Polish Universities Research Articles

Esej jako metoda kształcenia studentów – przyszłych nauczycieli geografii

An essay is one of the written forms of expression commonly used in literature. It can also be a method for correctly and ingenious formulation of written statements by pupils and students in the process of their education at various stages of learning and studying. The aim of the article is to present the features and values of the essay as a method used in the process of educating geography students – developing various language skills, including: freedom of expression of one’s own views, subjective assessment of facts and events, and creative involvement – i.e. competences useful to geographers, especially candidates for work in as teachers. The article also includes the results of a survey conducted on the subject of the essay among students of geography teaching specialization or teaching unit / module at five Polish universities, as well as considerations on the advisability of using it as a form of passing a course.

Graphemic Awareness Development of Polish Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language

Metalinguistic orthographic awareness plays a crucial role in the development of Chinese language proficiency: writing, reading, and learning new words. However, few studies have explored the topic using qualitative methods. The aim of this work is to explore how the perception of Chinese characters of Chinese foreign language learners changes along with their proficiency. The responses were collected from 43 Polish university students of Chinese with the use of a graphemic awareness test during which participants were to decide on correctness of presented pseudo-characters. The results of this study show that beginners focus first and foremost on correctness of the strokes, the intermediate learners’ attention shifts to character elements and their correct position, and the advanced learners analyze the characters taking into consideration both character elements and structure of characters. It is suggested that the overall rapid development of graphemic awareness in the study group might be due to the explicit instruction. The conclusion can be drawn that the described shift in learners’ perception is a result of them learning to direct their attention towards the critical orthographic aspects of the characters.

Attitudes and purchase intentions of polish university students towards food made from insects-A modelling approach.

The marketing of insect-derived protein has led to the development of respective legal regulations on such insects-based foods in the European Union. Despite the interest in the area of insect-based food, European researchers have paid relatively little attention to consumer attitudes and behaviors towards such products or the factors that may affect them. Attempts undertaken so far in this respect are insufficient; therefore, there is a need to continue and expand research in this field. The present study attempts to verify the following research hypotheses: H1. Attitudes towards food containing insects are related to the attributes/characteristics of these products, care for health and the natural environment, and attitudes towards novelty (neophilic/neophobic); H2. Intentions to purchase food containing insects can be predicted based on attitudes towards food from insects, product attributes, and attitudes towards environmental health and novelties. An empirical study was conducted among university students (N = 1063) by an indirect interview method using a specially designed questionnaire, via an online platform (Computer-Assisted Web Interview, CAWI) in November 2023. The questionnaire was validated by assessing the construction validity and estimating the reliability of the scales used. The study results demonstrated that the attributes of insect-based food products can influence the positive attitudes towards them and behavioral intentions to consume them, and that the strength of the impact of health quality traits is far greater than that of the organoleptic or functional traits. A negative, statistically significant value of the correlation coefficient between neophobic attitude and intention to purchase this type of food was observed. Thus, respondents without food neophobia were characterized by a positive attitude towards the purchase of foods containing edible insects in their composition.

Academic library science and its contribution to the development of bibliology and information science in Poland, 1945–2015

The aim of the study is to present the origins and development of academic institutions educat- ing librarians in Poland between 1945 and 2015, taking into account the institutional and scholarly aspects. In the first part of the paper the author presents the history of various institutions — university faculties, departments and institutes — arranged diachronically in three stages (1945–1974, 1975–1989, 1990–2015). She takes into account the circumstances of their establishment (including the legal framework), their organisers, staff, organisational structures and their changes. In addition, she points to other components of academic life influencing the work of academic library science centres, such as conferences and journals. In the second part, devoted to a discussion of bibliological and information-science research conducted at Polish universities, the author focuses on various issues, treating chronology only as an element organising descriptions of research processes at individual library studies centres. She identifies the areas of research, as well as changes in the thematic foci in the analysed period, citing selected scholars and their most important works. Like in part one, she also discusses the social, political and cultural determinants stimulating research processes, paying particular attention to the impact of new technologies and media. The author’s overview confirms the huge role the academic institutions engaged in library studies play in the consolidation of the position of bibliology as an academic discipline, but at the same time, she shows how the research profile of book studies has been changing in recent years, including issues associated with information science and new technologies.

