“We haven’t got enough welders. I know it doesn’t sound ambitious but it’s better to be a working welder than an unemployed poor political scientist,” stated Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister and subsequent President of the European Council, in a 2012 radio interview. Tusk referred to the situation in the labor market, expectations regarding higher education institutions, and the popularity of political science as a field of study. What changed in the following decade? Do political science curricula meet the requirements of today’s labor market? Which strategies show promise and which are less effective?

This article discusses measures undertaken by Polish political science departments to prepare students for the labor market. So far, four strategies seem to be effective: additional classes teaching soft-skill competencies, advisory councils, internships, and dual studies. Although these solutions have been implemented at several Polish universities, this article focuses on the political science department at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

The popularity of political science in Poland in the 2000s resulted in many unemployed people with political science degrees. From 2000 to 2005, there were 54,000 political science students, or 3.2% of the total number of students in Poland. As a major, political science was offered not only at prestigious universities in Poland; it was offered at 43 universities at the bachelor’s and master’s levels, which often were new programs with inexperienced lecturers without a quality-oriented attitude. The oversupply of political science studies downgraded the definition of a political scientist (and “humanist” in general), who was perceived as a person with limited prospects on the job market.

International organizations suggest that Polish universities should demonstrate higher sensitivity to the needs of the labor market (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2019). These recommendations aligned with Pereira and Costa (Reference Pereira and Costa2017), who argued for the implementation of diversified pedagogical practices focused on interpersonal relations, communication, and personal development. Surveys among Polish employers identified soft skills as the most common competency deficiencies among graduates across all majors (Manpower Group 2018).

Soft skills are taught by most political science programs in Poland; however, in practice, they seem to still be underdeveloped. The quality of education and methodological shortcomings pose a challenge for soft-skill teaching in the political science field. Faculty members usually are well qualified to teach political science courses, but their methodological preparation and didactic experience in the field of “the competencies of the future” (World Economic Forum 2020), as well as creative and original thinking, decision making, and interpersonal skills, are minimal or nonexistent.

An important element of the strategy to make political science students attuned to the labor market is to design programs to be more practical. In Poland, political science students choose their specialization (e.g., policy analysis or leadership). Specializations are based on curricula that offer students more practical skills. A specialization track includes an average of eight to 10 classes in the final year of bachelor’s and master’s studies. The introduction of new specializations and the modification of existing ones were well received by students and external stakeholders. Many political science graduates presented themselves to the labor market (e.g., on LinkedIn) emphasizing their specialization more than their major.

Another change in political science programs was the institutionalization of external advisory councils. Political science departments in Poland appointed advisory bodies, including economic, business, and social councils. These councils are composed of business representatives, potential employers, and successful political science graduates. Their main task is to assess concepts and contents of political science curricula from the perspective of labor-market needs. Consequently, in agreement with employers and in response to their needs, political science faculty can create more practical curricula. The use of social and economic councils is not without controversy. On the one hand, based on employers’ suggestions, political science programs are supplemented with courses offering skills required in the job market (i.e., courses overlap with specialization-track classes). On the other hand, the councils apparently have a superficial and somewhat inactive role because their potential is not fully used.

To prepare their students for future employment, political science departments began to implement initiatives beyond the formal curricula. Placement programs turned out to be the most effective. Political science departments developed projects, defined their goals, and detailed budgets. The acquisition of potential employers was an important part of these activities. Placement grants for students were financed by European Union funds.

In 2015–2019, I directed a project titled “A Bridge to the Labor Market” that was managed by the political science department at Poznań. As part of the project, the department established relationships with 188 employers with whom 304 political science students completed a three-month internship. The majority of interns (56%) chose public and local administration offices, public institutions, and foundations; 8% interned in media-related institutions (i.e., TV and radio stations and local and state newspapers); and 36% interned in private companies, including international companies (e.g., Volkswagen, Nivea, McKinsey, Ikea, DHL, Danone, and Carl Zeiss), the biggest Polish employers (i.e., KGHM and PGNiG), as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises. The internship programs were 80% to 100% in compliance with the requirements of the political science curriculum, which implied convergence of professional prospects and the main field of study.

