Asset Management of Polish Universities

In recent years higher education in Poland has been facing serious problems. Due to the demographic fall, fewer and fewer students continue their education at universities. On the other hand, competition between institutions is quite large, because in Poland there are now 470 of them (including 132 public universities and 338 private ones), which is the largest number of higher education institutions in Europe.The decreasing number of students results in lowering the income from tuition fees, as well as a real reduction of state subsidies. At the same time labor costs, energy prices, the media, etc, are rising. Some of the universities with help from the EU have also invested in infrastructure, new buildings. Due to the smaller number of students, they remain unused, contributing to the worsening of the financial situation of many universities.However, the problem does not only concern educational buildings. Many universities, in particular public ones, have significant assets in Poland also for other use (commercial, service, residential, etc), which is not well exploited and managed as well.Undoubtedly, the asset management process involves making decisions regarding the formation of the rational structure of property, sources of financing, assessing the effectiveness of the use of individual assets and thus affects the economic situation of each university. Irrational management led to increase of operating cost, lowers budgetary incomes, disorganizes management process. The general aim of the study is to provide insight into the principles of asset management of universities in Poland on the example of a public university - University of Gdansk. Main problems faced by Polish universities will be presented in the field of asset management, asset management determinants of universities, as well as the attempt will be made to identify possible solutions to improve the efficiency of asset management universities in Poland. Developing the answers to the above stated problem can contribute to the competitiveness and greater efficiency of the universities in making real estate decisions that determine higher education institution investment and development. The contribution of the project to a new knowledge area is, therefore, not only of theoretical nature, but has scientific and applicability values in the first place. The experience of the Polish market also may support development of asset management universities in other countries.