You are kindly welcome to participate in the Second Progress Review Conference of the Universities participating in the first call under the ‘Excellence Initiative – Research University’ (IDUB) programme, to be held on 8–9 September 2021 in Cracow. The conference is organised by the Ministry of Education and Science in collaboration with Jagiellonian University and with the support of members of the international panel of experts reviewing the proposals in the call.

The first call under the IDUB programme was held by the Ministry in 2019. As a result, 10 out of 20 universities eligible to enter in the call, which all became participants of the programme, receive in the years 2020–2026 a 10-percent rise in subsidy for the implementation of the development plans outlined in their call proposals. Other universities participating in the call benefit from a 2-percent subsidy rise.

The conference will focus on human capital investments, in particular on issues related to recruitment, advancement and ensuring adequate work conditions for the most talented researchers (including early stages of their academic career) and on the achievements in the field of integrating the potential of the IDUB universities with other entities. The conference also comes as an opportunity to present initiatives carried out by the 10 runner-up universities that took part in the call and, as a result, have benefited from a 2-per-cent subsidy rise.

The conference will be held held in English. The event will be arranged in a hybrid mode, with participation possible upon electronic registration (a registration form is available HERE). Once registered, you will be sent an email confirming your participation. On-line participants will be able to ask the panellists questions via chat .

 

We are looking forward to see you!

 

Regulations of the Conference

Conference programme

Presentation template

 

Moderators of conference sessions:
 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Lauritz Holm-Nielsen
– chair of the review panel during the first call under the ‘Excellence Initiative – Research University’ programme. Rector of Aarhus University in the years 2005–2013. Co-author of the report on Poland’s science and higher education system: ‘2017 Peer Review Report on Poland’s Higher Education and Science System,’ written by the European Commission experts under the Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility. In the past, he was active in many roles at institutions supporting higher education and science, e.g. as vice-president of the European University Association in the years 2012–2015, and as the World Bank’s chief expert for higher education in the years 1993–2005. He acted as executive director at the Sino-Danish Centre in Beijing between 2013 and 2018. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Simon Gaskell
– chair of the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) Board, and member of the Governing Body, University of Plymouth. In the years 2006–2009 he served as vice-president for research at the University of Manchester, and in the years 2009–2017 as the principal of Queen Mary University of London. Former treasurer of UK Universities, an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom, and head of the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Board in the years 2013–2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Éva Kondorosi
– she presides over a symbiosis and functional genomics unit at the Biological Research Centre in Hungary. Since 2020 she has been a member of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors of the European Commission. Before she was a member of the ERC Scientific Council (2013–2018), and in 2017-2018 its Vice-President (Life Sciences). She has been a founding member and science director of the CNRS Institute of Plant Sciences (Institut des Sciences du Végétale), and the founding director of the BAYGEN Institute (Hungary). She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Academia Europaea, Leopoldina, French Agricultural Academy and European Academy of Microbiology. She is a board member of Academia Europaea and a former member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board. She received the Balzan prize in 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Sir Christopher Snowden
– chair of the ERA Foundation, a British organisation supporting engineering and innovation skills development, since May 2019. Chair of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Judging Panel (2015-2021). Former vice-chancellor of Surrey University (2005–2015) and the University of Southampton (2015 to 2019). President of Universities UK in the years 2013–2015. President Institiution of Engineering and Technology (2009-10). UK Prime Minister’s Council of Science and Technology (2011-16).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Enric Banda 
– PhD in Physics, 1979, University of Barcelona. Post-doc at the ETH, Zurich. Research Professor in 1987. Former Secretary of State for Universities and Research, CEO European Science Foundation, Director Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation, Director ICREA, Director Science “la Caixa” Foundation. Author of 160 reviewed scientific papers. Member of the Academia Europaea. Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Former President of Euroscience. Member of the “Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona”.Presently Senior Advisor at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. Strategic Advisor at Leitat Technological Centre. President Advisory Council Science, Technology and Innovation of the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Peter Maassen

– Peter Maassen is professor in higher education studies at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo (UiO), Norway. In addition, he is extraordinary professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and research fellow at the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, New York University, USA. His main research interests are in the area of the governance of higher education and science, and the relationships between higher education and society. Before moving to Norway in 2000, he was acting director of the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), University of Twente, the Netherlands. He has participated in many national and international expert committees and panels in higher education, including an international panel assessing the higher education reform in Denmark, a Norwegian government committee for higher education, and OECD panels reviewing higher education in Japan and Finland. He has been a member of the Executive Board of University College Oslo (now Oslo Metropolitan University), and is currently, amongst other things, member of the executive board of the Barratt Due Music Academy in Oslo. He is the editor of the academic book series Higher Education Dynamics (Springer), and has produced over 250 international articles, books, and reports.

