Not with a bang but with a whimper

Abstract

The habilitation degree in Poland ends not with a bang but with a whimper: in spite of grandiloquent announcements from Minister Czarnek about restoring its due prestige and role, the increase in the number of schools entitled to grant habilitation leads to a hyperinflation of this degree, and in the long run – to its demise. In our article, we are discussing briefly the pros and cons of habilitation system, the status quo after most recent reforms, the quantitative analysis of the numbers of schools receiving the habilitation granting rights, and the consequences of the change. We end with a short description of possible scenarios of the current crisis.