No science without freedom - president
There is no science without freedom and no freedom without science, President Andrzej Duda said Thursday at the inauguration of the new academic year at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, south Poland.
In his address Duda said that science and freedom were among the fundaments of statehood and that Poland needed educated elites.
"There is no science without freedom and no freedom without science. Freedom in every sense of the word - also the freedom to express and present one's views, to have views, freedom of thought. Because it is free thought that enhances science", Duda said. He reminded that in the dark moments of Poland's history it was the Polish elites who "preserved their values, a sense of patriotism and the science ethos".
Duda stressed that in order to boost its economy and improve government Poland needed to make maximum use of the potential inherent in its universities.
"If today we speak about repairing the economy, about innovation and good government, we should draw on the research conducted by Polish universities, it should be implemented", the president declared.
Duda, himself a Jagiellonian University graduate and former staffer, said it was an honour for him to attend the inauguration gala and reminded that he would not be Poland's president today if not for "everything he received" from the school.
In his address Jagiellonian University Rector Wojciech Nowak remarked that Polish science and universities stood before the need to modernise and appealed for "pragmatic and action-oriented" reforms. (PAP)
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