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The education of Polish society was a goal of rulers as early as the 12th century. The library catalog of the Cathedral Chapter of Kraków dating back to 1110 shows that already in the early 12th century Polish intellectuals had access to the European literature. In 1364, in Kraków, the Jagiellonian University, founded by King Casimir III, became one of Europe's great early universities. In 1773 King Stanisław August Poniatowski established his Commission on National Education (Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), the world's first state ministry of education. Today, Poland has more than a hundred tertiary education institutions; traditional universities to be found in its major cities of Gdańsk, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź,Olsztyn, Poznań, Rzeszów, Toruń, Warsaw and Wrocław as well as technical, medical, economic institutions elsewhere, employing around 61,000 workers. There are also around 300 research and development institutes, with about 10,000 more researchers. In total, there are around 91,000 scientists in Poland today. According to a recent report by the European Commission, Poland is low down on the list of EU states in the area of innovation (Poland ranks 21st). Conditions for knowledge creation, are worsening, particularly due to a decline in business Research and development, from 0.28% of GDP in 1998 to 0.16% in 2003. Public R&D expenditures were 0.43% of GDP in 2003. The share of university R&D funded by the business sector has also declined, indicating that firms have not turned to outsourcing research to make up for declining R&D expenditures. Partly due to very low levels of R&D, the process of transition of Poland to a knowledge economy is slow. |
The share of the telecom sector in the GDP is 4.4% (end of 2000 figure), compared to 2.5% in 1996. Nevertheless, despite high expenditures for telecom infrastructure (the coverage increased from 78 users per 1000 inhabitants in 1989 to 282 in 2000) Telephones - mobile cellular: 25.3 million (Raport Telecom Team 2005) Telephones - main lines in use: 12.5 million (Raport Telecom Team 2005)
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Rail: Poland's railways constitute one of the larger railway systems in the European Union, with 23,420 kilometres (14,552 miles) of network (1998). Access to track has been opened up to competition as required by the EU. However, delays by successive Governments in reforming the state railway company, PKP, combined with the imposition of severe budgetary constraints, have caused a major cash crisis. Refurbishment of the network, bringing key routes into line with the standards on western European railway networks, is proceeding very slowly, and serious arrears of maintenance have resulted in the imposition of speed restrictions on many other lines. Line closures and the withdrawal of feeder services similar to those that took place in the UK under the 'Beeching Axe' have accelerated since 2000. Road: By Western European standards, Poland has a relatively poor infrastructure of expressways/highways. The Government has undertaken a program to improve the standard of a number of significant national highways by 2013. The total length of expressways/highways is 364,657 kilometers (226,587 mi). There are a total of 9,283,000 registered passenger automobiles, as well as 1,762,000 registered trucks and buses (2000). Air: Poland has ten major airports (in decreasing order of traffic: Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Poznań, Szczecin, Rzeszów, Bydgoszcz and Łódź), a total of 123 airports and airfields, as well as three heliports. The number of passengers at Polish airports has consistently increased since 1991. Marine: The total length of navigable rivers and canals is 3,812 kilometers (2,369 mi). The merchant marine consists of 114 ships, with an additional 100 ships registered outside the country. The principal ports and harbors are: Port of Gdańsk, Port of Gdynia, Port of Szczecin, Port of Świnoujście, Port of Ustka, Port of Kolobrzeg, Gliwice, Warsaw, Wrocław. |
Poland Information: Inside
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