The number of employees in theological colleges more than other colleges? The numbers do not match

Are there more academics studying theology in Polish public universities than academics in other faculties? This is indicated by the circulating graph on social networking sites, which the author tried to show on the example of several universities. He chose four universities: Szczecin, Opole, Warmia-Masuria, Silesia – each one gave the number of researchers in theological faculties (underlined in red) and in two or three other faculties selected: mathematics, philosophy, biology and computer science. He did not specify the period to which this data relates. The comparison shows that in these universities there are more academics in the faculties of philosophy than in the other universities indicated.

PośleSlawomirNitras, What do you think of such a situation in Polish universities and the fact that the theological universities of the Catholic Church (Catholic Church – ed.) are financed from the Polish budget? “- asked on August 30th on Twitter Sławomir Nitras, a member of the Civic Alliance, a netizen, attached a drawing to his entry. Also published on 5 September by Andrzej Szejnfeld, KO Senator. If this is true, then the claim that we are heading straight not towards ‘Silicon Valley’ but towards ‘The Middle Ages’ is fully justified! hung On Twitter (post has already been deleted). A post with the described graphics was sent to Konkret24 by a reader asking if this is true.

The summary provides the following information:

Szczecin University

• Faculty of Theology – 80 researchers
• Mathematics – 26 researchers
• Philosophy – 5 researchers.

University of Warmia and Mazury

• Faculty of Theology – 43 researchers
• Mathematics – 35 researchers
• Computer science – 30 researchers.

Opole University

• Faculty of Theology – 53 Academies
• Computer Science – 27 researchers
• Mathematics – 22 researchers
• Philosophy – 14.

University of Silesia

• Faculty of Theology – 80 researchers
• Biology and Environmental Protection – 78 researchers
• Mathematics – 71 researchers
• Philosophy – 33 academics.

Official data from the university

We asked the universities on the list about the accuracy of staff numbers given there and asked for current data. The answers given show that it is difficult to show the number of employees in certain fields of study in the same way, because universities organize the recruitment of researchers differently: some departments combine several areas, and in the case of some areas of study, employees work not in departments, but in institutes. So the unity of the university as a college is one thing and another as a field of study – and this cannot always be compared.

However, the answers we received correspond as faithfully as possible to the comparison of the published drawings and a conclusion can be drawn from them. Universities have informed us of the following:

Szczecin University

• Institute of Mathematics – 22 researchers
• Institute of Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences – 17 researchers
• Institute of Theological Sciences – 24 researchers.

University of Warmia and Mazury

• Faculty of Theology – 27 faculty and research staff
• Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science – 42 research and 25 teaching staff.

Opole University

• Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science – 43 faculty and research staff
• Institute of History – 29 research and teaching bodies (Philosophy is a 7-member chair of faculty and research, staff work in the Institute of History, not Philosophy)
• Institute of Theological Sciences – 28 faculty and research staff.

University of Silesia

• Faculty of Theology – 39 faculty and research staff, 1 faculty member
• Faculty of Natural Sciences (the lectures here include Biology and Environmental Protection) – 237 faculty and research staff, 25 faculty members, 7 research staff members
• Faculty of Exact and Technical Sciences (here, among other things, lectures on mathematics) – 261 researchers and teachers, 65 faculty members, 12 researchers
• Faculty of Humanities (here, among others, lectures on philosophy) – 459 members of the teaching and research staff, 123 members of the teaching staff, 3 members of the research staff.

The presented data show that the number of researchers in theological faculties of each of the indicated universities is lower than in the graphs from the Internet. The ratio at Szczecin University is 22, not 80; at the University of Warmia and Mazury – 27, not 43; at Opole University – 28, not 53; At the University of Silesia – 40, not 80. Statistics from universities do not confirm this – with the exception of Szczecin, where the proportions are very small – there are currently more academics in theological faculties of the above-mentioned universities than in the above-mentioned specific fields of study.