Understanding the development of technical universities in poland

Abstract

The chapter examines the past, discusses the present and speculates about the future outlook of technical universities, which perform an important though often undervalued role in Polish higher education. The study offers an interesting analysis of – undoubtedly under-researched type of higher education institutions – that have a strong organisational identity, which has been seriously challenged by turmoil arising from political and economic transformations. By doing so, it explores the historical foundation of Polish technical universities while seeking in the past answers to questions about their organisational attributes and behavior as strategic actors. The analysis shows that over the years, technical universities have proved their stability and acknowledged their loyalty to traditional modes of professional education, which remains a pivotal part of their organisational identity. However, despite historically entrenched distinctness, the demarcation line between technical universities and other higher education institutions becomes disputable. It is partly due to HE expansion, partly due to marketization of higher education and perhaps most profoundly as an unintended outcome of uniform policy measures deployed by the government. This chapter claims that paradoxically, while the traditional institutional identity of technical universities remains distinctively strong, the profile of HEIs is getting fuzzy as well as the organisational characteristics of different types of HEIs.