SOCIOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION IN POLAND

Abstract

Purpose of research. The aim of the article is an attempt to indicate how socio-economic factors condition modern academic education in Poland. Currently, many universities and higher education institutes engaged in mass social education are losing their elite status and prestige. As a result of socio-economic transformations education is now become a contemporary ‘product’. Changing the perception of education by both younger and older generations raises the question – is contemporary education an attempt to survive?

Test method. The study uses the results of research obtained in 2011 and 2017 by the Center for Public Opinion Research on higher education, and the results of the author’s own research carried out in 2018 among students of various courses, on the basis of which an image of higher education in Poland according to public opinion is presented.

Results. On the basis of the theoretical and empirical analysis, the conditions of contemporary education and the opinion of those surveyed about education are presented. Education has become a mass product, accessible to all, losing its prestige and elitie status.

Conclusion. The theoretical analysis and analysis of the results of both the author’s own and secondary research clearly show that contemporary education is struggling with many problems which are worsening the quality and image of teaching at a higher level.