Planning policy

There is no national planning policy for academic staff, and the responsibility for human resource planning has been largely handed over to higher education institutions (HEIs). Until 2018, the national legislation defined, for example, so-called minimum human resources (the minimum number and qualifications of academic teachers) and the teacher-student ratio for fields and levels of study. Currently, the legislation specifies only groups of staff, types of positions and basic qualification requirements for the positions, the maximum teaching load, general conditions of service and the minimum salary rates. 

HEIs input data concerning fields of study, doctoral schools, research projects and publications, staff, students and persons applying for a doctoral degree to the Integrated Science and Higher Education Information System (Zintegrowany System Informacji o Nauce i Szkolnictwie Wyższym, POL-on). Overall reports based on POL-on data aim to support the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the development and implementation of the national research policy and the management of the research and higher education sector. Reports on academic staff provide data on academic staff posts in a breakdown by teachers’ characteristics (gender, age, Polish / non-Polish nationality, degree or title, position and group of positions, area and discipline) and features of HEIs employing teachers (name, city, province, type and profile). 

Entry to the profession

Academic teachers should fulfil the following general requirements:

• have qualifications set out in the Law on Higher Education and Science (Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym i nauce) and the statutes of an HEI;

• have not been punished with a disciplinary penalty;

• have full legal capacity;

• have full civic rights;

• have not been convicted of an intentional offence or an international tax offence by a valid court judgement.

Academic teachers are divided into the following groups:

• teaching staff,

• research staff, and

• research-and-teaching staff.

The legislation sets the following requirements for each position available to academic staff:

• Professor: the title of professor (profesor);

• University Professor: at least a doctoral degree (doktor), and significant teaching or professional achievements for teaching staff, or significant research or artistic achievements for research staff, or significant research, artistic or teaching achievements for research-and-teaching staff. 

• Assistant Professor: at least a doctoral degree (doktor).

• Assistant: a Master’s degree (magister or magister inżynier) or an equivalent degree.

The statutes of an HEI may also specify other positions for academic staff and related additional qualification requirements. The latter may not relate to the holding of, or the requirement to obtain a doctoral or postdoctoral degree or the professorial title.

Academic staff are recruited by each HEI in accordance with its internal regulations. 

However, aside from some exceptions, the legislation requires that public HEIs hold an open competition to employ a new teacher; that is, if an HEI concludes with a teacher the first employment relationship (the first employment contract) for an indefinite term or a fixed term longer than 3 months, and for the workload that exceeds 50% of full-time employment. The statutes of a public HEI lay down the procedure and conditions for competitions. The HEI publishes information about the competition in the Public Information Bulletin and, additionally, in English, on the websites of the European Commission, in the portal Euraxess Researchers in Motion – Jobs and Opportunities. 

As an exception, this rule does not apply to an academic teacher who:

• has been seconded to work in the HEI on the basis of an agreement concluded with the Łukasiewicz Centre, an institute of the Łukasiewicz Research Network or a foreign research institution;

• is a beneficiary of a project, programme or grant under a Call published by the National Agency for Academic Exchange (Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej, NAWA), the National Centre for Research and Development (Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju, NCBR), the National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki, NCN) or under an international call for research proposals;

• is hired for the implementation period of a research or education project funded by the European Union or another grant-awarding body.

Non-public HEIs lay down recruitment rules and procedures in their statutes. If the statutes of a non-public HEI do not include relevant regulations, the provisions of the Law on Higher Education and Science (ustawa Prawo o Szkolnictwie Wyższym i Nauce) are applied.

Professional status

Employment relationship / types of contract

Academic teachers do not have the status of civil servants or public officials. Their professional status is regulated by the Law on Higher Education and Science (Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym i nauce) and the generally applicable provisions of the Labour Code (Kodeks pracy). 

The rector of an HEI hires academic staff based on an employment contract. The first contract with a teacher is concluded for an indefinite term or for a term of up to 4 years. If the first contract was concluded for up to 4 years and the outcome of the teacher’s performance appraisal during this period was positive, the rector may conclude an indefinite contract with the teacher without a competition (for information about competitions, see Chapter 9.5.2 ‘Entry to the profession’). 