Fluctuating asymmetry of human morphometric features as a marker of developmental instability caused by adverse environmental conditions.

This article is an attempt to apply fluctuating asymmetry as amorphometric method of studying changes in specific structures of the right and the left side of the body to determine variables which may affect morphogenesis and, consequently, human morphology in adulthood. The main aim of this study was to use the fluctuating asymmetry level as an indicator of adverse living conditions in childhood by determining the impact of environmental components (socio-economic factors and air pollution) on the level of body asymmetry in young women and men. Data were collected from 877 students from various Polish universities, including 483 women and 394 men. Anthropometric data and questionnaire responses were recorded. As part of the surveys, respondents provided information about their place of residence, socio-economic status and lateralisation. The composite body FA (cFA) was assessed based on six bilateral features: the length of fingers II and IV of both hands, the length and width of the ear, and the length and width of the foot. The present study supports the hypothesis that asymmetry increases as socioeconomic status decreases and air pollution levels increase. Differences in asymmetry, depending on environmental factors, socioeconomic status (SES) and air quality, were in most cases greater in men than in women. The results confirm that variable asymmetry is a sensitive indicator of an individual's exposure to unfavorable environmental factors during ontogenesis. Moreover, the results of the conducted research suggest that environmental factors may influence the structure of the human body, and irreversible morphological alterations are the result of unfavorable conditions occurring in the early stages of biological development.

Bibliography of Italian Studies in Poland: Project Description and Statistics

The aim of the Bibliography of Italian Studies in Poland (BISP) project is to create a complete database of scientific publications written by scholars employed by Italian studies departments of Polish higher education institutions. This article presents a detailed description of the project and the results of a thorough bibliographic analysis of the publications included in BISP, which encompasses texts from three disciplines: linguistics, literary studies, and cultural and religious studies. The analyzed data concern the publications of Italian studies researchers who are currently active at Polish universities: 149 monographs, 113 edited volumes, 1,151 journal articles, and 1,415 chapters in collected monographs—a total of 2,828 publications, written by 145 authors. Our objective is to identify any discernible trends in terms of publishing research results by the analyzed group of researchers.

Investigating Polish EHE teachers’ practices and beliefs. A survey-based analysis.

The aim of this research was to gain insights into the current state of English for Higher Education (EHE) teaching in Poland from the perspective of its key stakeholders – EHE teachers. A total of 128 EHE teachers employed in Polish universities participated in an online survey-based study that explored their self-reported practices and beliefs regarding various facets of teaching English at university level. On the one hand, the findings suggest that the participants place considerable emphasis on developing students' communicative and social skills as well as their lexical competence. On the other hand, the study also identified some language components that seem to receive insufficient attention in the classroom. In particular, pronunciation, academic writing, intercultural/pragmatic competence, and grammar are among the most neglected areas. The findings also confirm that EHE teachers are generally open to a shift from general to content-based English teaching in the academic setting and willing to incorporate innovative technological solutions into their teaching. Nevertheless, the data suggest that there is a lack of ready-made materials for teaching specialized English and a need for more institutional guidance and support for EHE teachers.

What about my future career after the pandemic? SARS-CoV-2 and distance learning in the evaluation of future professional opportunities

In this article we present the results of a survey among 556 Polish university students, conducted in the summer of 2020 using an online CAWI survey questionnaire method. We investigated whether the students perceived that the transition to distance learning during the pandemic period had changed their future career prospects. The survey shows a distinct influence of the university (and its support) and the course of study on the students’ assessment of their career prospects. In addition, the results of exploratory factor analysis, multiple linear regression, and logistic regression indicate that attractive and engaging distance learning bolsters the students’ belief in their perceived value on the labor market. Notably, the students perceived the pandemic as an important structural factor that went beyond individual biographies. The students’ assessment of how the pandemic is changing the economy was an important predictor of how they perceived their chances on the job market.

