Logistics has become a fashionable subject in recent years. We were somewhat surprised to learn that this subject is already being taught at over a dozen universities in the country. The eclectic nature of logistics itself meant that the theme of the discussion at the aforementioned Forum was: Logistician – engineer or economist? This means that it is a field of knowledge not yet clearly assigned to either of these professions. As a result, logistics is found in the curricula of universities, technical universities, economic academies, military schools, a number of bachelor’s vocational schools, and others. Current logistics lecturers come from various fields, as the subject essentially attempts to be a synthesis of different disciplines. There are marketing specialists, as logistics also involves distribution channels; there are engineers, as a fragment of this field is production logistics; there are economists specializing in materials management; and finally, there are economists dealing with transport. I have only listed the main groups dealing with logistics. There are likely many more. The situation is similar in the West. M. Christopher or J. Langley Jr. come from marketing, while H.Ch. Pfohl is an engineer, to name a few scholars most well-known in Poland. It is therefore worth considering how consistent the logistics specialization programs are and how similar the contents of the same lectures are. I will try to answer the first part of this question.
To compare the logistics specialization, the programs of the University of Economics in Katowice, the Poznań University of Economics, the Poznań University of Technology, the University of Gdańsk, the College of Logistics in Poznań, and the International University of Logistics and Transport in Wrocław were adopted. The choice of these universities resulted more from the kindness of the individuals who provided the author with the study programs than from a conscious selection, however, I have the impression that it confirms the observation made earlier. I would also like to clearly state that my goal is not to evaluate or judge individual programs, but to compare them as objectively as possible.
The first conclusion after comparing the programs is that this specialization is found not only at different types of universities but also in different fields of study. For those who are not familiar, I explain that fields of study are determined by the Main Council for Higher Education at the Ministry of Education and Sport, while specializations are determined freely by individual universities, but they must be assigned to specific fields of study. Until now, higher vocational schools were exempt from the obligation to assign specializations to specific fields of study. Under the new Law on Higher Education, this obligation will also cover vocational schools. For individual fields of study, separate minimum curriculum requirements are defined, which means that students, before reaching specialized subjects related to logistics, go through a completely different program.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 4/2004.