2021 ISSN: 0258-2724 DOI：10.35741/issn.0258-2724.56.1.17 Review article Education 波兰的高级博士学位及其对波兰高等教育和科学发展的启示 Nguyen Minh Ngoc a , Nguyen Hoang Tien b, * , a Ho Chi Minh City Univer
Trang 1西 南 交 通 大 学 学 报
第 56 卷 第 1 期
Vol 56 No 1 Feb 2021
ISSN: 0258-2724 DOI：10.35741/issn.0258-2724.56.1.17
Review article
Education
波兰的高级博士学位及其对波兰高等教育和科学发展的启示
Nguyen Minh Ngoc a , Nguyen Hoang Tien b, * ,
a
Ho Chi Minh City University of Finance and Marketing
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, nmngoc@ufm.edu.vn
b
Saigon International University
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, vietnameu@gmail.com
Received: November 26, 2020 ▪ Review: December 23, 2020 ▪ Accepted: January 22, 2021 This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 )
Abstract
This article reveals the specificity of the Polish higher education system with a higher doctorate (doctor of science) as an obligatory stage of individual scientific career development in a contrary to most European countries where this title exists The article presents the current state of Polish science, questioning the usefulness and the raison d'être of this title and showing the impact of its existence on the perspective of Polish higher education and Polish scientific development
Keywords:habilitation, higher doctorate, doctor of science, Poland
学职业发展的强制性阶段，这与存在该名称的大多数欧洲国家相反。 本文介绍了波兰科学的现
状，质疑该标题的实用性和存在的理由，并说明了其存在对波兰高等教育和波兰科学发展的影
响。
This article presents the unique higher
education system in Poland, including four
education levels: bachelor’s degree, master's
degree, doctorate, higher doctorate (doctor of
science, doctor with habilitation) Meanwhile, in
most countries globally, the higher education system has only three levels: undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate (doctorate) The question is whether this four-tier higher education system is good for Poland as in the opinion of the lecturers and scientists of this
Trang 2country or should it be streamlined to follow the
higher education trend of Western countries and
the world, including up to three levels:
undergraduate, graduate (optional) and doctorate
In the process of higher education reforms
towards larger autonomy in Poland, which
direction is appropriate for Polish universities to
choose? [29, 30] Is this a solution to effectively
develop human resources in universities, promote
academic reputation and brand, gradually
approach the Western standard of education,
improve the output quality of students to compete
in the European common labor market towards
the overarching goal of sustainable development
of the entire higher education system in the
context of international, European integration and
the fourth industrial revolution? [25, 26, 27, 28,
31, 32, 33]
This article examines the history of the higher
doctorate in some European countries and
focuses specifically on Poland, the role of the
higher doctorate in the Polish higher education
system in the context of its development history,
implemented reforms to simplify this four-level
higher education system, or in other words, to
remove or disable the higher doctorate institution
so that young scientists have more opportunities
to shorten education process, develop and
maximize their potential and capacity
In addition to the secondary studies
mentioned above, the authors also conduct some
related primary studies Two members of the
author staff have studied and graduated with a
doctorate in Poland, so they have much
experience Today, in the context of the Internet
boom and the fourth industrial revolution, for
universities, university lecturers, and scientists,
the level of citations to the research works
published has a very important meaning,
demonstrating his or her prestige and personal
influence Related to the citations is the H-index
(and other indexes) that partly speak objectively
about scientists' influence over time Based on
these indicators, the authors compare the top
Polish economic universities with leading Polish
technical universities; As next, we compare
Poland's top universities of economics with the
leading economic universities in Europe and the
world Since then, the authors give comments
and recommendations for the economic
universities on whether to reform or abandon
higher doctorate so that these universities can
approach the world's level of science and
development
A Higher Doctorate in Europe
The word "habilitation" comes from the Latin habilitas (dexterity) In academic practice, it means acquiring broadly understood qualifications, including obtaining the right to conduct lectures Higher doctorate does not currently exist in many countries or is of limited importance for a research career However, higher doctorate functions not only in Poland The postdoctoral degree (or its functional equivalent) also exists in countries such as France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain (to be abolished in 2008), the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, Russia, and other countries established after the collapse