An employment contract indicates whether the HEI is the place of primary employment for an academic teacher. Only an HEI where a teacher is employed on a full-time basis can be the place of primary employment. A teacher may have only one place of primary employment. 

With the consent of the rector, an academic teacher working in a public HEI as his/her place of primary employment may take up or keep an additional job with only one employer involved in teaching or research activity. The rector’s consent is not required for employment in entities with which the HEI has established cooperation based on an agreement or for which the HEI is the administering body, the founder or a shareholder, or in public administration agencies, cultural institutions or institutions of the school education system. 

A teacher pursuing economic activity is required to inform about it the rector of the HEI that is his/her place of primary employment. 

Professional ethics 

There is no professional ethics code for academic staff at the national level, but the legislation addresses, for example, a conflict of interest in a reporting relationship and disciplinary liability of teachers (Law on Higher Education and Science; Regulation of the Minister of Education and Science of 8 June 2022 on the detailed procedure for mediation, enquiries and proceedings on disciplinary liability of academic staff, and the method of applying disciplinary penalties and expunging penalties from records / Rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 8 czerwca 2022 r. w sprawie szczegółowego trybu prowadzenia mediacji, postępowania wyjaśniającego i postępowania dyscyplinarnego w sprawach odpowiedzialności dyscyplinarnej nauczycieli akademickich, a także sposobu wykonywania kar dyscyplinarnych i ich zatarcia). Detailed rules of conduct are set out in internal regulations of an HEI. 

Pursuant to the legislation, within an HEI, there should be no direct reporting relationship between spouses and individuals who maintain a common household (the provision does not apply to rectors of HEIs) and/or are related by consanguinity or affinity up to the second degree, or are in a relationship of adoption, care or custody.

The legislation defines a disciplinary offence as an act which is contrary to the duties of an academic teacher or the dignity of the profession. It is not a disciplinary offence to express religious, ideological or philosophical beliefs.

Disciplinary proceedings are initiated by disciplinary prosecutors, and decisions are issued by disciplinary committees appointed by the rector of an HEI. The legislation provides for a number of disciplinary penalties: from a caution and reprimand, which may be combined with a reduction of the salary, to a fixed-period ban on performing specific tasks or holding management positions, the expulsion from the HEI and a fixed-period ban on practising the profession of academic teacher. 

Dismissal (termination of an employment relationship) 

Pursuant to the Law on Higher Education and Science, an employment contract of an academic teacher expires in the following cases:

• the teacher no longer fulfils the recruitment requirements (see Chapter 9.5.2 ‘Entry to the Profession’);

• it is established that the employment contract is based on false or invalid documents;

• a disciplinary penalty of expulsion from the home HEI has been imposed on the teacher;

• a penal measure imposed prohibits the teacher from holding a specific position if the decision imposing the measure concerns the performance of duties of an academic teacher;

• the teacher has received a sentence of imprisonment.

An employment contract can be terminated in the following cases: 

• by mutual agreement;  

• by a statement from one of the parties with a period of notice (termination by notice) or without a period of notice (disciplinary termination); 

• at the end of the period for which it has been concluded (for a fixed-term contract). 

The rector of an HEI may terminate an employment contract with a period of notice for reasons listed in the generally applicable Labour Code (Kodeks pracy) and in the following cases listed in the Law on Higher Education and Science:  

• if the result of a teacher’s performance appraisal is negative (a performance appraisal is conducted at least every 4 years or at the request of the rector); 

• if a teacher took up or carried out an additional job in an entity involved in teaching or research activity without the rector’s consent. 

The rector terminates an employment contract with an academic teacher who has obtained two successive negative results in the performance appraisal. 

The provisions of the Labour Code apply to employment-related matters which are not regulated in the Law on Higher Education and Science. 

For information about performance appraisal of academic staff, see Chapter 11.2 ‘Quality assurance in higher education’.  

