The emergence and growth of private higher education in Poland has been widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the country's transformation in the 1990s. Now, however, the sector is endangered - not only due to great demographic pressure, but also to unfair treatment of private institutions by the state.
Since the demise of one-party Communist rule in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union nearly a decade ago, hundreds of private higher-education institutions have been established across the region. In some countries, including Poland and Romania, they now account for a quarter of all postsecondary enrollment.
The emergence and growth of private higher education in Poland has been widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the country's transformation in the 1990s. Now, however, the sector is endangered - not only due to great demographic pressure, but also to unfair treatment of private institutions by the state. These issues dominated celebrations of the 20th anniversary of private higher education in Poland last month.
The stairwell leading to the Institute of Journalism at the University of Warsaw is poorly lit and gloomy. The corridors give way to bare lecture halls, colored only by the aging yellow...