepping stone to amendment of regulations of the Minister of Science and Higher Education and the Act Higher Education Law. Results of the project will benefit PhD students whose rights to funding from the scholarship fund are now even more warranted."
Summary of bilateral results