Description
The aim of the public scrutiny is to verify the widespread opinion that competitions in Polish academic institutions are unfair. Irregularities in this field are more and more commonly reported by both academic circles and journalists. Monitoring will cover recruitment procedures for academic teacher jobs in 55 organisational units of universities. Monitored units will receive individual reports on their competition procedures. We will examine the role of public institutions that fail or have no means to effectively eliminate irregularities. Recommendations for other units with potential similar problems will be prepared. For more than a year, FPS has intensified its efforts to develop its institutional basis; the final stage of the process will be “Watchdog.Edu.Pl Academy" - integrated series of stationary trainings and “webinaries" to enhance competencies of the existing team and new members. The Academy will focus on watchdog activities and educational problems.
Summary of project results
Employment for academic posts is regulated by an act of law and internal university regulations. In Poland, 87 thousand academic teachers are employed. The number of academic posts has gradually decreased (in recent years by 13 percent), so competition for well-paid university posts intensifies. In the higher education system competitions are not a good solution: they hamper mobility of Polish academic scientists rather than to increase transparency of staff policies at the universities and to motivate distinguished scientists to participate in the recruitment processes. The main aim of the project was to initiate systemic changes in recruitment of academic teachers. The project revealed the scale of the problem and the most controversial practices at the universities. The irregularities in organising recruitment competitions were brought to the attention of media and the key academic institutions, and thus a strong stimulus for systemic change was created. Under the project, internal regulations and implementation of the provisions of the act of law were analysed at 55 universities. 615 errors were identified in a sample of 492 competition procedures. 49 sets of recommendations for individual universities were prepared that led to amending internal regulations or practices at 11 universities. Six court cases were started in administrative courts of law that should show to what extent staff policies of universities can be seen as public information. 14 texts were prepared and included in a 190-page report, presenting the diagnosis of the problem of unfair competitions organised at the universities. It was forwarded to 458 universities and other institutions, and 855 Internet users. Recommendations on legal amendments were sent to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and other bodies in the higher education sector (e.g. PKA, KEJN, RGNiSW), and to parliamentary committees. The project was commented in nationwide papers and electronic media.
Summary of bilateral results