Educational quality assurance is among the most important issues in the organisa-tion and functioning of the higher education system. The higher education system in Estonia is closely linked to the external environment. Its characteristics and the quality of education are influenced by the standards of the entire education and science system and the socio-economic environment. In Estonia, these characteris-tics are strongly influenced by the implemented innovation policy, international cooperation and computerisation in the sphere of activities of public institutions including education, education and higher education. Quality assessments of higher education are organised and carried out by the Agency for Higher Education Quality in accordance with international rules. Currently, education quality assess-ment is carried out by the Estonian Quality Agency for Education, Eesti Hariduse Kvaliteediagentuur (HAKA). Its activities are highly rated in the work of interna-tional associations for cooperation in the field of education quality assurance.

The paper deals with a bibliometric analysis of a sample of the top law schools included in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022. An equal number of Western European and Central and Eastern European law schools have been analysed. The results show that both groups follow similar publication patterns. There is a clear tendency to publish in journals controlled by the authors’ universities. Citation rates in the sample are very low, and in line with what has already been found for humanities. There is a clear division between the multidisciplinary and transnational legal journals that are more international and less internationally recognised law reviews focusing on domestic issues. Law clearly follows its own publication pattern, and the East–West division is in this respect negligible: both groups perform equally well (or equally poorly) as far as the metrics indicate.

The Polish Personal Income Tax Law provides for a relatively extensive group of tax exemptions related to various benefits offered to doctoral students and academics. It also includes an exemption for scholarships and assistance grants referred to in Law 2.0, as well as scholarships received under programmes or projects aimed at implementing the current state scientific policy. The rule adopted is that the exemption applies as long as the rules for granting the scholarships and grants in question them have been approved by the minister in charge of higher education and science. The research objective adopted in the gloss is to verify the jurisprudential practice regarding the issue of the tax exemption in question. The analysis and evaluation have been performed also in the context of the guidelines and ideas behind the reform of higher education and science (regulations of the so-called Law 2.0). This gloss is a critical commentary. It makes use of dogmatic-legal and normative analysis.

The aim of the research was to identify conditions and forms of international and cross-border cooperation of Polish higher education institutions (HEIs). In order to achieve the goal, the formal-dogmatic method was applied, analyzing the literature on the subject, the law (mainly Polish law), as well as various statements and press releases. A request for public information was also used. The article was divided into three parts. The first one concerns the conditions of international and cross-border cooperation of Polish HEIs. The next part covers the forms of cooperation identified by the author, and the last one refers to the formula of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation as a form of international and cross-border cooperation of HEIs. The results of the research show that international and cross--border cooperation of Polish HEIs is based primarily on national law, which, however, is characterized by high variability, which does not favour building stable relations. The cooperation of HEIs takes various forms, from non-institutionalised to quasi institutionalised and institutionalised. Polish HEIs are trying to join the internationalization process, and the availability of external funding is conducive to gradual institutionalization of international and cross-border cooperation
of HEIs. There is a scarcity of studies on the subject, therefore the article may be
of great cognitive value to legal science, especially in Poland, but also abroad (for
scholars conducting comparative research).

The theme of the article is suitable application of the provisions of the Code of Administrative Procedure in cases where a decision is issued by universities. The article discusses the case law of administrative courts and two ways of interpreting this problem. The article also the position of other authors and our own opinion of the author.

In my paper I would like to analyze the topic o academic legal education, using for that purpose tool granted by Rochard Rorty’s neopragmatism and Artur Kozak’s juriscentrism. In this article I consider the possibility of describing higher education and legal culture using both of those concepts, and to form some proposals for future shaping of this proces. In my text I aim to prove, tha contemporary legal education is basem mostly on the mechanisms of socialisation and professional training, which base rather on transfer of rules of legal reasoning and discussion within legal community, than on transfer of actual skills. Therefore I consider to which extent this process should be suplemented by methods which individualise students, and which allow the autocreation, which is, according to Rorty, should be the mian task of higher education. In the further parts of my paper I consuder, how those mechanisms will impact shaping of future lawyers, and by that, the legal community itself, and what benefits could we achieve this way.

