Corruption in the University in Opinions and Experience of the Students from the University and Polytechnic of Lodz - Conditions and Consequences

The article has been based on random sample of one hundred students of the Lodz University and Polytechnic. The authoress analyzes the existing legal regulations concerning higher education and the universities in particular, defines the tools and analyzes the phenomenon of corruption as seen by the students. Detailed study of the gathered data brings her to the following conclusions. Corruption on the university level has not been connected with access to the limited goods. It is, in opinion of the students, a price to pay, an alternative to the amount of time and effort to be spent on reading and learning. In the opinion of students it is a 'low-cost' method because when it is revealed, it does not necessarily bear a negative follow-up. Student, even on entering lists against corruption, seems not to notice any relations between theory and practice, that is between verbal condemnation and taking part in the group corruption. Lack of responsibility and self-consciousness of many students is due to the lack of the student ethos, which in the course of time has entirely disappeared. Taking into consideration the above conclusions it is natural that the academic teachers are responsible for reviving and rebuilding of such an ethos. Sadly, the teachers themselves are very often involved in corruption scandals. To minimize such negative developments in the higher education system, one should think about rebuilding of the ethos of students as well as of academic teachers. If the counter measures are not taken soon enough, the universities and other higher schools in Poland will loose the remnants of their prestige and will turn into the assembly-line producing thousands of ill-educated engineers, masters of arts, physicians and other diploma holders.Consequently their diplomas and titles will loose any significance for the future generations.