The Consequences of the ‘Shock Therapy’ for Science and Higher Education
Project activities were divided into three stages, which reflect the main questions driving the study.
1. Scientific excellence as legitimization of austerity policies.
What discourses on science and higher education accompanied the introduction of ‘shock therapy’ in Poland?
Research in this area focused on tracing the discourse of ‘scientific excellence’ which emerged in the early 1990s. The specially created corpus of documents consisted of ‘grey literature’ (reports, studies, expert opinions), as well as records of parliamentary discussions, including meetings within specific committees devoted to science and higher education. Those were then confronted with the finally adopted versions of pertinent regulations and laws. Transcripts, minutes, and other historical documents generated during the creation of subsequent legal acts were also collected to supplement official documents. During analysis, documents were treated as processes, with focus on the dynamics of discourse being created as a result of dialogue and negotiation between main actors representing conflicting interests. A critical discourse analysis was conducted to investigate what becomes highlighted and what becomes hidden within the discursive field of Polish higher education policy.
2. Student life infrastructure: dormitories, canteens, student clubs.
What were the consequences of ‘shock therapy’ for the nature and dynamics of the massification of higher education in Poland?
The archival political documents included in the aforementioned corpus were examined to identify the changing discourses around indirect financial support for students (the existence of dormitories, canteens, student clubs). Additionally, another component of this part of the study was to analyze modifications to the infrastructure of indirect material support at the institutional level in six selected universities (public universities and polytechnics) from three academic cities (Warsaw, Poznań, Łódź).
3. Student and academic protests against the austerity policies of the 1990s.
What problems did the student and academic community raise in the protests against ‘shock therapy’ in science and higher education?
As a result of this part, a map of student and academic protests in Poland in 1989-1999 was created. Due to the fact that no systematic sources of data on academic protests exist, the research team put together a database covering the 1989-1999 period and developed in-depth case studies of selected protests that occurred during the decade.
OUTPUTS FROM THE PROJECT
The first analytical report from the project entitled Narodziny doskonałości z ducha terapii szokowej (The Birth of the Discourse of Scientific Excellence From The Spirit of Shock Therapy) was published on November 24, 2025.
Shortly after publication, on November 27, 2025, a press conference regarding the report was organized in cooperation with the Narutowicz Institute in Warsaw. Among the attendees were the authors (dr Jakub Krzeski, Olga Łojewska, dr hab. Krystian Szadkowski), as well as prof. UAM dr hab. Emanuel Kulczycki and dr hab. Jan Sowa. The Deputy Minister of Science Karolina Zioło-Pużuk was also present and opened the conference.
During the meeting, key research results were presented on the impact of the austerity policy and 1990s shock therapy on the shape of the modern science system in Poland. The discussion also touched upon the identified discursive practices which concerned the issue of science and higher education and which accompanied the transformation process. The main focus was on reconstructing the genealogy of the discourse of scientific excellence as a tool for legitimizing the policy of scarcity and competition in conditions of extreme, systemic underfunding.
After publication, the report was discussed on various Polish public platforms, such as:
- Forum Akademickie (as well as the monthly Forum Akademickie).
- Nauka w Polsce.
- Gazeta Wyborcza, where an interview with the authors of the report was conducted by Alicja Gardulska.
- TOK FM, where the editor Jakub Janiszewski conducted an extensive interview with dr hab. Krystian Szadkowski in the program Dłuższa rozmowa.
- podcast Inny Świat, hosted by Paweł Mościcki, who devoted the 1.5-hour episode Doskonałość naukowa jako źródło cierpień (Scientific excellence as a source of suffering) entirely to the issues discussed in the report.
- Życie Uniwersyteckie published the interview Najpierw pieniądze, później reformy (First money, then reforms) with the authors of the report, by Ewa Konarzewska-Michalak.
- Pogawędnik filozoficzny published the episode O narodzinach dyskursu doskonałości naukowej (On the birth of the discourse of scientific excellence), hosted by Marcin Zdręka, with dr Jakub Krzeski appearing in the podcast.
The authors of the report had the opportunity to discuss its content also during meetings with researchers and students, in both more and less academic settings:
- March 6, 2026 – dr Jakub Krzeski with dr hab. Krystian Szadkowski participated in the meeting Jak neoliberalna transformacja ukształtowała obecny uniwersytet? (How did the neoliberal transformation shape the current university?) as part of the series titled Alternatywy dla kapitalizmu (Alternatives to capitalism) organized by a student initiative of Otwarty Uniwersytet im. Karola Modzelewskiego (Uniwersytet Warszawski).
- March 11, 2026 – dr hab. Krystian Szadkowski presented the report results during a webinar organized by Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne (the Polish Sociological Association) and conducted by prof. Tomasz Zarycki.
- March 20, 2026 – dr hab. Krystian Szadkowski took part in the 7th Sympozjum Ministerialnego Forum Debaty Akademickiej (Symposium of the Ministerial Forum for Academic Debate) titled: Dyskurs o doskonałości. Dekonstrukcja krytyczna (Discourse on excellence. Critical deconstruction), where he discussed the implications of the study’s results for the current state of science policy. Link to the program. Report from the event in Forum Akademickie.
- April 22, 2026 – dr Jakub Krzeski took part in a discussion at the invitation of Związek Zawodowy Inicjatywa Pracownicza UMK (the Nicolaus Copernicus University Employee Initiative Trade Union).