Collegium Intermarium is a private college affiliated with Ordo Iuris, an ultra-conservative Polish Catholic legal organisation and think tank. Its rector is Bartosz Lewandowski, who is also the head of the Ordo Iuris Centre for Litigation Intervention. Among Collegium Intermarium’s faculties you can find, for example, postgraduate studies in "virtue ethics and the real good in the post-modern era" or studies in the international human rights system taught in English.

As reported by Wirtualne Media, a new major - "Journalism and Modern Social Communication" - will be added to the college’s curriculum from October 2023. How much do you have to pay to study there and who are the lecturers? The names should come as no surprise.

Most Polish universities have already announced admission results, but as I mentioned in my earlier article, many are yet to start recruitment processes. One of these is Collegium Intermarium.

Collegium Intermarium is a private higher education facility operating since 2021. The studies are based on traditional and Christian values, Greek philosophy, and "Roman order". As its website explains, the college is "an expression of opposition to the deep crisis of humanity of morality and civilisation".

"Collegium Intermarium is an elite college for people who have high expectations of themselves and do not accept mediocrity. [...] When there is less and less room for free academic debate, Collegium is a space for scholars and students who are not afraid to ask serious questions," reads the website.

Among a few partners of the Collegium Intermarium, Ordo Iuris is also listed. It should therefore come as no surprise to anyone that the chairman of the college’s board of trustees is Jerzy Kwaśniewski, president and founder of Ordo Iuris itself. As Wirtualne Media reports, many lecturers are also employees of the ultra-conservative organisation.

In October, the Ordo Iuris college intends to open a new major, namely "Journalism and Modern Social Communication". Its core subjects will include critical information analysis and journalistic ethics.

In the description, we can read that Poland lacks journalism courses led by practitioners. That is why Collegium Intermarium decided to invite journalists such as Rafał Ziemkiewicz, Paweł Lisicki and Łukasz Warzecha to cooperate. What do they all have in common? They are all employed or associated with the right-wing weekly "Do Rzeczy".

How much does it cost to acquire knowledge from right-wing journalists? For one year of full-time or extramural studies one will have to pay 5400 zlotys (€1216) in a single payment. Interestingly, it is not really known yet whether the course will start at all. The college website notes that it will be launched on the condition that the Minister of Education and Science, Przemysław Czarnek, gives his permission.

It is worth adding that even if the journalism major is created, it may encounter problems enlisting a significant number of students. Last year we wrote that Collegium Internarium admitted only 15 students in the previous academic year.

This year is no better. Wirtualna Polska reported that the college's full-time law degree programme has only 14 students. However, this does not prevent it from being awarded grants. In 2021 and 2022, the college and the foundation that runs it received a grant of almost 2.7 million zlotys (€610,000) from the Ministry of Education and Science.

Source: Wirtualne Media, Wirtualna Polska