Uzależnienie od wybranych używek jako przykład współczesnego problemu wśród studentów polskich uczelni

Addiction to selected stimulants as an example of a contemporary problem among students of Polish universities The article is empirical and addresses the issue of addiction to broadly understood stimulants, in particular alcohol, cigarettes or e-cigarettes, and drugs. The aim of this study was to find out the frequency and motivation for using stimulants by students of Polish universities. The presented article is a report on the results of research conducted on a group of 82 female and 36 male students. The conducted empirical analysis allowed for the diagnosis of the study participants’ behavior related to the consumption of stimulants. The issues raised in the article include: the moment of first consumption of a given drug, the frequency and motivation for consuming stimulants, as well as students’ awareness of potential addiction and the abuse of drugs without medical indications. Appropriate conclusions were formulated and explained in the discussion, along with the potential reasons for such and not different responses of the study participants.

The domain-specific grammar grit questionnaire: a cross-cultural validation study

ABSTRACT This cross-cultural validation study aimed to develop and validate the Domain-Specific Grammar Grit Questionnaire (DSGGQ) among Iranian and Polish university students majoring in English. The DSGGQ was developed based on the L2 grit scale proposed by Teimouri, Plonsky and Tabandeh (2022. “L2 grit: Passion and perseverance for second-language learning.” Language Teaching Research 26 (5): 893–918. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820921895) and administered to a total of 807 participants, 440 from Poland and 367 from Iran. The data underwent confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the scale’s psychometric characteristics. The differences in the levels of grit between the Polish and Iranian students were also explored. The results demonstrated that the DSGGQ has satisfactory psychometric properties, and its structure proved to be invariant across nationality, gender, and age group. In addition, there were significant differences in grit levels between the two groups. Findings of this study suggest that the DSGGQ can be a useful tool for measuring grit in the domain of English grammar learning and can be applied in different cultural contexts.

MOOC awareness and utilization among students of selected Polish universities

Abstract Purpose The main aim of the article was to examine Polish students’ awareness about MOOCs. For this purpose, the following issues were examined: the percentage of students aware of the existence of free courses, the percentage of students who have used the courses, the most popular educational platforms among Polish students, the percentage of people who did not complete a course, and the reasons for failure. Students who had completed any MOOC were also asked about their experiences and the usefulness of the course. Methodology The study was conducted in October/November 2022 in the form of an online survey. The generated link to the survey was sent by e-mail to students of the Jagiellonian University, the College of Engineering and Health in Warsaw and the Gdańsk College of Health, with a request to complete. Findings The results obtained may be surprising, especially after looking at the situation of MOOCs in other parts of the world. The knowledge about the availability of MOOC courses among Polish students is very low. Only 61 people of all respondents knew beforehand that MOOC learning was a possibility. Originality The added value of the article is examination of the motivation of students to take a MOOC course, as well as the reasons for not completing the course or not participating in it. The conclusions of the survey may be useful for designers of MOOCs. They set out some good practices in remote education and ways to keep young people interested.

How do early career researchers perceive success in their fields? – report on interviews with humanists, theologians and scientists-artists in Poland

Purpose: This paper presents the Polish researchers’ opinions on success perception in science and examines the role of bibliometric and altmetric indices/metrics. It also provides respondents’ statements on how their work is evaluated at Polish universities.Methods: The data come from in-depth interviews (spring 2023) with early career researchers in Linguistics, Literary Studies, History, Philosophy, Polish studies, Theology, Arts, Music, Plastic/Fine Arts, and Film.Results: The respondents’ attachment to indices used in the periodical evaluation of scholars at Polish universities, such as the number of publications, ministerial score points, and external grants, was observed. The respondents were critical of citations as the determinant of success. They were generally not very interested in altmetrics.Value: The importance of this research (National Science Centre grant No 2022/45/B/HS2/00041), which is the Polish continuation of the two international projects (2016–2022), lies mainly in providing a platform to researchers in art and humanities, not included in earlier studies devoted to the sciences and social sciences.

