Uniwersytety ludowe w II Rzeczypospolitej (zarys problemu)
Folk Universities in the Second Polish Republic (An Outline of the Issue)

Summary/Abstract: The interest on the part of educational communities of the idea of folk universities – an extracurricular educational venue aimed at the young from rural areas and providing leaders in educational and cultural work with education so as to fulfill the needs of their region – increased along with Poland regaining independence. In fact, in the interwar Poland, an active movement of folk universities was created (consisting of 27 institutions of the kind). Father Antoni Ludwiczak, Ignacy Solarz, Jadwiga Dziubińska were the people who played an exceptional role in its development. The first Polish folk university in the inerwar Poland was opened with the initiative of the People’s Libraries Societies (Polish: Towarzystwo Czytelni Ludowych) in Dalki near Gniezno, on 5th October in 1921. The above-mentioned Father Antoni Ludwiczak, who was in charge of the society, became the director of the university. In the institution, similarly to other universities established later by the society (in Zagórze in Kaszuby in 1926, in Odolanów in the south of Wielkopolska aimed at the young from Silesia – in 1927) the education of Catholic Poles was emphasised. The curriculum realised in the university was characterised by its distinctly dominant historic and literary content. The educational profile in the university in Dalki did not satisfy some of the young people from rural areas, who were becoming more radical in social and ideal terms as well as the peasant activists from the older generation associated with them. In these circles, it was claimed that it was not “rural” enough. As a consequence, a new (rural) folk university was established – in 1924 in Szyce – fulfilling the idea of the co-called “folk school”, the main founder of which was Ignacy Solarz. The educational profile of the institution (later continued, most of all, in the folk university in Gać Przeworska) resulted from its associations with the young peasant movement and with the tendencies to educate the young from rural areas in close cooperation with peasant social class and their attempts to reconstruct the Polish countryside politically, socially and culturally, as well as the country itself. The folk university in Sokołówek was established (for female students) in 1927 and was directed by Jadwiga Dziubińska based on ideological foundations similar to the main assumptions of the concept of I. Solarz. However, it realised the model of university as an institution which, on the one hand, improved vocational preparation (especially in terms of agronomic practice) and, on the other hand – was a general expansion of general agricultural education on a lower level (the university enrolled graduates from folk agricultural schools).

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