Prof. Dr. Barbara Kudrycka

Minister of Science and Higher Education in Poland

by e-mail

CC:

• Prof. Dr. Marek Bojarski, Rector of the University of Wroclaw (UWr),
• Prof. Dr. Jerzy Juchnowski, Dean of the Department of Social Science (WNS) at the UWr,
• Prof. Dr. Jacek Sroka, Director of the Institute of Political Science (IP) at the UWr,
• students who I was teaching the subject “Introduction to political science” during the summer term 2013 in the IP UWr (now second year of politcal science, group 1, 2 and 3),

by e-mail.

The letter will be published on my website at www.karolina-jankowska.eu, both in Polish and English, in order to inform the public, not only in Poland, about the problems of scientists and academic teachers in this country.

I am also planning to send it to the media in order to reach even broader parts of the society.

 Berlin, 31 October 2013

Contest for the post of an adjunct (assistant professor) in the Department of Political Systems and Administration in the IP UWr

Dear Ms Kudrycka,

I would like to kindly ask you to control whether the contests for the posts of adjuncts at the WNS UWr, as well as for the other posts for scientists and academic teachers, are being proceeded according to the existing law.

On the 9th of October the Dean of WNS announced a contest for a post of an adjunct in the Department of Political Systems and Administration in the IP UWr, in which I took part. The announcement was published on the website of the IP UWr, the Ministry of Science and Higher Edudation and the European Commission on the European internet portal for internationally mobile researchers. At the same time the “Contest Regulations” were published on the website of the IP UWr.

Based on the above mentioned regulations I won the contest reaching the highest score. I was informed about it by the Director of the IP UWr, Prof. Sroka, over the telephone on 29th of March. This day was at the same time the deadline for the decision about the contest results, as stated on the website of the IP UWr. After the phone call the contest result were published on the website of the IP UWr according to the “Contest Regulations”.

Because on the website of the IP UWr it was stated, that the employment would begin on the 1st of April, immediately after the announcment of the results I started to prepare for my move to Wrocław from Berlin, where I am currently based, according to my promise done during the job interview. Prof. Sroka proposed me to come on the 5th of April.

However, during the short meeting in Wroclaw with Prof. Sroka I was told, that the employment would not begin on the 1st of April, because (as far as I can remind myself on his words): “the university administration needs more time”. It means, that the condition for employment, as stated in the contest announcement, was not fulfilled.

On the same day I was proposed to teach during the summer term 2013 three classes of the first year’s students of political science the subject “Introduction to political science” in order to get to know the students and the character of work in the IP UWr. Although my weekly travel and accomodation costs were far higher than the promised salary, I have not received any payment until now.

On the 22nd of April the Contest Committe annuled the contest due to the “formal inadvertences, which consisted in not keeping to” the anticipated deadline for the contest decision. The announcment of the second contest should have been made as soon as possible. Prof. Sroka, asked by myself for an explanation, said, that the contest would be repeated, which ment the necessity of repeated preparation of lectures in English as well as a participation in a job interview, hence the application of rules of the “Contest Regulations”.

Second contest was announced on the website of the IP UWr on the 5th of September. Its content was the same as in the case of the first one, but this time the “Contest Regulations” were not published on the website. Admittedly the “Regulations” were available on the website on the 2nd of September, after the contest for the post of an adjunct in the Department of Social Communication and Journalism in the IP UWr was announced, but on the 5th of September they just disappeared. After my request by e-mail concerning the ranking of candidates as anticipated by the “Regulations” prof. Sroka answered that “According to the opinion of lawyers and the rector we should apply the university rules and they do not anticipate any ranking (…)”.

It all means, that the “Regulations” have lost their force of law and been replaced by the university rules, which have not been, however, publicly announced as the “Regulations” were during the first contest. More striking is, however, that the Contest Committee did not annuled the first contest due to applying of the “Contest Regulations” instead of the university rules, but due to “formal inadvertences, which consisted in not keeping to” the anticipated deadline for the contest decision. It means, that still in April nobody guestioned the force of law of the “Regulations”.

Second contest for the post of an adjunct was not announced, according to the rules of the Higher Education Law (art. 118a, passage 2), on the website of the Ministry and the European Commission on the European internet portal for internationally mobile researchers. For the preparation of the application documents candidates had only 11 days (the deadline was on the 16th of September), which is, in comparison with the first contest (around 2 months since announcement till deadline), a rather short period of time.

On the 29th of October I received a message about the decision on the second contest, this time by the secretarial office and e-mail, including the following: “We kindly inform you, that the contest for the post of an adjunct in the Department of Political Systems and Administration in the IP UWr has been decided. Unfortunately, you have not been offered this position”.

At the same time the contest result have not been published on the website of the IP UWr as in the first time. The minutes of the Contest Committe have not been published there as well, as it was in the case of annulment of the first contest on the 22nd of April.

The Dean of the WNS, Prof. Jerzy Juchnowski, has not responded until now to my request to send as fast as possible the whole documentation of the conducted contest procedure. I hope, however, that I will receive it soon, because it will be probably a very good source of knowledge about other criteria that have been taken into account by choosing the candidate instead of the criteria set in a very detailed manner in the “Contest Regulations”. After receiving the documentation I will send it immediately to all addressees of this letter as well as inform the public by publishing it on my website at www.karolina-jankowska.eu.

I wrote this letter because the UWr is a public institution of higher education, financed by the society, and as such should serve the society, not any particular interests. It should contribute to the development of science in Poland and in the world by research and teaching on the highest level, still being increased. It should also create and strengthen the rule of law in the society, as well as to promote transparency, openess and respect towards other people. For this reason special addressees of the letter are my students of the past academic semester in the IP UWr, whom I would like to show, that they have the right to speak about it loud, if there is someting “wrong” or against their dignity. Even if they do not have the abbreviations “Dr.” or “Prof. Dr.” before their names.

With kind regards,

Karolina Jankowska

You may find the Polish version of the above letter together with attachments (in Polish) here.