of the USSR (including Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Ukraine) In Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other post-Soviet countries, the equivalent of
a higher doctorate is obtaining the degree of a doctor of science (Russian: дoктop наук) The condition is to obtain an earlier academic degree
of a candidate of sciences (the equivalent of a Polish doctor), appropriate scientific achievements, completion of special studies called doctoral studies, and higher doctorate thesis defense The next stages of a scientific career in Russia are nominations for subsequent scientific titles: associate professor (senior researcher), professor, correspondent member, academician [19]
In contrast, the Anglo-Saxon model does not envisage such a degree between contractual professorship and doctorate Nevertheless, there are so-called higher doctorates in Great Britain and Ireland, similar to the Polish degree of habilitated doctor However, this is not a mandatory stage in a scientific career They are rarely awarded and mainly concern doctors who have not passed the appropriate stages of their academic career and need confirmation of their achievements At many universities in Great Britain, the equivalent of a higher doctorate has
an honorary meaning There are two doctoral degrees in life sciences: lower, Ph.D (doctor of philosophy), and higher, D.Sc (doctor of sciences) Some of the British higher doctorates have lost their importance as a determinant of an academic career, but they are still prestigious at the oldest universities, e.g., during university ceremonies
There is no higher doctorate in the USA However, to obtain a job at a university, a candidate usually needs to demonstrate at least two years of postdoctoral fellowship and scientific achievements in the form of several to several dozen scientific publications depending
on the prestige of the university, the scientific
Trang 3discipline involved, and the prestige of the
journals in which the publications appear
Academic teaching experience in the US is
welcome to become a university professor It is
common practice to hire an assistant professor,
which does not guarantee a permanent job, and
after 6-7 years, to conduct formal and strict
verification, as a result of which candidate can
obtain a full professor position Sometimes an
intermediate position between assistant professor
and professor is associate professor, who is not
treated as a full professor, and usually, there is no
guarantee of employment, i.e., tenure The tenure
system has also been adopted in Canada and
Australia It refers to positions such as professor
and associate professor
On the other hand, the assistant professor has
yet to demonstrate his scientific activity
supported by publications, teaching, and
administrative skills However, the American
system forces candidates to work and limits the
number of years they can work as an assistant
professor On the other hand, positions are
offered that are not time-limited, e.g., adjunct
professor, research professor Universities attach
great importance to assigning tenure positions,
expecting the candidate to be highly active and
productive in research, teaching, and
administration In the USA, Ph.D is the highest
academic degree and is an independent scientist
with the right to conduct doctoral theses
independently [22] On the other hand, Assistant
Profesor, Associate Professor, Adjunct Professor,
or (Full) Professor, and Research Professor are
the names of academic positions assigned for the
duration of their occupation at a given university
(however, in the USA, most scientific careers are
pursued at one university, compulsorily different
from the one for which the doctorate was
obtained) A retired (Full) Professor usually,
when leaving the university, obtains the honorary
position of Professor Emeritus The nature of the
tenure review (formal assessment of an assistant
professor's achievements before deciding on
further promotion and employment for an
indefinite period) resembles Polish regulations on
a higher doctorate The tenure system has also
been adopted in Australia and Canada
B Higher Doctorate in Poland
Under the Act of March 14, 2003, on
academic degrees and the academic title as well
as on degrees and title in the field of art, with the
supplement of 2005 (Journal of Laws of 2003,
No 65, item 595; Journal of Laws of 2003, No
65, item 595; U of 2005, No 164, item 1365),
the degree is awarded through a habilitation
