STATE AND THE PUBLIC TASKS IN THE FIELD
OF HIGHER EDUCATION
— CURRENT AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Performing public tasks in the field of higher education, consisting in academic education
and conducting independent academic research, is not assigned to the State because it is assigned to public and non-public organizational units possessing an attribute of legal personality Arts 12 and 29 paragraph 1 of the Act of 27 July 2005 Law on Higher Education. Nonetheless, it should be emphasized that this public task has a public character and a non-transferable attribute. These features clearly indicate the State as the final decision-making instance. The analysis conducted from the historical perspective shows the growth of significance of the role of the State in performing public tasks in the field of higher education. Contemporary transformations of the State consist in establishing elements of social and economic accountability of universities against stakeholders. What should help to achieve the aforementioned aim is a legal system of expanded regulation, oriented toward strengthening academic autonomy and students’ including PhD students’ legal position, improvement of the quality of education, improvement of the openness and transparencyof the internal processes taking place at universities.