Poland’s oldest university to move classes online after energy bill rises 700%

Poland’s oldest university is preparing to move more classes online and considering holding in-person teaching only from Monday to Thursday due to the soaring costs of energy.

The Jagiellonian University (UJ), ranked as Poland’s second best, is facing a 700% increase in electricity costs in 2023 after its current contract expires with state-owned supplier Tauron at the end of this year. It says it would have to pay 182 million zloty (€37.66 million) next year, compared to around 27 million zloty annually now.

Those costs would “put the functioning of the university in question for the first time”, says its rector, Jacek Popiel, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP). He has not accepted the new energy offer yet while UJ waits for the government’s proposals to support “sensitive consumers” such as universities by capping electricity prices.

“In order for UJ to cope with the costs of the offer received in September, I should indeed make the decision to move to remote teaching,” Popiel told Rzeczpospolita.

The university is already moving large lectures online and it is preparing to introduce two periods of entirely remote teaching in the first semester, with a decision expected in the coming days. In the second semester, UJ may move in-person teaching from Monday to Thursday only.

But “you can’t switch to online learning everywhere”, warns Popiel, who says that research facilities would stay open to avoid “wasting years of work by research teams and causing irreparable damage”.

The National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw also announced last month that, due to high energy costs, all practical classes would take place before Christmas followed by online-only theory classes in January and February, reports Gazeta Wyborcza.

The education minister, Przemysław Czarnek, told Polskie Radio last week that schools and universities would be supported in dealing with rising energy prices. He also warned schools not to unnecessarily push children into remote learning, saying that they would be dealt with “ruthlessly” if they do so.

Popiel points out that not only rising energy costs but also inflation in general – which is at a 25-year-high of 17.2% – is putting pressure on the budget. UJ’s government subsidy amounts to 900 million zloty a year and is used not only to pay electricity bills but also for staff salaries and research.

“The subsidy has only increased by 2% compared to the previous year,” Popiel told Rzeczpospolita. “And we all know where inflation is at now. A salary increase of 4.4% does not even meet the minimum financial expectations of the academic community.”

Main photo credit: Dominique Cappronnier / flickr.com (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.