process, to which a person who has a doctoral degree and has achieved significant scientific achievements and has presented a higher doctorate thesis, may be admitted [10] The habilitation process consists of: (1) initiating the habilitation process; (2) admission to the higher doctorate colloquium based on the opinions of designated reviewers (who evaluate the scientific achievements to date and the higher doctorate thesis itself); (3) acceptance of the higher doctorate colloquium (consisting in passing the answers to the questions asked in the field of science represented by the postdoctoral researcher and presenting the higher doctorate lecture at an appropriate level; unlike the doctorate, it is not public) [2, 3, 4, 5] Since 2006, the award of the degree of habilitated doctor has been modified The Faculty Council of the unit conducting the procedure appoints two reviewers, the Central Commission for Degrees and Titles also two; all are called openly The higher doctorate colloquium ends with the award of the degree of habilitated doctor No committee approval is required to earn the degree Only those scientific institutions (usually, faculties of academic universities and some scientific institutes) have the right to award the degrees of habilitated doctors, which guarantees a sufficiently high substantive level of conducting the habilitation stages process in a given field [22]
The tradition of awarding a higher doctorate,
an intermediate degree between a doctor and a professor as an academic position, was established at Prussian universities at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries However, unlike a professor, an associate professor (the title obtained as a result of habilitation) did not have the right to his own chair Higher doctorate and associate professor's associated title became popular in the 19th century in Germany, especially in medicine, because the rapid development of higher education meant that more and more people had to give lectures, and giving them the title of professor required costly funding
of new departments In Poland, it was similar until World War II, i.e., the higher doctorate allowed for lectures without the right to a chair
At the same time, there was no higher doctorate, but there was an associate professor as a result of habilitation
In Poland, until 1951, a higher doctorate was treated as a right to teach at a given university In
1951, the Soviet system was introduced The faculty councils were deprived of the right to independently confer higher doctorate concerning their lecturers According to Soviet terminology,
Trang 4the degrees of "candidate of sciences" and
"doctor of sciences" were introduced In 1958, as
part of the "thaw" after 1956, the Solomonic
solution was introduced The structure of
academic degrees was retained, modeled on the
Soviet one, but given names in line with the
Polish tradition Therefore, the degree of
candidate of science came to be referred to as the
degree of doctor, and the degree of doctor of
science as the degree of habilitated doctor The
title of associate professor was also restored in
place of the deputy professor for whom the
procedure of traditional habilitation was followed,
as a result of the desire to eliminate vacancies
after leaving or removing from the university
many professors and associate professors
(academic titles) after the events of March 1968,
as well as to pay party academics and increase
the political correctness of teaching, a new
academic post of an associate professor was
introduced (not to be confused with the existing
title associate professor obtained as a result of
habilitation), also available to doctors [15]
1) What was the Higher Doctorate for?
The point is that it will not be possible to
quickly liquidate the higher doctorate, among
others, because the level of doctorates obtained
has dropped significantly (at some universities)
Hence, the higher doctorate is the last barrier that
makes it possible to stop works and employees of
not the highest quality This is not a good
situation because young scientists should obtain
higher doctorate before 30 and professorship
before 40 If the higher doctorate were to be seen
only as such a barrier, then it would only be a
plaster with which we try to seal the wound
After all, the role of a higher doctorate should not
be to repair what has been broken in doctorates
So what could a postdoctoral degree, which
should be obtained before the age of 30? Let us
take a look at why the higher doctorate was
introduced For example, when the Act of March
15, 1933 on Academic Schools was in force, the
higher doctorate was defined in the part of the
Act on Teaching Staff [21]
(1) Persons who have been granted the right to
teach at an academic school (venia legendi) by
their higher doctorate receive the title of associate
professor
(2) The right to lecture is to cover all or a part
of science that may be regarded as an intrinsic
object
Art 30
(1) The higher doctorate is carried out by the
faculty council A condition for admission to
habilitation is a doctoral degree ( )
(2) The habilitation process is preceded by the assessment of the candidate's personal qualifications
(3) The habilitation process includes three acts: a) assessment of the candidate's scientific (artistic) qualifications based on the examination
of the value of their higher doctorate thesis; b) higher doctorate discussion; c) higher doctorate lecture ( )
(7) The right to lecture expires if an associate professor does not use it for two consecutive academic years ( )
(12) The right to teach, granted in one of the academic schools, may be transferred to another faculty or another school based on a resolution of the relevant faculty council
2) What is the Higher Doctorate Good for?
