Ladies and Gentlemen,
Academics working at public university schools in the city of Poznań,
The academic community in public university schools in Poznań has been conducting work for some time aimed at greater integration of these university schools in order to improve the quality of our research activities, artistic activities and teaching.
Preparatory work towards establishing a federation of all 8 university public schools is an important element of the process of future integration. The consolidation of university schools and the creation of federations of research or academic units is nothing new to the academic world, particularly in countries characterized by the dispersion of the scientific potential, for instance in France. However, it would be wrong to interpret consolidation as a synonym of federalization, since contrary to federalization, the latter means an association of independent entities.
Our work is based on resolutions adopted by the majority of the senates of public university schools in Poznań expressing the will of the schools they represent to increase cooperation and take action aimed at the creation of a federation of public university schools in Poznań. The resolution was adopted at the end of the previous term of office and the newly elected rectors of the public university schools in Poznań endorsed the adopted resolutions and signed a letter of intent on October 1st, 2021 in which they expressed their will to continue intensive work towards developing an agreement, on the basis of which the federation composed of the said 8 eight university schools could be created.
According to the Law on Higher Education and Science of July 20th, 2018, university schools may create federations, mainly in order to conduct joint research. When a federation of university schools is created, members of the federation continue functioning as independent institutions, maintain their status, have their own legal personality, individual university bodies, their independent budget and university structure. A federation is created in order to conduct joint activities, i.e. in particular to conduct research and Ph.D. programs, confer degrees in arts and ensure the commercialization of research results.
It is clear that the creation of the federation does not lead to the loss of the particular individual university schools’ identity and accomplishments, neither does it mean any deep employment reorganization resulting in collective redundancies. Students continue attending their classes in their respective schools in the same locations.
It should be emphasized that currently Poznań is the first and only city in the country where a federation composed of all public university schools in the city is about to be created. When created, the federation will become the largest institution of higher learning in Poland having a significant potential in conferring degrees in sciences and arts and it will in fact implement the European Strategy for Universities Project. At the same time, it will open opportunities for the academic community in Poznań to play a significant role on the international arena.
The College of Rectors of university schools in Poznań have created the Council for the Integration of the Academic Community in Poznań. Its role is to prepare analyses relating to the creation of the said federation and to prepare appropriate documents and plans (https://krmp.edu.pl/federalizacja/rada/). The Council has formed interinstitutional teams which perform a variety of analyses concerning;
- possibilities of creating interinstitutional councils for scientific fields (in the case of fields requiring the evaluation in more than one institution) where they are responsible for conferring degrees and for the quality of research conducted in the particular field,
- operations of Ph.D. schools,
- joint scientific information systems,
- rank in international university ranking systems.
SWOT analysis for the federation and the federation’s articles of association are being prepared. The initial results of these activities indicate that there are no factors making it impossible to create the federation. On the contrary, it is emphasized that the creation of the federation will open a new framework within which the quality of research activities might improve considerably.
It goes beyond any doubt that the currently initiated process of the evaluation of scientific fields will impact the details and the schedule of activities aimed at the integration of the academic community in Poznań. Results of the evaluation should be available this academic year but before they are available a number of our plans will have taken a concrete form.
Acting on behalf of the Distinguished Rectors of our university schools, the Council for the Integration of the Academic Community in Poznań would like to start publishing regularly information on the effects of our analyses and about the prospects of the planned process of the federalization and make it available to our academic community. A bulletin informing about the proposed rules governing the federation’s operations, effects of our work and presenting results of SWOT analyses as well as the schedule of activities relating to the process of federalization will be published. This bulletin will at the same time serve as a forum for discussions concerning all aspects of the process of federalization. Information contained in the bulletin will also be available on the website of The College of Rectors of university schools in Poznań.
We encourage you to become familiar with all information on the federalization of public university schools in Poznań and to contribute your valuable opinions to the bulletin.
Council for the Integration of the Academic Community in Poznań
Professor Jan Celichowski, Ph.D., Vice-Rector, Poznań University of Physical Education
Professor Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Ph.D., Vice-Rector, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
Professor Piotr Goliński, Ph.D., Vice-Rector, Poznań University of Life Sciences
Professor Elżbieta Gołata, Ph.D., Vice-Rector, Poznań University of Economics and Business,
Professor Karolina Komasa, Ph.D., the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts, Poznań
Professor AMU Andrzej Lesicki, Ph.D., former Rector, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
Professor Tomasz Łodygowski, Ph.D., former Rector, Poznan University of Technology
Professor Michał Nowicki, Ph.D., Poznań University of Medical Sciences
Professor Jan Pikul, Ph.D., former Rector, Poznań University of Life Sciences
Professor AM Michał Rykowski, Ph.D., the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music
Professor Wojciech Sumelka, Ph.D. Poznan University of Technology