 

1. IDUB programme
2. First IDUB call
3. Review of proposals
4. Laureates of the First IDUB call
5. Second Ten of the First IDUB call
6. Reviewers in the First IDUB call
7. First IDUB Progress Review Conference

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ‘Excellence Initiative – Research University’ (ID-UB) programme is one of the principal measures instituted by the Act of 20 July 2018, ‘Law on higher education and science,’ seeking to comprehensively reform the Polish system of science and higher education.

The programme’s priority is to select and support universities that will seek to achieve the status of a research university, capable of successfully competing with the best academic centres in Europe and around the world.

The first call under the ID-UB programme was held by the Ministry in 2019. As a result, 10 out of 20 universities eligible to enter in the call receive in the years 2020–2026 a 10-percent rise in subsidy for the implementation of the development plans outlined in their call proposals. The other universities participating in the call were granted a 2-percent subsidy rise.

More on the call:
https://www.gov.pl/web/edukacja-i-nauka/i-konkurs-idub

Implementation of the plans presented by the universities under the call will be subject to evaluation. The first interim evaluation will be carried out in 2023, with the final evaluation scheduled for 2026. Beyond that time frame some universities will be eligible for continuation of funding (years 2027–2032), however at least two universities out of those currently participating in the IDUB programme, which will fail the evaluation or score lowest on the ranking list, will not be granted further funding. Places thus rendered vacant will be taken by the universities or federations with successful applications under the next IDUB call in 2026.

 

Monitoring plan implementation
An international panel of experts recommended that an advisory mechanism be launched for monitoring the process of implementing the universities’ plans.

The mechanism would include:

a) annual Progress Review Conferences addressing selected aspects of carrying out the plan (for all 20 universities participating in the call under the IDUB programme),

b) in-situ assessment visits of the international panel members at the universities selected in the first IDUB call.

 

15–16 September 2020 saw the First Progress Review Conference of the participants of the first call under the ‘Excellence Initiative – Research University’ programme, held by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in collaboration with the University of Warsaw. The Conference’s chief subjects were the actions taken by the selected within the first months of implementation of the projects.

More on the First IDUB Conference:
https://www.gov.pl/web/edukacja-i-nauka/i-konferencja-sprawozdawcza-idub

 

2. First IDUB call

 

 

 

 

 

In 2019, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (now replaced by the Ministry of Education and Science) held the first call under the ‘Excellence Initiative – Research University’ (IDUB) programme.

The selection of the laureates was a ground-breaking moment for the higher education and science system. Qualified for the call were 20 top universities in Poland. All met the legal conditions for scientific categories achieved in the last comprehensive evaluation of research units combined with the number of research domains in which the universities pursued research. None of the study programmes offered by the universities entering the call could fail in evaluation by the Polish Accreditation Commission (PKA).

As a result of the call 10 universities were selected to be granted a 10-percent subsidy rise in the years 2020–2026, for the implementation of the development plans outlined in the call proposals. Other universities participating in the call benefit from a 2-percent subsidy rise.

Detailed results of the call
In the Public Information Bulletin on the Ministry of Science and Higher Education website (under this link you will find the complete results of the IDUB’s first call, including:

• a covering letter by the international panel of experts including the summary of the entire process of proposal review,
• reports with the scores of all proposals submitted in the call).

 

3. Review of proposals

 

 

 

 

 

Assistance in preparing proposals
In the proposals reviewed by the experts, the universities presented, among other things, an analysis of their own potential and plans for advancement, including objectives and actions concerning specifically:

• increasing the impact of the universities on the advancement of science globally,
• consolidating research collaboration with renowned foreign research institutions,
• improving the quality of student and doctoral student education,
• improving the universities’ employment policy,
• Improving the quality of university governance.

The universities were also required to name their priority research areas within which they would develop intensive research endeavours.

Under the measure ‘Excellence Strategy – Research University,’ all universities eligible to participate in the first call under the IDUB programme received in 2018 additional funds (amounting from PLN 700,000 to PLN 1 million) intended as assistance in preparing the proposals and in the adequate preliminary research and analyses laying groundwork for participation in the call.

Proposal review: detailed criteria
The proposals submitted by the universities were subject to evaluation taking into account the following criteria:

• quality of the proposal including a plan for the advancement of the university, 
• relevance of the defined objectives for an increased international impact of the university’s activities,
• relevance of the actions planned to the objectives,
• the university's potential.

 

The evaluation was carried out by way of peer review. Additionally indexes specifically measuring the quality of research done at the universities were taken into account.

Apart from reviewing the proposals, the international team interviewed representatives of all universities. The universities also had the opportunity to raise objections to the draft reports. The result of the panel’s work are final reports published on the Ministry’s website, which include a proposal’s grade alongside justification.