So what is the higher doctorate for now, if it is not directly related to the law and the obligation
to teach? The habilitation procedure is to determine whether the candidate, i.e., the postdoctoral candidate, can independently design and manage research So what really does the higher doctorate? Some will say it gives the candidates peace of mind The higher doctorate is used to separate the grain from chaff ("quality perspective") or to separate ours from non-ours ("crony perspective")
Furthermore, we can actually meet people who, after completing their higher doctorate, settled down on their laurels because they stood
on the other side of the barricade [7] From that moment on, they can be doctoral students' supervisors and sit on various bodies, committees, and councils, which is very important and useful for many The answer to what the higher doctorate is for causes many problems and gives rise to various tensions Because one has to ask: who is it good for? The main question: does the higher doctorate itself help the postdoctoral researcher to improve his technique and achievements? Because this could be expected from the process, which is to allow someone to
be called an independent scientist
With the changes that appeared after the reform in 2011 and at the end of the vacatio legis period on September 30, 2013, many questions and doubts will arise First of all: are there any criteria or requirements for a higher doctorate? Will postdoctoral candidates have to meet all the criteria listed in the Regulation of the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education of September 11, 2011, on the criteria for assessing the achievements of a person applying for the award of the postdoctoral degree, i.e [20], from October 1, 2013
Trang 5 Managing or participating in
international or national research projects;
Participation in research consortia and
networks;
Managing projects implemented in
cooperation with scientists from other Polish and
foreign centers, and in the case of applied
research in cooperation with entrepreneurs;
Scientific supervision over students and
doctors in the course of the specialization
C Pathology and an Attempt to Liquidate
Higher Doctorate in Poland
Obtaining the degree of a habilitated doctor
depends not only on scientific achievements This
is one of the conclusions drawn from the survey
conducted by people gathered around the Polish
Science Foundation It concerned the most
frequently raised problems related to the
academic environment For this purpose, five
thematic questionnaires addressed to researchers
were developed The results of one of them
concerning higher doctorate have just been
published It was completed by 1,311 people The
data shows numerous shortcomings of the
habilitation procedure Nearly 50 % of
respondents indicated that there are people who
received the degree of habilitated doctor despite
little scientific achievements in their research unit
In contrast, others were refused to grant this
degree despite much greater achievements This
state of affairs is explained by the difficulties in
identifying significant scientific achievements
Some may have many publications, but they can
contribute little to science because they duplicate
the theses contained in the previous articles It is
very difficult to evaluate the quality of the
scientific activity Doctor Joanna Gruba,
president of the Polish Science Foundation, also
points to the lack of measurable criteria for
assessing the postdoctoral researcher's
achievements Developing them is difficult but
not impossible Some respondents bluntly argue
that the more mediocre a candidate, the more
certain he will receive a postdoctoral degree
because he is not a threat to the old staff In turn,
nearly 59 % of the respondents claim that
obtaining a habilitated doctor depends not only
on scientific achievements In the Polish
scientific community, it is very often not the
value of achievements that counts, but the social
networks According to the respondents'
justifications included in the survey, scientific
advancement depends on the connections and
arrangements with representatives of university
authorities Another problem emerged from the
surveys According to as many as 86 %
responding, the postdoctoral candidate should have the right to argue with the reviewer This right is often missing today It is unacceptable that the postdoctoral candidate cannot present his
or her position Scientists should expect discussions and accept other people's opinions because only then scientific works make sense and can be improved Respondents also point out that although the reviewer should be a specialist
in a given field, he is not infallible either Some are much blunter They argue that reviews tend to
be biased, based on the reviewer's ideological beliefs, and therefore not substantive
Should we, therefore, completely abandon this academic degree? Today we have a problem with defining what the higher doctorate should be What do we need this degree for? In terms of scientific achievements, what should differ a doctor from a doctor after habilitation? Currently, the higher doctorate is rather an art for art All the more, the new law on higher education and science in Poland abolished the obligation to obtain it Although the statistics show numerous problems related to this procedure, nearly 50 % believe that this step should not be completely abolished The optional higher doctorate (introduced by Act 2.0) is a good solution, but it seems that no one will have the courage not to do
