The article is devoted to Professor Ryszard Borowicz, his research and critical analysis of the changes taking place in the Polish higher education. Ryszard Borowicz was their researcher, witness and participant, as well as, in many aspects, also their co-author, fulfilling many political, management and social functions in that period. The article aims to analyze the transformation of the Polish higher education from the point of view of Borowicz’s critical position, whose research interests were centred on revealing hidden forms of inequality in access to education. The analysis presented in this article is concentrated on the three most import_ant processes: (a) massification of higher education, (b) marketisation of higher education and (c) demographic decline as the most import_ant factors influencing the availability and quality of the education offered by the Polish higher education institutions. The text contains references to a large number of disputes and debates that I had with Professor Ryszard Borowicz throughout the past decade, for which unfortunately I did not manage to thank him.