Salaries

The legislation sets out general remuneration rules only for employees of public HEIs. Within this framework each public HEI adopts its own rules in the collective labour agreement or its internal remuneration regulations. 

The salary of an academic teacher in a public HEI consists of fixed and variable components. 

The fixed components:

• the basic salary, and

• a length-of-service allowance.

The variable components:

• a function-related allowance;

• a task-related allowance;

• overtime pay;

• a hardship allowance for work in hazardous or difficult conditions;

• other allowances if provided for in the collective labour agreement or the remuneration regulations of a given HEI. 

The length-of-service allowance amounts to 1% of the basic salary for each year of employment. It is paid on a monthly basis, from the fourth year of employment, but its amount may not exceed 20% of the basic salary.

The function-related allowance is granted for managing a team composed of at least 5 members, including the team leader. The amount of the allowance may not exceed 67% of the salary of a professor and depends on the number of team members and the complexity of tasks.

The task-related allowance may be granted for a temporarily extended scope of responsibilities or additional tasks performed on a temporary basis, or as based on the nature or conditions of work. The level of the allowance may not exceed 80% of the total amount of the basic salary and the function-related allowance.

Academic staff receive the function-related and task-related allowances during an authorised absence at work for up to 3 months. 

The minister responsible for higher education establishes, by regulation, the level of the minimum  basic salary per month for an academic staff member holding the position of Professor in a public HEI. As of 1 January 2024, it is PLN 9,370 (EUR 2,174.01) (according to the exchange rate of the European Commission for December 2024: EUR 1 = PLN 4.31). 

The minimum levels of the basic salary for the other positions in a public HEI are as follows: 

• University Professor: at least 83% of the salary of a Professor (PLN 7,777.10 / EUR 1,804.43);

• Assistant Professor: at least 73% of the salary of a Professor (PLN 6,840.10 / EUR 1,587.03)

• Assistant and other academic staff: at least 50% of the salary of a Professor (PLN 4,685.00 / EUR 1,807.00).

Like other employees of a public HEI, academic teachers receive anniversary awards ranging from 75% to 400% of the basic monthly salary depending on the length of service (from 20 to 45 years of work). 

An employee of a public HEI is entitled to an additional end-of-year remuneration in accordance with the rules laid down in the legislation on additional end-of-year remuneration for state-budget units.

Academic and non-academic staff may receive awards for professional achievements from the rector. Additionally, the Prime Minister and the ministers competent for specific scientific disciplines grant awards for significant achievements in research, teaching, the implementation of research and development results or significant organisational achievements or for lifetime achievements. 

Working time and holidays

Working time 

Academic staff work in a task-based working time system, which means that the working time is determined by tasks assigned to an academic teacher by his/her superior. The teacher must carry out these tasks but is not required to spend 8 hours per day in an HEI and decides how he/she will carry out the work. 

As part of the task-based system, the legislation sets the maximum teaching load (number of class / teaching hours, including the time for the education of doctoral students). The duration of one class / teaching hour is 45 minutes.

The maximum annual teaching load is:

• up to 240 class hours for research-and-teaching staff;

• up to 180 class hours for research-and-teaching staff holding the position of Professor;

• up to 360 class hours for teaching staff;

• up to 540 class hours for teaching staff holding the position of Foreign Language Teacher or Instructor if the statutes of an HEI provide for such a position.

In addition to teaching or research duties, an academic teacher is required to contribute to organisational tasks for the benefit of his/her HEI and continuously develop his/her professional competence. 

Internal work regulations of an HEI set out rules for establishing job descriptions for individual groups and positions of academic staff, types and duration of classes to be taught and the rules for calculating class / teaching hours. 

In specific cases, where this is justified by the need to implement a curriculum, academic staff may be required to take extra class hours (above the teaching load). The number of extra class hours may not exceed:

• ¼ of the annual teaching load for research-and-teaching staff;

• ½ of the annual teaching load for teaching staff.

With their consent, academic staff may teach additional classes for a number of hours that does not exceed the double annual teaching load.