it [23]) The complete elimination of a higher doctorate or ensuring its facultative nature was postulated at the last meeting by the Council of Young Polish Scientists The Polish promotion system contains regulations that still constitute an obstacle to developing the scientific career of young scientists [24]
Maintaining or abolishing the higher doctorate
in the system of academic degrees from time to time becomes the subject of heated discussions in the scientific community in Poland and in some countries, which maintain the principle of a higher doctorate in this system The arguments of the opponents of the higher doctorate are, above all, the inconsistency of the systems of academic degrees and titles in Anglo-Saxon countries and continental Europe and the multiplication of difficulties in the development of a scientific career In previous practice, a scientist with internationally recognized achievements could not become a reviewer of a doctoral dissertation
in Poland if he or she did not have a higher doctorate However, the Act of 2011 provides for such a possibility The statements of opponents and supporters are highly polarized A higher doctorate is unnecessary in science; a higher doctorate is an archaic element that stratifies the academic community, which is of significant importance only in Poland Beyond its borders,
Trang 6which in science is determined by the results of
scientific research documented by publications
Science is becoming more and more
transnational; therefore, local academic degrees
are losing their importance [1] In turn, Dariusz
Jemielniak points to the usefulness of fore, higher
doctorate as an objective criterion for the
recognition of scientific achievements, at the
same time pointing to numerous pathologies
related to this institution resulting from cultural
conditions in Polish science [12] Proposals to
abolish higher doctorate and to introduce instead
the possibility of free awarding positions by
universities instead of the rapid emancipation of
promising assistant professors could well lead to
the appropriation of these positions by eternal
doctors, those employees who have been unable
to publish enough and well for years The higher
doctorate should also remain because it is simply
a global standard The higher doctorate is
equivalent to the position of associate professor
It is practically common in the world without
exception and has a deep meaning: it is an
intermediate stage between the first permanent
job after a doctorate and a professor's position
(Jemielniak, 2010) However, in many cases, the
higher doctorate system serves to consolidate the
privileges of professors because the regulations
on universities formally require the employment
of a certain number of habilitated doctors under
the so-called staffing minimum [14] It is a relic
and a 19th-century anachronism and one of the
key factors behind the backwardness of Polish
science [17] In 2008, a draft reform of the
system of academic degrees was prepared,
including the proposal to abolish higher doctorate
The argument for the abolition of the higher
doctorate was that only 14% of scientists obtain a
higher doctorate in Poland before reaching the
age of 40 55% hold higher doctorates between
the ages of 40 and 50, and professors'
nominations are most often awarded over 60 At
the same time, the higher doctorate system makes
it difficult to hire foreign lecturers for
professorships, even if they have the appropriate
degrees in their home countries The habilitation
procedure itself is archaic, non-transparent
(competitions are often set for a specific
candidate), lasts for many years, and is
influenced by reviewers' personal likes or dislikes
[16] As a result of protests from the scientific
community, the project was abandoned [18]
Despite the critical attitude, the higher doctorate
was maintained by the new Law on Higher
Education and Science in Poland from 2018; only
the formal powers of scientists without higher
doctorate were increased [8, 13] There is a
compromise postulate in the discussion that the higher doctorate should be optional, i.e., preserving it while withdrawing the legal privileges associated with it [13, 34]
In this article, we use a comparative approach
to investigate quantitative issues of scientific potential that universities face in the context of global trends due to the fourth industrial revolution and current development in the field of higher education set by top universities in the world By benchmarking different universities in Poland and Europe based on Google Scholar indicators such as Citations and H-index, their scientific potentials are uncovered On that basis,
