The Origins of the Flying University and the Society of Scientific Courses
Since the beginning of 1977 groups of students begun to participate in courses organized outside the official educational institutions. This was due to the censorship of official university curricula in humanities and social sciences, especially in literature, history, philosophy, sociology and economy. At the beginning the unofficial courses were organized within the network of academic ministry. The Flying University started its operation in the spring of 1977 in Krakow and in the autumn that year in Warsaw by organizing public lectures and seminars in private apartments. On January 22nd 1978 several outstanding Polish scientists signed The Founding Declaration of the Society of Scientific Courses. The main goals of the initiative – which remained unrecognized by authorities – was not only to organize and patronize independent teaching, but also to grant scholarships and to publish books in samizdat. The activities of the Society were backed by the Catholic Church, but the communist authorities tried to suppress them. The author of the paper describes the circumstances in which both the Flying University and the Society of Scientific Courses were organized.