Impact of university councils on the core academic values of Polish universities: limited but benign

ABSTRACT This article explores rectors’ perceptions of the changes to university governance in Poland, especially the impact of lay members on university councils. We investigate whether these new governing bodies make Polish universities more relevant to the needs of the economy and society. Empirical data from a large-scale national survey of Polish public universities, carried out with the support of the Rectors’ Conference (KRASP), provide a mixed picture of how the university councils have been adopted and used in the governance process. On reflection, rectors regard university councils as benign, with respect to key values of Polish universities (institutional autonomy and self-governance) but largely ineffective in contributing to the decision-making process. Overall, the university councils represent an important but only symbolic change in the governance of Polish universities.

Advancements in bioinformatics and computational biology: 15th annual Polish Bioinformatic Society Symposium.

The Polish Bioinformatic Society (PTBI) Symposium convenes annually at leading Polish Universities, and in 2023, the Silesian University of Technology hosted participants from all over the world. The 15th PTBI Symposium, spanning a 3-day duration and divided into four scientific sessions, gathered around 100 participants and centered on research related to machine learning in biomedicine, RNA structure algorithms, next-generation sequencing methods, and microbiome analysis but was not limited to only those topics. The meeting also recognized outstanding research conducted by young scientists by awarding the best poster and best talk. Finally, the awards for the best PhD, MSc, and BSc thesis in bioinformatics defended in Poland were given. This report summarizes the key highlights and outcomes of the meeting.

At the Intersection of Disciplinary Practice and Science Policy: Publication Language Choices of Social Sciences and Humanities Scholars in Poland

The choice of language for research publication is a strategic decision that balances such issues as efficient communication of results to the target audience, requirements of the grant agency, the guidelines of desirable publication venues, and promotion criteria. Previous studies have shown that social sciences and humanities (SSH) scholars tend to communicate research in at least two languages and that they increasingly publish in English in addition to national languages. Evidence for disciplinary differences in publication languages in the SSH comes primarily from bibliometric studies that span short evaluative periods. This study aims to provide a complementary perspective on the lifelong publication practices in the SSH in one national context, using data obtained in a survey carried out in Polish universities. Its main objective is to assess the degree of multilingualism of individual disciplines and academic seniority groups, establish which languages are used, and set the results in the context of country- and institution-level science policies. The results show that while all the disciplines are oriented toward internationalization, they have developed distinctive practices reflecting their engagement with locally relevant topics, involvement with projects on the regional or supranational level, and participation in global research. They also show that by prioritizing publication in top-tier international venues across the board, current science policies do not adequately consider disciplinary practices and target audiences.

Młodzież wobec wartości demokratycznego ładu społecznego. Komunikat z badań dynamicznych i porównawczych

The text is a presentation of the preliminary results of team research on the attitude of students towards the value of the renewal of social order, reconstructed in Piotr Sztompka’s “renewal decalogue”. On the basis of the results of the exploration carried out 30 years ago on “Youth in relation to the values and norms of social life”, a new scientific research was designed. It was carried out at several Polish and Ukrainian universities, in a group of students from several faculties. Ten values and forty norms of social life were assessed twice on a six-point scale. The respondents were first asked to indicate to what extent they considered certain values of social life as personally important and how they influenced their lives in various social situations. Then, they had to assess to what extent the given norms are noticed in their environment and are present in contemporary social life. The research report contains the results of the exploration of only a part of the study cohort, 272 students of pedagogy from Polish universities and 91 students from pedagogical universities in Ukraine. The obtained results were additionally compared with those obtained three decades earlier in a group of students of the same faculty.

Health Literacy of Polish University Students and Its Relation to Sources of Health Education and Socialization

This study aimed to evaluate Polish university students’ health literacy (HL) in the context of school and out-of-school health education and socialisation. The survey was conducted in two Polish universities between March 2023 and April 2024 using an online questionnaire. The research revealed the correlation between the HL of Polish university students and both school and non-school health education and socialisation, with a higher positive association with non-school health socialisation. Furthermore, the study revealed statistically significant differences between the general HL of Polish university students and the sources of health education. The lack of health education at school seemed to be the most significant differentiating factor. Health-literate students mean health-literate citizens. Achieving this goal should be at the forefront of future policy decisions. Therefore, implementing health education and health promotion throughout the school system (including higher education) should be a priority today.