a set of suitable solutions concerning higher doctorate as an academic degree or title is proposed for Polish universities The use of qualitative comparison is recommended as the study cannot carry out investigation over too many research objects for the reason of limited financial budget and time [6] Thus, we apply the rigorous selection process of research objects using very strict criteria so that finally, we compare only the most suitable objects in Poland and Europe In developing countries such as Poland, a vast preference for qualitative methods may obviously indicate difficulties in conducting thorough empirical research on a wide scale of space and time due to the cost and complexity that researchers face [9, 11] Thus, this present research is also condensed in terms of spatial (Warsaw, the capital of Poland, where the best Polish business school and university of technology are situated; London, the capital of the UK, where probably the best business school
in Europe is located) and time (November 2020) Furthermore, systemic analysis, findings synthesis, and abstraction are designated to study adequate solutions to boost Polish business universities' performance considering the issue of the functioning of a higher doctorate as an academic degree or title in the current higher education system
Within Poland, based on Google Scholar indicators, we compare the research achievements and potentials of the Warsaw School of Economics (the best, largest and oldest business school in Poland) with that of the Warsaw University of Technology (the best and oldest school of science and technology in Poland) Also, within Europe, based on Google Scholar indicators, we compare the research achievements and potentials of the Warsaw School of Economics (the best and oldest business school in Poland) and that of the
Trang 7London School of Economics, its counterpart in
London, the best-developed part of Europe In
our beliefs, the selected universities possess
long-term traditions and experiences of teaching,
conducting research, and community services in
Poland and Europe All of them are pioneering
academic institutes, technology, and business
schools educating generations of entrepreneurs,
experts, strategists, and policymakers, serving the
development cause in the era of globalization All
targeted universities represent the exactly highest
standard of teaching and research, reflecting the
current state of their orientation towards modern
assessment criteria and techniques of research
achievements and potentials
The conducted study addresses the
overarching question: ‘Is a higher doctorate as an
academic degree or title is really necessary in the
Polish higher education system, or it is just only a
barrier for scientific development in Poland,
limiting the rapprochement world and European
standards of science?’ by providing convincing
arguments for of the purpose of:
(1) Liquidatinhigher doctorate as an academic
degree or title in the field of economics and
social sciences?
(2) Making a higher doctorate as an optional
academic degree or title in the field of technology
and natural sciences?
Our research is carried out in two major steps:
A Comparison of research achievements
and potentials in selected Polish business and
technology universities
(1) Presentation and comparison of top 20
best staff’s citations
(2) Presentation and comparison of top 20
best staff’s H-index
(3) Presentation and comparison of the
percentage of staff with different citation ranges
from 0 up to 10,000
(4) Presentation and comparison of the
percentage of staff with H-index over 10
B Comparison of research achievements
and potentials in selected Polish and European
business universities
(1) Presentation and comparison of top 20
best staff’s citations
(2) Presentation and comparison of top 20
best staff’s H-index
(3) Presentation and comparison of the
percentage of staff with different citation ranges
from 0 up to 100,000
(4) Presentation and comparison of the
percentage of staff with H-index with different
ranges from over 10 up to 100
A Comparison of Research Potentials in Polish Business and Technology Universities
Table 1, containing obtained research results, leads us to the following conclusions As a country transitioning to a market-oriented economy, Polish business and economic majors are still widely taught They have not been focused on investment to improve quality to meet market demand Meanwhile, some technical and engineering majors with a long tradition affirmed prestige and brand name in Europe and worldwide have made the citation index much higher than business and economics majors We see the first place in the top 20 citations of the Warsaw School of Economics (3951) is only equal to the last place in the top 20 citations of the Warsaw University of Technology (3950) The same holds true for the top 20 H-indexes of these two schools, with H-index 23 being the highest for the Warsaw School of Economics and the lowest for the Warsaw University of Technology Furthermore, the top spot in the Warsaw University of Technology’s top 20 citations (84060) is 21 times higher than the top spot in the Warsaw School of Economics’ top 20 citations (3951); The top spot in the Warsaw University of Technology’s top 20 H-index (94)
is nearly five times higher than the top spot in the Warsaw School of Economics’ top 20 H-index (20) These are very scary things
Table 1
Top 20 citations and H-index comparison (Google Scholar website as of November 2020)
