‘Publish or Perish’: Social Science University Programmes In Central and Eastern Europe

There is the general expectation that universities (higher education institutions), especially public universities, should deliver high-level education, should play a significant role in the development of society (social impact), and that academicians are expected to deliver basic research and publish its results (academic impact). This essay discusses whether these three core dimensions are well-balanced in the current university system. The answer is very close to ‘no’, as in most countries, and especially in countries using performance financing allocation of public grants to universities, the academic impact receives too much attention. Unfortunately, too heavy of a focus on academic impact delivers critical moral dilemmas, especially in countries with lower academic ethics (probably all countries in the Central and Eastern Europe region fall into this category).