In 2018 Student Services Employee Association (Stowarzyszenie Forum Dzieka na-tów) was established. One of its aims is to get involved in a dialogue with organi­sations and institutions dealing with higher education, in particular with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as the relevant public authority. In this regard the Association proposed three amendments to the Act of Higher Education and Science in terms of administrative procedure, in particular: notice on initiation of procedure, simplified procedure and silent settlement of case, which were sub-mitted to the Ministry. As a bottom­up initiative of student services employees at HEIs, it enables them to get involved in consulting acts on higher education and proposing amendments to these regulations. This role of the Association is significant due to the fact that in many HEIs student services employees have no ability to provide feedback on the regulations that they are executing.

The purpose of the article is to indicate the selected potential and desired consequences of establishing doctoral schools to educate doctoral students in the field of legal sciences, with a special consideration of the interdisciplinary nature of such schools. The paper addresses the Polish legal framework. The article proposes a thesis that doctoral schools have a chance to benefit the education of future doctors of law, especially thanks to their interdisciplinary nature, which involves
educating doctoral students of law together with representatives of other scientific disciplines. Other issues raised include also the opportunities and risks involved in the new form of doctoral education – including those resulting from some higher education institutions adopting only apparently interdisciplinary solutions. The article is an original work, the subject matter has not been covered in other academic papers, and concerns a new legal form of educating doctoral students – meaning
doctoral schools, which have been operating since the 2019/2020 academic year. The theses proposed in the article may be significant to both the theory and practice of educating doctors of law at Polish higher education institutions and research centres.

Recent years in Poland have been marked by a heated discussion on the system of education in place. A significant contribution to the discussion was the 2018 Law on Higher Education and Science Act, redefining the current operating model of higher education institutions. Tertiary education and the way it is organised are set in a global environment with an indefinite number of stakeholders. The turbulent nature and changeability of this environment has surfaced even more strongly in the light of the current COVID-19 pandemic. All this requires looking at the design of curricula and the delivery of the process of education from a broader angle, identifying the internal and the external stakeholders and determining their expectations as well as the capabilities to affect higher education institutions and the very process of education. The article points to the area of research made in the said domain, offering a description of the current state of affairs.

The purpose of the presented analysis is to position the new university model introduced by the Act of 20 July 2018 – Law on Higher Education and Science in the field of knowledge economy, which is a segment of the dynamically developing digital economy as seen today. Right now, we can see the paradigm of the resource determining economic development becoming redefined. While in the past it was land, followed by capital and labour later on, at present it is more and more about
knowledge – but in an institutionalised form. Such knowledge increases the significance
of intangible assets as the factor behind development, i.e. intellectual technologies. Research-education institutions play a prominent part in generating and accumulating this knowledge. Therefore, the position and the significance of universities in the structure of acquisition and transmission of knowledge becomes redefined. This calls for new methods of managing quality, staff, projects, and university funds to be implemented – which means, in general, a new operating
model for universities With its origins in a social-economic diagnosis, the article has been based on
a normative analysis of the provisions establishing the new university model and uses this analysis to attempt to reconstruct the methods of knowledge management and to verify its suitability for the requirements set by the development of the digital economy and of the knowledge-based society.

The legislative changes that take place in the area of higher education and science pose new challenges to higher education institutions and create a new framework of verification of their teaching and research activity. Among the many significantly changing aspects of functioning of the system of higher education and science, the definition of the mission of this system seems to be particularly interesting. The new Higher Education and Science Law Act imposes important regulations in this domain. Defining the mission of the system of higher education and science
refers directly to the values lying at the heart of the activity of institutions of higher education and science, including universities in particular. A defined mission of a university ensures a reference to the tradition and the position of this university in the social system, characterises its identity, and indicates the values the university protects and promotes in its activity. Also, a defined mission statement points to a university’s main goals set on the future and the environment in which it
functions. In this area, defining the mission is also one of the instruments used to manage a university.