The contributions of Idzi Radziszewski, Gommar Michiels and Stefan Wyszyński to research in Dutch Studies at the Catholic University of Lublin in the light of the university’s contacts with the Low Countries (1918–1939)

In 1918 a Catholic university (KUL) was founded in the Polish city of Lublin. Idzi Radziszewski (1871–1922), a graduate of the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), became the first rector of KUL. The connection with KU Leuven is an important part of the founding narrative of this Polish university. But what about Dutch studies – were they pursued before 1977 (the official beginning of Dutch studies at KUL)? The aim of this article is twofold. First, it examines the extent of the Polish-Dutch and Polish-Flemish academic exchanges between 1918 and 1939, focusing on Polish graduates of Belgian universities working at KUL, KUL scholars visiting Belgium and the Netherlands and Flemish and Dutch scholars employed at KUL. Subsequently, the relationship of the earliest products of the scholarly activities of the leading members of the academic community at KUL with Dutch studies will be assessed: Idzi Radziszewski’s Wszechnica katolicka w Lowanium [The Catholic University in Leuven, 1908], “Ruch flamandzki” [“The Flemish Movement”, 1923] by Gommar Michiels OFMCap and future cardinal and primate of Poland Stefan Wyszyński’s Główne typy akcji katolickiej za granicą [The Main Types of Catholic Action Abroad, 1931]. Of these, Michiels’ article is the most significant monographic contribution to the field of Dutch studies. However, the other two are important works in which the objects of Dutch studies are presented in an interdisciplinary context.

Students with Special Needs and Their Parents – Informal Participation of a Parent in the Education of an Adult Child

The article presents the issue of participation of adult students’ parents in their academic life. There are many examples in the literature of how important is the support of students’ with disabilities parents at the universites. This determines academic success. Disability (its depth, type, cause, limitations resulting from it) is a determining factor for independence, and consequently for the parent’s participation in the student’s academic life. The parent’s attitude towards their own child’s disability is also related to the parent’s participation in the study. The main questions of presented research is: how do students, parents and university staff see the participation of parents in their adult chilredn higher education? This study was qualitative in nature and the individual in-depth interviews were conducted in the course of the study. Two female students with disabilities and their mothers, as well as a member of staff from the one of Polish university’s disability office, were invited to participate in the study. The results show that students, parents and university’s staff can present different opinions about parental suport. The fact is that parental participation cannot be permanent. Each time this type of support should be considered on an individual basis, with particular regard to the welfare of the the student. The results of the survey are relevant to the university’s process of planning support for students with disabilities so as to work with parents with the students’ consent.

Time for Cooperation in East-Central Europe – Interview With Konrad Poplawski, Project Coordinator, Centre for Eastern Studies, Poland

Tamás Tibor Csontos (Review of Economic Theory and Policy) requested an interview with Konrad Poplawski, Project Coordinator of the Connectivity and Regional Integration Programme at the Centre for Eastern Studies, Poland. He asked him about industrial policy in Poland, the changing role of Germany and the state of regional cooperation in East-Central Europe. Konrad has been the head of the Central European Department from 2020 to 2022, and previously a long-term analyst of the German economy. He is the author of many analyses and several longer studies on the economy of Central Europe and Germany. He has been a coordinator and author in international research projects in the framework of the Visegrad consortium of think tanks, preparing expert opinions for the diplomatic ministries of the V4 countries. Konrad regularly gives guest lectures at Polish universities (including the University of Warsaw and the Warsaw School of Economics). He is a commentator and author of articles for the largest nationwide media. He defended his doctorate with honors at the Warsaw School of Economics with a dissertation entitled “Changes in Germany’s Foreign Trade After Joining the Eurozone”.