 

4. IDUB call laureates

 

 

 

 

 

An international panel of experts selected 10 universities to become research universities in the future.

They are (in the order of the list of universities selected in the competition):

1. University of Warsaw https://inicjatywadoskonalosci.uw.edu.pl

2. Gdańsk University of Technology https://pg.edu.pl/uczelnia-badawcza

3. AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków https://www.agh.edu.pl/uczelnia-badawcza/

3. Warsaw University of Technology https://www.badawcza.pw.edu.pl

3. Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań https://amu.edu.pl/uczelnia-badawcza

3. Jagiellonian University https://id.uj.edu.pl

7. Medical University of Gdańsk https://uczelnia-badawcza.gumed.edu.pl/60347.html

8. Silesian University of Technology https://www.polsl.pl/konferencje/idub/Strony/O_programie.aspx

9. Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun https://www.umk.pl/idub/

10. University of Wrocław https://uni.wroc.pl/uczelnia-badawcza/

 

5. Other universities participating in the IDUB call

 

 

 

 

 

All universities participating in the call met demanding entry conditions regarding research quality and diversity. The universities that have not entered the laureate group receive every year, until the announcement of the next call, additional funds amounting to 2 percent of the subsidy granted in 2019.

They are the following universities (listed alphabetically):

Lodz University of Technology https://www.p.lodz.pl/pl

Wrocław University of Science and Technology https://pwr.edu.pl

University of Gdańsk https://ug.edu.pl

University of Lodz https://www.uni.lodz.pl

Poznan University of Medical Science https://www.ump.edu.pl

Medical University of Bialystok https://umed.pl

Medical University of Lodz https://umed.pl

Pedagogical University of Krakow https://www.up.krakow.pl

Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences https://www.upwr.edu.pl

University of Silesia https://us.edu.pl

 

6. Reviewers in the First IDUB call

 

 

 

 

 

Each of the 20 universities underwent evaluation by 15 eminent experts recognized within the international research community. Among them were persons who had acted as rectors, presidents, or vice-rectors of Europe’s leading universities, e.g. University of Göttingen, University of Amsterdam, Aarhus University, University of Manchester, and the University of Southampton. The experts have been selected in a way to ensure that every research domain is represented in the panel.

Members of the panel have worked in institutions native to different countries, such as Germany, UK, France, Spain, the Benelux, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Hungary. 

Members of the review panel:

Professor Lauritz Holm-Nielsen – chair of the review panel during the first call under the ‘Excellence Initiative – Research University’ programme. Rector of Aarhus University in the years 2005–2013. Co-author of the report on Poland’s science and higher education system: ‘2017 Peer Review Report on Poland’s Higher Education and Science System,’ written by the European Commission experts under the Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility. In the past, he was active in many roles at institutions supporting higher education and science, e.g. as vice-president of the European University Association in the years 2012–2015, and as the World Bank’s chief expert for higher education in the years 1993–2005. He acted as executive director at the Sino-Danish Centre in Beijing between 2013 and 2018. Former president of the Danish Nature Fund (Den Danske Naturfond).

Professor Enric Banda – PhD in Physics, 1979, University of Barcelona. Post-doc at the ETH, Zurich. Research Professor in 1987. Former Secretary of State for Universities and Research, CEO European Science Foundation, Director Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation, Director ICREA, Director Science “la Caixa” Foundation. Author of 160 reviewed scientific papers. Member of the Academia Europaea. Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Former President of Euroscience. Member of the “Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona”.Presently Senior Advisor at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. Strategic Advisor at Leitat Technological Centre. President Advisory Council Science, Technology and Innovation of the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Professor Ulrike Beisiegel – biochemist and university professor. Former vice-president of the University of Göttingen (2011–2019). In the years 2012–2018 vice-president of the German Rectors’ Conference. From 2006 to 2011, she was a member of Wissenschaftsrat – an advisory body of the German federal government and federal states governments. In the years 2001–2010 she was the director of the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Medical Faculty, University of Hamburg. Since 2011 she has sat in the senate of the Max Planck Society. Currently in the governance bodies of the universities of Frankfurt, Passau and Graz.

Dr Jo Bury – Managing Director of the Flemish Institute of Biotechnology – a virtual research institute – and a member of the Consultative Board of the European Innovation Council (EIC).  In the years 2016–2017, chairman of the EU-Life alliance of leading research centres in life sciences. Pursues study of pharmaceutical and medical sciences.

Professor Therese Fuhrer – classical philologist, born in Switzerland, works at the University of Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität). Formerly worked at the Free University of Berlin, University of Freiburg and the University of Zurich.