The article discusses the issue of the conflict between social roles in the professional activity pursued by so-called liberal professions, especially by researchers. It offers a normative approach to the issue as covered in the Code of Ethics for Research Workers (Kodeks Etyki Pracownika Naukowego) and in the Code of Good Practices in Universities (Dobre Praktyki w Szkołach Wyższych). Emphasis has been placed on the types of conflicts and on their significance to the ethical aspect of professional
activity, accompanied by a simultaneous reminder that conflict tends to be a factor contributing to the axiological balance in society and to society’s efficiency.

In 2018 Student Services Employee Association (Stowarzyszenie Forum Dzieka na-tów) was established. One of its aims is to get involved in a dialogue with organi-sations and institutions dealing with higher education, in particular with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as the relevant public authority. In this regard the Association proposed three amendments to the Act of Higher Education and Science in terms of administrative procedure, in particular: notice on initiation of procedure, simplified procedure and silent settlement of case, which were sub-mitted to the Ministry. As a bottom-up initiative of student services employees at HEIs, it enables them to get involved in consulting acts on higher education and proposing amendments to these regulations. This role of the Association is significant due to the fact that in many HEIs student services employees have no ability to provide feedback on the regulations that they are executing.

Research on the functioning of public administration is interdisciplinary. The analysis of the functioning of public administration requires a systemic view in which the system of relations between the entire system and individual subsystems of public administration on the one hand and its external environment on the other is an important element. This approach comes from the management sciences. It is reflected in the science of administration. The social subsystem is a particular subsystem of public administration requiring an interdisciplinary approach. In the Polish system of public administration, the social subsystem consists of employees forming the civil service corps and other staff employed in offices and other public administration structures. Formation of the administration staff is associated not only with the recruitment of properly educated candidates for work in the offices of public administration bodies. It is very important to shape appropriate ethical attitudes of officials of both government and local government administration. They should know the rules of official ethics. However, it is not possible to codify all the ethical standards of a public administration employee, so the general standards of the moral law should be applied in this respect. Currently, graduates of higher education studies preparing for work in administration are generally adequately prepared for analysing normative acts, issuing administrative decisions or understanding the rules of the legal system in general, but they lack the basis for addressing to a sufficient extent the issues related to ethics of acting and respecting the values adopted in the society.

The article discusses the issue of the possibility of regulating matters concerning higher education and its institutions in executive and internal acts. It presents the acceptable limits of delegating matters relating to higher education to regulations, as well as internal acts of higher education institutions. These limits are described taking into account the principle of autonomy of higher education institutions, as well as the rules on the creation of law, in particular the rules for issuing regulations. It was also pointed out that the incorrect division of matter between act of parliament (statute) and a regulation violates constitutional rules of law creation. It is also contrary to the protection of entities’ trust in the state and law and the principle of division and balance of power. Faulty formation of the higher education system is not good to the quality of education and conducting scientific research. It hinders the implementation of the freedom of science.

In the article, the author discusses the basic assumptions of the reform of the Law on Higher Education and Science, which is to be has been introduced in Poland in autumn 2018, with particular emphasis on the rules of employing university teachers. One of the most important changes in this area is the resignation from appointment as a basis for establishing employment relationships with this professional group in favour of an employment contract. It is the end of the process of departing from the employment model based on the special status of university teachers, which has lasted for over a dozen years. Now, they will largely be subject to general labour law regulations. This means making the legal regulation more flexible and therefore also reducing the protection against dismissal, the right to which has been vested in the appointed teachers so far. The author also believes that the changes currently being implemented are only the first stage of the reform, which should result in a significant increase in financial outlays for higher education institutions and in the approximation of the level of salaries of university teachers to standards in developed countries.