Abstract
In 2015, Willem Halffman and Hans Radder published in Minerva a paper, in which they diagnosed that our universities are colonized by “The Wolf of management.” Using the example of the reforms afflicting the Polish academic world, I show that this colonization has intensified, and apart from the processes described in the aforementioned paper, it brought consequences that have changed academic culture: research is subjected to publication policy, many academic activities are treated as a hobby, researchers must be in a stand-by mode to react quickly to new regulations, and responsibility for the institutional prestige is collective. I argue that the attempts to reduce research results into numbers and algorithms stem from a quest for objectivity and a mistrust of academics’ (and the Wolf’s) ability to pass fair judgments. The Wolf tries to realize a utopian dream: the building of a structure that by necessity secures the productivity of research, which in turn brings the prestige of institutions, ultimately measured by rankings. Yet, prestige is not an epistemic but rather a political value, and when academics are forced to aim at prestige, vital academic values are endangered. Any efficient resistance to the Wolf requires grassroots work on the part of academics. By reconsidering the nature of research and education as well as their role in society, academics might be able to develop viable alternatives to the “productivist university.” This requires cooperation with broader society. As such, the alternative of either remaining in the ivory tower or submitting to the Wolf is a false dilemma.
Notes
The term “parametrization game” [gra parametryzacyjna] was used in the book Ewaluacja jakości działalności naukowej – przewodnik [The Evaluation of the Quality of Scholarly Activity – a Guide] (MNiSW 2019b) prepared by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. It remains to be investigated to what degree the currently fashionable concept of gamification applies to what is going on in the academic world.
On October 19th, 2020, Przemysław Czarnek was nominated as the new Minister, and the Ministry was reorganized to become the Ministry of Education and Science. On February 9th, 2021, the Ministry announced a new list in which the number of points assigned to some Polish journals was increased. This, however, does not change the conclusions of my analysis of the evaluation process. The new list is available at: https://www.gov.pl/web/edukacja-i-nauka/nowy-rozszerzony-wykaz-czasopism-naukowych-i-recenzowanych-materialow-z-konferencji-miedzynarodowych. Accessed on 19 May 2021.
For the full list, see: https://www.kul.pl/memorial-lectures,14440.html. Accessed on 18 May 2021.
Most Polish universities have the same practice.
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Funding was provided by the Minister of Science and Higher Education within the program under the name “Regional Initiative of Excellence” in 2019–2022, project number: 028/RID/2018/19.
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I express my gratitude to Monika Walczak, Piotr Kulicki, Robert Kublikowski, Piotr Biłgorajski, Barry Smith, Brian Panasiak, and the reviewers for their helpful comments.
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Lekka-Kowalik, A. Academia in the Grip of the Wolf and Its Utopia. Minerva 60, 139–158 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-021-09449-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-021-09449-2