embassy events 2008 

Lazarski School Hosts Ambassador Ashe

11 June 2008

Ambassador Ashe at Lazarski School

U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe visited the Lazarski School in Warsaw to attend a session on public administration on June 9.  In his remarks, Ambassador Ashe addressed the differences in approach toward local government in the United States and in Poland.  Opening the meeting, Mr. Juliusz Madej, the President of the Lazarski School, welcomed Ambassador Ashe, Chairman of the Constitutional Tribunal Mr. Jerzy Stepien, and the other attendees – members of the School Board and faculty members.

In his speech, Ambassador Ashe stressed that there are significant differences between the Polish and American systems of government administration.  As examples, he cited differences in how police, tax systems and highway construction are organized.  In the United States, local authorities have much more freedom when it comes to allocating resources, and so can expeditiously satisfy the basic needs of local communities.  If a local issue is successfully resolved, this pattern is frequently copied in other communities.  Should the attempt fail, it is small-scale, not a national-level failure.  Ambassador Ashe underscored the value of adopting such practices in Poland while taking into account local conditions and history. Certainly, he said, it is not true that what proves to function well in the United States will also function well in Poland.

Dr. Andrzej Kondratowicz of the Department of Economy and Management highlighted that the Lazarski School wants to absorb knowledge from the best thus assuring the students a possibility to study at the highest world level. This is exactly why the School cooperates with American universities and applies for accreditation from U.S. educational institutions.  He also talked about the School’s plans related to the launching of the School of Public Administration in cooperation with the University of Kentucky.  As Professor Andrzej Sulima Kaminski pointed out, Polish public administration students should have a chance to study for at least one semester in the United States in order to learn more about valuable solutions at the local level.