The most advanced form of preparing political science students for professional employment in Poland is the concept of dual studies (i.e., work and study combined), which involves traditional academic studies and internship experiences at institutions and companies that have working relationships with political science departments. The dual-study model typically is based on dividing a semester into two months of study and two months of work. Internships commence at the beginning of the third semester and continue until the end of the sixth semester. A student may complete the entire internship at one or more organizations. The university develops individual internship plans in consultation with an employer and a student. Students receive approval from their employers for implementing their internship tasks. Because an internship is mandatory, students must have successfully completed it to graduate.

Internships allow employers to observe students in a real work environment. After graduation, a student automatically becomes a potential valuable employee who does not need additional training. For political science students, the dual-study concept provides the opportunity to acquire work experience in their field of study and to perfect their soft skills while completing their degree. The German experience (Euler Reference Euler2013) suggests that dual studies can be a useful model for political science in Poland.

So far, only one political science department in Poland (i.e., Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań) has introduced the dual-study model. Employers, faculty members, and students contribute to the development of each internship program. The internship and study programs are fully integrated. Dual studies follow the formula of “three days at a university and two days at work.” This is a novel approach because the dual-study model usually divides a semester into three months of studying and three months of working. As of June 2021, 112 students had completed their dual studies, and 46 were employed by the company or the institution where they had interned in the past three years. This is considered a major success of the program.

Was Donald Tusk right? When the Polish prime minister diagnosed labor-market needs in 2012, there were 4,800 registered unemployed welders and only 3,600 unemployed political scientists. Apparently, Tusk did not read the statistical data. The key word in his diagnosis was “poor”—that is, poor political science graduates who cannot meet labor-market requirements.

On the one hand, labor-office statistics, recruitment agencies analyses, and LinkedIn search reports show that there are few employment offers for political scientists. For example, in October 2021, pracuj.pl—the most popular employment portal in Poland—listed only 10 job offers for political science graduates and LinkedIn listed only seven. On the other hand, unemployment statistics do not support the idea that political science studies “educate the future unemployed.” Political science graduates are performing increasingly better in the labor market, which has been confirmed by statistics pertaining to graduates of the five largest political science departments in Poland (Polish Graduate Tracking System 2021, appendix). In 2014, political science graduates at the bachelor’s level sought jobs for 4.63 months, on average; in 2019, the average was only 2.77 months. Positive changes also are observed at the master’s level: in 2014, these political science graduates spent 4.33 months looking for a job; in 2019, it was only 2.2 months. During the same period, the average job search time for graduates in all other social science courses was shorter. Specifically, in 2014, it was 2.09 months for bachelor’s graduates and 1.73 months for master’s graduates; in 2019, it was 1.73and 1.21 months, respectively. From 2014 to 2019, the relative unemployment rate decreased. The rate is calculated as unemployment among graduates in the first year after graduation relative to the unemployment rate at their residency. (Values below 1 indicate that average unemployment among graduates is lower than the unemployment rate at their permanent residence.) In 2014, the relative unemployment rate among political science graduates with bachelor’s and master’s degrees was 0.32 and 1.07, respectively; in 2019, it was 0.26 (an excellent result) and 0.93, respectively. The rate for graduates of all other social science courses was as follows: in 2014, 0.65 for bachelor’s and 0.94 for master’s; in 2019, it was 0.61 and 0.93, respectively.

The real status of political science graduates in the labor market confirms their above-average professional mobility, understood as inventiveness, operability, and resourcefulness. We might argue that competencies supporting mobility are more important than the diploma. Political science departments must strengthen this mobility. Without abandoning their academic profile, political science departments can and should combine the high quality of a strictly political science education with the practical dimension, support placement programs, and include workshops that foster soft skills. These are the best strategies for producing the best results.

Does making studies more practical mean that the field of political science goes in the direction of vocational studies? It is a pivotal and frequent question in Poland. If so, how can we define the benchmark for professional qualities of a “future political scientist?” Is it even possible, bearing in mind the variety of professions in which Polish political science graduates are engaged? These questions create an opportunity for a critical dialogue.