Odbudowa szkolnictwa wyższego w Polsce w nowej rzeczywistości społeczno-politycznej po II wojnieświatowej
The reconstruction of higher education in Poland in the new socio-political reality after World War II

Summary/Abstract: Organization of the higher education in Poland after the Second World War was very difficult due to significant material damage and a shortage of academic staff. Education authorities aimed at achieving two essential objectives: to reactivate the universities existed before the Second World War, and to create new schools in centers in which they did not exist previously. What was also announced was democratization of higher education in order to make them fully accessible to young people from workers’ and peasants’ families. In the first post-war academic year 1945/46, in Poland, 31 academic schools (19 public and 12 private) and 7 universities not entitled academic colleges (5 state and 2 private) started. In addition to the previously well-known universities in Cracow and Warsaw, the towns of Lodz and Torun achieved the status of the major academic centers. As a result of changing borders, beyond Poland there were, however, two major research centers – Lviv and Vilnius, with a powerful material base and research and teaching staff. The number of high schools in Poland after World War II was quickly increasing. At the end of 1946 they were 46 high schools total, but in 1949 – 59. In 1947, the division into professional colleges and academics was introduced. The next stage in the organizational and legal transformation of higher education was in the fifties of the 20th century, including the adoption of laws on higher education in 1951 and 1958. The issues, however, require a separate study.

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