Faculty of Organization and Management

At the invitation of Prof. Aleksandra Kuzior, Dean of the Faculty of Organization and Management, the meeting was attended by Prof. Marek Gzik, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, along with academic staff and a large group of students. The next open lecture in the series “Faces of Business, Science and Politics. Management in Theory and Practice” took place on December 1, 2025. The subject of the discussion was the area “Between Science and Politics.”

– After the 2023 parliamentary elections, I received an offer from Prime Minister Donald Tusk. I became Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education and Science, and after the two ministries were separated, I am now responsible, among other things, for the budget and funding programs of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education – reported Prof. Marek Gzik.

The Minister stated that from the government’s point of view, the time has come when it is no longer possible to save on defense spending or broadly understood security. At the same time, he pointed out the need for continuous care for the country's development, while maintaining its investment attractiveness. Describing the current activities of the ministry, he emphasized that the ministry is responsible for 101 public universities and 350 private higher education institutions. This number does not include art schools, medical universities, or institutions subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior and Administration. Meanwhile, the number of students continues to decline, which will mean the need to implement the unpopular process of merging universities. So far, despite financial incentives, no institution has taken on this challenge. “However, demographics are relentless,” emphasized Prof. Marek Gzik, stressing the need for greater openness to research and cooperation with the business environment. He also mentioned the project involving the construction, modernization, and acquisition of buildings for the purpose of creating student dormitories.

– The past two years have been good for Polish science, although of course they could have been better. Let us develop our research projects. Let us cooperate with local government units. We must diversify revenue sources. Currently, the hottest topic is evaluation. 23 universities in Poland meet the criteria of the elite top ten – he said, describing the principles for selecting research universities, a status currently held by the Silesian University of Technology.

After the lecture, Prof. Marek Gzik answered questions from the assembled students and academic staff of the Faculty.