Professor Simon Gaskell – chair of the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) Board, and member of the Governing Body, University of Plymouth. In the years 2006–2009 he served as vice-president for research at the University of Manchester, and in the years 2009–2017 as the principal of Queen Mary University of London. Former treasurer of UK Universities, an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom, and head of the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Board in the years 2013–2017.

Professor Éva Kondorosi – she presides over a symbiosis and functional genomics unit at the Biological Research Centre in Hungary. Since 2020 she has been a member of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors of the European Commission. Before she was a member of the ERC Scientific Council (2013–2018), and in 2017-2018 its Vice-President (Life Sciences). She has been a founding member and science director of the CNRS Institute of Plant Sciences (Institut des Sciences du Végétale), and the founding director of the BAYGEN Institute (Hungary). She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Academia Europaea, Leopoldina, French Agricultural Academy and European Academy of Microbiology. She is a board member of Academia Europaea and a former member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board. She received the Balzan prize in 2018.

Professor Yvan Larondelle – biotechnologist, specialist in the field of nutritional sciences. He is a professor at the Catholic University of Leuven. Active within the university’s governance bodies in the years 1993–2010. Member of numerous scientific associations specializing in nutrition problems.

Professor Mireia Las Heras – Spanish researcher in the field of people management at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE) Business School University of Navarre. She deals with the problems of leadership and balance between professional work and family life.  She received a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Boston University in 2009.

Professor Peter Maassen – Peter Maassen is professor in higher education studies at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo (UiO), Norway. In addition, he is extraordinary professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and research fellow at the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, New York University, USA. His main research interests are in the area of the governance of higher education and science, and the relationships between higher education and society. Before moving to Norway in 2000, he was acting director of the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), University of Twente, the Netherlands. He has participated in many national and international expert committees and panels in higher education, including an international panel assessing the higher education reform in Denmark, a Norwegian government committee for higher education, and OECD panels reviewing higher education in Japan and Finland. He has been a member of the Executive Board of University College Oslo (now Oslo Metropolitan University), and is currently, amongst other things, member of the executive board of the Barratt Due Music Academy in Oslo. He is the editor of the academic book series Higher Education Dynamics (Springer), and has produced over 250 international articles, books, and reports.

Dr Sijbolt Noorda – president of the Magna Charta Observatory.  Former president of the University of Amsterdam and former president of the Association of Dutch Research Universities.  He pursues the study of history of culture and religion in Europe.

Professor József Pálinkás – nuclear physicist. Professor of the University of Debrecen. In the years 2015–2018 he was the president of the Hungarian Office for National Research, Development and Innovation; and in the years 2008–2014 he was the president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Hungary’s former minister of education (2001–2002) and rector of the University of Debrecen (1996–1997).

Professor Sir Christopher Snowden – chair of the ERA Foundation, a British organisation supporting engineering and innovation skills development, since May 2019. Chair of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Judging Panel (2015-2021). Former vice-chancellor of Surrey University (2005–2015) and the University of Southampton (2015 to 2019). President of Universities UK in the years 2013–2015. President Institiution of Engineering and Technology (2009-10). UK Prime Minister’s Council of Science and Technology (2011-16).

Professor Carl Johan Sundberg – head of the Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics and a professor in the research group Molecular Exercise Physiology at Karolinska Institutet. Apart from physiology, his research interests include the problems of innovation, entrepreneurship and intellectual property. He served as Investment Director of the Karolinska Institutet Fund for 10 years.

Dr Cathie Vix-Guterl – a French engineer, specialising in material engineering. Vice-President for R&D strategy of the French petrochemical company Total Group. Previously, she was the research director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the director of the Materials Institut Carnot Alsace research institute.

 

7. First IDUB Progress Review Conference

 

 

 

 

 

1st Progress Review Conference of the Universities participating in the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” programme

Date:
15–16 September 2020

Host:
University of Warsaw

Description
The Conference’s chief subject were the actions taken by the universities selected in the call under the ‘Excellence Initiative – Research University’ (IDUB) programme within the first months of implementing the projects.

The conference was organised with the support of members of the international panel of experts reviewing the proposals in the call. In collaboration with the expert reviewers, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (now: the Ministry of Education and Science) conducted a survey concerning the universities’ implementing actions. The survey results (https://www.gov.pl/web/edukacja-i-nauka/i-konferencja-sprawozdawcza-idub) served as the point of reference for the conference programme and the subjects of individual discussion panels.

Holding Progress Review Conferences is a way of implementing the recommendations of the international team of experts concerning regular monitoring progress in the programme.

Professor Lauritz Holm Nielsen: notes on the First IDUB Progress Review Conference:

https://www.gov.pl/attachment/d86d80c2-b2e6-4cba-8b78-07e6ddfeb92f

 

In case of any questions regarding this year's Conference, please contact JU Conference Section via e-mail address: konferencje@uj.edu