Faculties of Polish universities that have developed the best programmes of study or implemented the most advanced education quality improvement programmes will receive PLN 1 million (cca EUR 244 000) each.

The Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education announced, in accordance with the Polish law on higher education introduced last November, a competition which forms a step forward in the campaign for recognising the best study programmes prepared in line with all the requirements of the National Qualifications Framework for higher education. The winning universities can use the competitive grants for innovative capacity-building activities that help transform old programmes of study to new result-oriented programmes that focus on the skills and competencies of the students in addition to knowledge imparted by the teachers. For example, they can use the grants to cover costs associated with the implementation of apprenticeships, improvement of the skills of teaching academics or partnership with external stakeholders. With this being the goal, only programmes developed before 1 October 2011 and those that are not using standard learning outcomes set out in a 2011 regulation on the model of learning outcomes are eligible to compete.

All applications will be evaluated by a jury appointed by the Minister of Science and Higher Education. The evaluation criteria are organised around the social-economic relevance of the study programmes and the intellectual/professional skills acquired by the students. In case of programmes with a practical profile, the connectivity between the institutions, their graduates and external stakeholders such as the employers forms part of the evaluation.

This competition signals a national effort in Poland to enhance the quality of its higher education through competitive funding and capacity building initiatives supporting the transformation of old study programmes into competence-based programmes.

Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (in Polish)