Academic staff may not be assigned overtime duties without their prior consent during pregnancy or when they take care of a child of up to 4 years of age.

The statutes of a non-public HEI may define a different teaching load and a different number of working hours for its employees.

Holidays

Academic staff are entitled to holiday leave of 36 working days per year.

Detailed rules and procedures for granting holiday leave and other types of leave are laid down in the work regulations of an HEI. During their holiday leave, academic staff are entitled to receive the same salary as they would receive if they were working, including variable components of the salary, calculated in accordance with specific regulations. 

The rector may grant the following types of paid research or study leave to academic staff:

• sabbatical leaves to conduct research, with their total duration of up to 1 year during 7 years of work at a given HEI, for staff holding at least a doctoral degree;

• sabbatical leave of up to 3 months for staff preparing a doctoral dissertation;

• leave to undertake a training period, research or teaching placement abroad, or to participate in a conference abroad, conduct a search for research data or material, undertake a study visit, conduct another kind of research activity, or conduct joint research with a foreign institution based on an agreement on research cooperation;

• leave to conduct joint research with the Łukasiewicz Centre or an institute of the Łukasiewicz Research Network.

After at least 10 years of work in an HEI, a full-time academic teacher who has not reached the age of 65 is entitled to paid health leave. Another health leave may not be granted earlier than 3 years after the end of the previous one. The total duration of health leave during the entire employment period may not exceed 3 years. Teachers are not allowed to do paid work during their health leave.

Promotion, advancement

The academic and professional career of academic staff makes a distinction between:

• degrees, referred to as professional titles (tytuł zawodowy) in the national legislation;

• research degrees and the research title (stopień naukowy, tytuł naukowy);

• positions held in a higher education institution.

Degrees / Professional titles

The degrees that are referred to as professional titles in the legislation are Bachelor's degrees (licencjat or inżynier or an equivalent degree for first-cycle programmes) and Master's degrees (magister or magister inżynier or an equivalent degree for second- and long-cycle programmes). Such degrees are awarded by an administrative decision of the rector of a higher education institution (HEI).

Research degrees and the research title

The following research qualifications are awarded within the higher education and science system:

• research degrees in the areas of science and fine arts:

• a doctoral degree (doktor)

• a postdoctoral degree / doctor habilitatus (doktor habilitowany)

• the title of professor (profesor).

Positions

Research-and-teaching positions and teaching positions:

• Professor (profesor),

• University Professor (profesor uczelni),

• Assistant Professor (adiunkt),

• Assistant (asystent),

• any other position as specified in the statutes of an HEI (for example, Instructor, Foreign Language Teacher).

The qualification requirements for the positions established by the legislation are described in Chapter 9.5.2 ‘Entry to the profession’. 

Academic teachers may also perform management functions at the institutional level (rector and other positions as provided for in the statutes of an HEI) or the organisational unit level (in accordance with the statutes of an HEI). See also Chapter 10.5 ‘Management staff for higher education’. 

Retirement and pensions

Academic teachers are entitled to retirement benefits in accordance with the generally applicable provisions of the Act on Retirement Pensions and Disability Pensions from the Social Security Fund (ustawa o rentach i emeryturach z Funduszu Ubezpieczeń Społecznych).

The legislation on higher education does not address the retirement / pension age for employees of higher education institutions (HEIs). Academic teachers may retire in accordance with the generally applicable regulations on retirement: at the state pension age of 60 years for women and 65 years for men. However, academic staff normally work much longer. The fact of reaching the state pension age may not in itself be the reason for terminating an employment contract.

The base for the calculation of a retirement or disability pension is determined according to the general rules laid down in the legislation on the retirement pensions and disability pensions from the Social Security Fund. The base also includes overtime or extra class pay, allowances and all awards for professional achievements received during the years that are the reference period for a retirement or disability pension.

Academic teachers who retire at the state pension age or due to ill health / incapacity for work are entitled to receive a one-off retirement gratuity from the HEI that is the place of their primary employment. The gratuity is equivalent to 300% of the basic salary paid for the full final month of employment.