Top 20 citations
of Warsaw School of Economics
Top 20 citations of Warsaw University
of Technology
Top 20 H-index of Warsaw School of Economics
Top 20 H-index of Warsaw University
of Technology
Trang 819 1040 3972 15 30
Table 2, containing obtained research results,
leads us to the following conclusions:
- In terms of percentages quoted at levels 1 to
8 (column 1 table 2), there is no difference
between Warsaw School of Economics and
Warsaw University of Technology However,
0.8% of the Warsaw University of Technology
faculty have more than 5000 citations, while
none of the Warsaw School of Economics faculty
members achieve this level (level 9) On Google
Scholar, there is only information on citations of
332 Warsaw School of Economics lecturers and
1322 Warsaw University of Technology lecturers
Based on the teaching and education scale of the
two schools, it is found that a sizable proportion
of Warsaw School of Economics faculty
members does not set up accounts in Google
Scholar This outcome also affects the results of
comparative research between these two
institutions
- 15% of the Warsaw School of Economics
faculty and 22.7 percent of the Warsaw
University of Technology faculty have an
H-index above 10, which means that they meet
international standards for university lecturers
However, this H-index value needs to be
gradually increased over time, at least 1 point
after each year of teaching and research work at
universities coThis has not been clearly shown in
the research results
Table 2
Citations and H-index comparison (Google Scholar website
as of November 2020)
Citations Warsaw
School of Economics
Warsaw University
of Technology
School of Economics
Warsaw University
of Technology
B Comparison of Research Potentials in
Polish and European Universities
Table 3, containing obtained research results,
leads us to the following conclusions Compared
to the UK, one of the world's and Europe's
education and research powers, Poland has no
room for comparison by any means Polish economic majors are still widely taught, not focused on investment to improve quality to meet the market needs There are few international standard programs taught in English to attract students from neighboring countries and worldwide Lecturers of economic universities in Poland also rarely have international publications
in English published in prestigious scientific journals with high impact indexes We see the first place in the top 20 citations of the Warsaw School of Economics (3951) is only 1/7 of the last place in the top 20 citations of the London School of Economics (27612) The same goes for the top 20 H-indexes of these two schools, with H-index 23 being the highest for the Warsaw School of Economics and 34 being the lowest for the London School of Economics Furthermore, the top spot in the London School of Economics’ top 20 citations (20337) is 50 times higher than the top spot in the Warsaw School of Economics’ top 20 citations (3951) The top position in the London School of Economics’ top 20 H-index (134) is almost seven times higher than the top position in the top 20 H-index of the Warsaw School of Economics (20) These are very scary things showing that the level of the top two economic schools of Poland and the UK has a marked difference
Table 3
Top 20 citations and H-index comparison (Google Scholar website as of November 2020)
Top 20 citations
of Warsaw School of Economics
Top 20 citations
of London School of Economics
Top 20 H-index of Warsaw School of Economics
Top 20 H-index of London School of Economics
Table 4, containing obtained research results, leads us to the following conclusions:
Trang 9- Regarding the percentage of citations at the
levels from 1 to 8 (column 1 table 4), we see the
percentage of faculty with citation levels from 0
to 500 (levels 1 to 6) of the Warsaw School of
Economics higher compared to that of the
London School of Economics However, the
percentage of faculty with citations levels from
500 to 5000 (level 7 and 8) of the London School
of Economics is much higher than that of the
Warsaw School of Economics Over 10% of the
London School of Economics faculty have
between 5,000 and 50,000 citations, and nearly
1% have between 50,000 and 100,000 citations
In contrast, none of the Warsaw School of
Economics faculty members have achieved these
impressive numbers
- 15% of the Warsaw School of Economics
faculty members have an H-index from 11 to 25,
and about 44% of London School of Economics
faculty members have an H-index over 10 (of
which 28% from 11 to 25; 9.3% from 26 to 50;
3.5% from 51 to 100; 0.3% per 100) As usual,
this H-index value needs to be gradually
increased for lecturers and scientists over time, at
least 1 point after each year of teaching and
research work at the universities This outcome
has not been shown in the research results for the
Warsaw School of Economics, which are quite
evident for the London School of Economics
The veteran faculty members of the London
School of Economics have an increasing H-index
each year in line with the number of years they
have devoted to education
Table 4
Citations and H-index comparison (Google Scholar website
as of November 2020)
School of Economics
London School of Economics
