Universities empty as the cradles

In Poland the demographic fall is becoming disquieting. The decline of newborns, that in the last five years was of 1/5, is estimated at -16% for the 0-14 aged ones within 2035. The SOS is sent out by the Socrates Institute of Warsaw, that in its report “The demographic tsunami” points out among all consequences how the academic world is going to be affected by the phenomenon. Several universities, indeed, have already been forced to delay the lectures start this year in the hope to be able to sign up some late freshmen. Moreover, few institutes, among which the Academy of Cracow, have gone as far as deleting entire degree courses, such as sociology and economy. The crisis may be even worsened by the fact that the smaller the number of juniors, the easier the access to the most prestigious universities. With the result of an additional penalization for the less famous and rich ones. To cope with this challenge, many faculties have decided to try by every, sometimes even bizarre, possible means to gain one more subscription. From the offer of scholarships to the promise of clemency at the exams. According to the Ministry of Education, however, the only possible solution for this emergency situation may be the immigration of foreign students, mostly Ukrainians and Byelorussians.