Doctors as university professors – statutory solutions and practice in selected public universities

Abstract

This article aims to assess how the provisions of the Act of 20 July 2018 – Law on Higher Education and Science have been reflected in the statutes of public HEIs. Studies have already been written on the implementation of the provisions enshrined in the Law on Higher Education and Science, but they mainly referred to the largest Polish public universities. The results of this work made the author verify how the law was implemented in smaller entities, where informal institutions are more important in the process of managing the institution and developing the university mandatory regulations. This article presents the solutions regarding the promotion policy in the selected universities, and the effects thereof. Particular attention was paid to the provisions of Law on Higher Education and Science enabling persons with a doctoral degree to hold the position of university professor.

The analysis of statutes at the selected universities proved a huge diversity in their approach to the issue of promotion of persons holding PhDs to the positions of university professors. The most laconically described conditions, the fulfilment of which is necessary to be for employed as a university professor, which boil down to those enshrined in the Law on Higher Education and Science include: „significant scientific, artistic, educational and professional achievements (depending on the group of employees), as well as detailed descriptions of the terms and conditions of employment, so extensive that they constitute multi-page annexes to the statutes. Hence the attempt to assess the level of univer- sity openness, or – little openness, to the possibility of promoting people with a doctoral degree to the position of university professor.

The assessment of the effects of solutions adopted in various universities was carried out based on a qualitative study on a sample of 17 public universities. The study was conducted with the use of NVivo 12 Plus program.