Panel: „Uniwersytet w środowisku lokalnym i globalnym”.

Abstract

The panel discussion “The University in Local and Global Contexts” was the second part of the first day of the Conference “The Role and Status of the University in the 21st Century,” which took place from 5 to 6 October, 2018, at the University of Białystok. The main rationale behind organizing the discussion was to enable an exchange of opinions, arguments, and experiences concerning the local context of the university sensu largo and the mutual relations between the university and the local community (including the local and the regional authorities). The participants expressed their opinions about the changing role of the university in global and local contexts, and also in view of the imminent reform of the higher education in Poland. The panel organizers invited a number of notable participants: Professor Robert Ciborowski, Rector of the University of Białystok; Bohdan Paszkowski, Voivode of Podlasie; Professor Marcin Moniuszko, Prorector of Medical University in Białystok; Professor Jarosław Perszko, Prorector of Białystok University of Technology; Bogdan Dyjuk, member of the board of the Podlasie Voivodship; Waldemar Pawłowski, Cabinet Director for President of Białystok; and Jolanta Gadek, Director of the Książnica Podlaska Library in Białystok. The debate was chaired by Lech Pilarski, Polish Radio Białystok. The audience comprised conference participants, students and university staff members. The panel discussion opened with general remarks about the significance of the university for the local community and about the needs of the region that should be satisfied by local institutions of higher education. Later, the participants expressed their opinions about the role of academia in a non-academic context and shared with the audience their own understanding of what the university of the 21st century should be like. In conclusion of this part of the panel discussion Professor Moinuszko pointed to the fact that universities, in fact, create the needs of local communities, Professor Ławski remarked that a great potential hidden in the local specificity of the region has not been properly used so far, and Jolanta Gadek emphasized the university’s role in shaping the local culture. The representatives of the local authorities referred to the problem of investing in research activities. Professor Ciborowski quoted the words of Jacques Le Goff, and Waldemar Pawłowski resorted to the words of Kazimierz Wielki. In the following part of the panel discussion Lech Pilarski allowed for questions from the audience, which referred mainly to the problems and needs of students, researchers and academic teachers. The list of discussion participants includes: Professor Maciej Karczewski (the Institute of History and Political Science, the University of Białystok), Professor Alicja Kisielewska (the Institute of Cultural and Art Studies, the University of Białystok), Professor Jan Cieśliński (the Research Unit in Nonlinear Physics, the University of Białystok), Professor Lucyna Aleksandrowicz-Pędich (the Chair in English Studies, the University SWPS in Warsaw), Professor Stanisław Kistryn (the Jagiellonian University in Cracow), Professor Violetta Wejs-Milewska (the Chair in Interdisciplinary Philological Studies, the University of Białystok), Professor Izabela Święcicka (Prorector of the University of Białystok). A number of students and PhD students contributed to the discussion: Andrzej Kluczkowski (the Catholic University of Lublin), Urszula Lipato (the University of Białystok), and Edgar Filip Różycki (the University of Białystok). Understandably enough, one of the most important issues discussed during the debate was the reform of higher education in Poland. Once the scholars had expressed their opinions, arguments and doubts concerning the project of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the representatives of the local authorities in Białystok were asked to share their views on the problem at hand. Finally, Lech Pilarski asked all the participants of the panel discussion whether in their opinion it was possible to create one big institution of higher education in Białystok. The participants’ voices were divided. The panel discussion gave an excellent opportunity to voice various opinions about the status of the contemporary university sensu largo, and about perspectives of its development in the future. The whole spectrum of the recalled experiences combined with the professional knowledge of the participants turned the meeting into a truly inspiring event, which undoubtedly enriched the ongoing Conference.