Geographia Polonica (2002) vol. 75, iss. 1

Higher education and urban system. The case of Poland in the 1990s

Ewa Nowosielska

Geographia Polonica (2002) vol. 75, iss. 1, pp. 85-108 | Full text

Abstract

The present paper investigates the quantitative development of higher education in Poland in the 1990s and the distribution of higher educational institutions by urban size classes. It refers also to the recent studies on the impact of a higher school on various aspects of a city's economic and social life. It emerged that private higher schools, first organized in 1991, have been the most dynamic element of Poland's higher education system in the last decade and will certainly mark the future educational landscape as well. Private schools are also mainly responsible for a trickling-down of the higher schools thro-ugh the urban hierarchy. Nevertheless, it remains the big cities that concentrate the hi-ghest proportion of schools and students, though their relative position in the urban sys-tem is weakening. The impact of a higher school upon a city has emerged as multifaceted and not as entirely positive as is commonly believed or expressed in official circles.

Keywords: higher education, state and private schools, locational trends, impact of a higher school upon a city, Poland

Ewa Nowosielska, Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland