ІНФОРМАЦІЙНЕ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ПРОЦЕСІВ ФОРМУВАННЯ СОЦІАЛЬНОЇ ВІДПОВІДАЛЬНОСТІ ЗАКЛАДІВ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИ

The paper discusses the selected aspects related to the issues of developing social responsibility in higher education institutions. Emphasis is placed on the growing role of higher education and its evolution in modern society as a crucial element in enhancing cultural, social, economic and political development in Ukraine and as a solid foundation in building internal capacity, promoting human rights, sustainable development, democracy and justice. The study focuses on the need to adhere to the key provisions of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Higher Education (1998), in particular, to share the idea that “higher education should be viewed as a public service. The funding of higher education requires both public and private resources. The role of the state remains essential in this regard. Public support for higher education and research remains essential to ensure a balanced achievement of educational and social missions. It is argued that the slowdown in economic growth and structural transformations have increased the value of education and its social responsibility to society. The research hypothesis is the statement that social responsibility, academic freedom and autonomy have become the driving forces in increasing the demand for higher education. In this context, it is assumed that universities should maintain a reasonable balance between these components. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the need for information support of the processes of developing social responsibility in higher education institutions within the education services market. To attain the study objectives, the following research methods were employed: expert analysis of the higher education transparency; methods of assessing the key stakeholders’ involvement (students, employers and civil society) in encouraging the University social activities. The findings have identified the challenges and barriers to fostering further academic freedom and institutional autonomy, academic freedom and public-private partnership, boosting academic freedom as an ethical dimension and social responsibility, promoting academic freedom and entrepreneurship. It is argued that education – technological progress complementarity has a number of important implications for the national economic policy. The conclusions verify that the relationships between education, innovation and qualifications is the background for developing social responsibility in universities that contributes to integrating basic education and employment, lifelong learning and maintenance of professional qualifications, promoting innovation and social accountability.

On the academic freedom in the times of crisis of liberal democracy

Motivation: The crisis of liberal democracy reveals a new dimension to the dispute over the role of the university. Declining trust in elites and the growing uncertainty during the pandemic challenge the belief that the key aim of the university reform should be to subject it to the global mechanism of competition as well as to introduce modern management principles. In the American society, there is a growing belief that the higher education system in the United States is heading in the wrong direction and that universities are politically biased. Despite this, the American system inspires higher education all over the world, including Poland. Even during the pandemic, the attention of the academic community in Poland is focused on the lists of journals constituting the basis for the evaluation of universities and academics. Aim: The aim of the article is to demonstrate the threats posed by a higher education system governed by the dominant economic and political forces. The author evaluates the economic forces behind the parameterisation and ranking system, challenging the rationality of the Polish higher education reforms. The source of the arguments for academic freedom is the political economy that places economic goals in the perspective of long-term universal goals and examines the complex relationships between the economic, political and moral aspects. Results: Academic freedom is not a privilege of the academic world, but one of the foundations of the successful development of a democratic society because science and education cannot be subject to existing patterns of thinking and current economic and political forces. But modern universities are driven to act like firms in competitive market places and they are following trends set by short-term economic and politic interests. Political economy is an effective tool for analysing functioning of higher education operating in quasi-market conditions, imposed by the dominant market players and the state. Understanding the forces underlying the reform of universities requires an analysis of the processes of interpenetration of economic and political processes, which means that the paradigm of political economy is gaining importance. In view of the requirements imposed on universities, dictated by short-term interests, the most important thing is the awareness that the necessity of state financing means that no solution will guarantee autonomy, if there is no responsibility of the academic community and self-discipline of its members.

„Nihil novi”? Czyli o antecedencjach sądowej ochrony autonomii administracyjnej uczelni publicznej w Polsce

Administrative autonomy, which is the most advanced type of decentralising public administration, plays a key role in robustly safeguarding academic freedom. In the over a century-long history of the practice of the Polish regulations pertaining to the organisation and functioning of public universities, no principle of the judicial protection of the higher education institutions’ independence has been formulated — not even under the regulations of article 70 (5) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. This legislative negligence poses serious threats in the current legal situation, which only worsens in the environment that facilitates the authoritarian activities of public authorities in Poland.

On Politics in Comparative and International Higher Education

This paper draws attention to key conundrums facing researchers of comparative and international higher education in the age of post-truth and resurgent authoritarianism. The analysis focuses on three salient concerns: world class-universities and academic freedom; power brokerage in the internationalisation of higher education; and challenges of intellectual leadership – that dominated research agendas in the field. Situated at the crossroads of major arguments in the literature and observations derived from academic praxis in the three areas, the critique sets out to explain how politics have been gaining more weight in the construct of comparative and international higher education at a time when corporate elitism is on the rise and the freedoms of inquiry and communication are declining. The study warns about the failures of integrity in this context, and manifests imperatives for safeguarding academic freedom and critical research in the field.

From Scientific Communism to Political Science: The Development of the Profession in Selected Former Soviet European States

The chapter explores the trajectories of the evolution of political science (PS) in four former Soviet Socialist Republics (Estonia and Lithuania, the Republics of Moldova and Belarus) after the USSR collapse. Departing from the premise that PS is appreciated as the science of democracy, the authors claim that its identity and autonomy are particularly important. Research shows that PS in these countries started from the same impoverished basis (“scientific communism”), but it soon took diverse trajectories and currently faces specific challenges. Democracy, pro-Western geopolitical settings and the shorter period of Sovietization contributed to the faster and more sustainable development of PS in two Baltic States. However, in Estonia, political developments have led to the retrenchment of PS and to downsize of universities’ departments and study programmes. In Lithuania, political scientists are very visible in the public sphere. In Moldova, its uncertain geopolitical orientation and a series of internal political conflicts have led to the weak identity of PS and questionable prospects for its further institutionalization. In authoritarian Belarus, PS as an academic discipline exists within a hostile political environment and under a hierarchical system of governance offering practically no degree of academic freedom.