School of Economics
London School of Economics
A Implications
The above study shows that, in Poland, universities of economics (represented by the Warsaw School of Economics) are inferior to universities of technology and engineering (represented by Warsaw University of Technology) in terms of scientific citation and international publication In part, this is because engineering and technology universities have always been the traditional and longstanding strength of Polish science even in the period of socialism and centralized planning economy As the country is still in the process of transitioning
to a market mechanism, all the economic universities with a short and fledgling history of development need to be more active in improving the quality of education, scientific research, international publications, and citations to keep
up with the development pace of Western universities During the socialist period, the Warsaw School of Economics was called the Warsaw School of Planning and Statistics This name denied the role and importance of higher education in commerce, economics, and business during this period Research done in this article shows a very wide development gap between Polish economic universities (represented by the Warsaw School of Economics) and Europe's top economic universities (represented by the London School of Economics) The question is whether this is the fault of the highly complex four-level higher education system, preventing the creativity and development freedom of scientists and young economists in this country?
Is higher doctorate, as a compulsory stage of development for academic lecturers and scientists who have PhDs, the biggest barrier preventing them from the right track of development in line with the general trend of the West and all countries around the world? This article has carefully presented the higher doctorate, the history of its establishment in Poland and European countries, its role in each scientist's career development, and the general development
of the Polish higher education system In addition, harsh comments and criticisms about a higher doctorate and its pathological manifestations from the Polish scientific circle were also raised objectively so that higher education managers and policymakers could make proper moves and follow suitable remedies to put things on the right track
B Recommendations
Trang 10The conducted study addresses the
overarching question: ‘Is a higher doctorate as an
academic degree or title really necessary in the
Polish higher education system, or is it just only a
barrier for scientific development in Poland,
limiting the rapprochement world and European
standards of science?’ by providing convincing
arguments for:
(1) Liquidating a higher doctorate as an
academic degree or title in the field of economics
and social sciences?
(2) Making a higher doctorate as an optional
academic degree or title in the field of technology
and natural sciences?
Carefully analyzing the role of a higher
doctorate, the criteria and requirements to
achieve this degree (such as having more
publications and influential scientific works
besides completing and defending the thesis for
doctor of science), we see that in Poland, after a
doctorate degree, scientists have to do another
doctoral thesis Meanwhile, in the world and
Western countries, Ph.D is the highest degree
After achieving this degree, scientists have to
continuously participate or preside over
large-scale research projects and possess high-quality
international publications published in
prestigious journals to increase their own global
citation level This fact has made Polish higher
education, especially in economic and social
sciences, go against the trend of very dynamic
development of the contemporary world It is
more dangerous when the higher education
managers and policymakers put higher doctorate
and associate professor on par because the higher
doctorate graduates who have passed two
doctorate studies (doing doctoral thesis twice),
but they may not have experiences of multiple
years of teaching and research at universities and
have not integrated into the home and
international scientific community Therefore, the
first proposal mentioned above is completely
grounded so that scientists, especially in the field
of socio-economics, after having a doctorate
degree, can focus wholeheartedly on scientific
research and applied research projects and
improve the publishing efficiency of international
publications of their own and of the institutions
where they are working Given the scientific and
technical strengths of Polish technology
universities, the second proposal is also perfectly
reasonable A higher doctorate is to be
maintained but should be optional As scientists,
they can choose to pursue or not to pursue this
degree as long as they can maximize their
potential More importantly, the comparison of
scientists should not be based on the criteria of
whether they have or not have a higher doctorate but based on experience, personal reputation, and the influence of the research works that scientists
have accumulated over the years
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article
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