The structure of the Polish pension insurance system, despite many reforms carried out in recent years, is still mainly based on the pay-as-you-go (repartition) pillar. To make it work properly, a constant inflow of participants who will pay contributions, thanks to which it will be possible to pay benefits to current beneficiaries, is necessary. At the same time, a negative demographic trend is observed, which can be a signal that more and more people are going to be paid from the system, while fewer people are going to provide money to it. Therefore, the question arises: How much time is there left for repartition-based pension insurance system to last? Is this system really a vehicle of economic and social development or retrograde rather? This article is an attempt to answer such question using the example of the Polish pension insurance system (PIS). To answer this question, linear trend models were used in the analysis. The adjustment of these models to reality was high, and on their basis, the forecasts for the following years were estimated. The variables used in the analysis are time, number of people, and the value of contributions and withdrawals. According to the research, it can be concluded that Polish pension insurance system has about 60 years to last in such form. Demographic changes are definitely unfavorable, and the age gap is getting bigger and bigger. This means that fewer people are going to provide money for those who are inactive.

Research background: Despite the fact that the issue of private, decentralized digital money (cryptocurrencies) is already quite extensively described in the literature dedicated to the financial system, especially its periphery, there is a deficiency in terms of research on the opinions of participants in the financial system, based on trust in money and its widespread acceptance. International comparative studies are lacking, particularly those conducted before and after the COVID-19 virus pandemic. The pandemic showed that people had significantly changed their willingness to use different forms of money. Being isolated at home and avoiding direct contact with others, people started to use digital money more frequently. Purpose of the article: In response to the identified research gap, this study reports research results on the perception of cryptocurrencies by young financial market participants. It attempts to provide answers to the following research questions: (1) Has the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown of economies caused changes at the international level in perceptions and attitudes toward the traditional monetary system and cryptocurrencies? (2) Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed perceptions of cryptocurrencies as a potential alternative to current fiat money? Methods: To evaluate respondents’ opinions, a survey in the form of a questionnaire was conducted. The respondent groups in 2019/2020 were N = 171 (Germany = 143 and Poland = 128), while in 2021, N = 157 (Germany = 95 and Poland = 62). For analytical purposes, statistical analysis using the Z ratio test was used to capture the characteristics of the response distributions and the relationships between them. These two moments in time allowed us to determine whether there were significant changes between opinions before and after COVID-19. Findings & value added: The study’s results showed that while there are significant differences in perceptions of the traditional monetary system and cryptocurrencies due to a variety of factors, the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of economies did not cause statistically significant differences in this regard.

This article explores the implementation of a tandem course that integrates gamification and interactive teaching methods and investigates how this model affects teacher motivation and participant engagement, particularly in higher education contexts. This study also highlights the potential of tandem teaching beyond its traditional use in language learning and provides qualitative and quantitative insights into the experiences of both course participants and educators, showing how collaborative, gamified teaching strategies can inspire more effective, student-centered pedagogy. It examines how the course was developed, the outcomes in terms of teachers’ engagement and the enhancement in learning experiences, and proposes a new perspective on how education can be restructured. The study emphasizes that traditional, lecture-based teaching is no longer sufficient in engaging modern learners and teachers too. By adopting more digital, student-centered approaches, we suggest that subjects can be reimagined as more interactive and teacher–student-friendly. The main question stated in the article sounds like the following: “How does gamification and interactive teaching methodologies, like tandem course, affect teacher and participant engagement and motivation?”. To address this question, a study was conducted based on the tandem course titled “Gamification in the learning process and interactive teaching methodologies” prepared within the FORTHEM Alliance by three united universities. It was delivered online during four meetings in May 2024.

Great differences are observed in the way of living, the quality of living, and the type of property ownership in individual countries of the world. However, housing affordability is currently a significant issue in every developed country. At the same time, it is also an important factor of economic development on both the national and regional level. The paper is focused on the comparison of housing affordability in the Czech and Polish regions. The presented research combines four different commonly used indicators of housing affordability (financial and physical) into a newly defined index and applies it to the Czech Republic and Poland regions for the period 2020-2022. The aim is the comparison of Czech and Polish regions according to the selected housing indicators and calculated standard housing affordability index SAI, which is a newly created index compiled by the authors. The result of the research is a calculation of housing availability in a total of 30 Czech and Polish regions and a comparison of the development of housing availability in 2020 and 2022 in these regions. The result of the research is the finding that the availability of housing in the Czech regions is on average lower than in the Polish regions and, in addition, that the availability has decreased compared to 2020 in both the Czech and Polish regions by 2022.