Ministry of Science
and Higher Education

In 2019, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education held the first competition under the „The Excellence Initiative – Research University” (Polish acronym IDUB) programme. The selection of the winners of the first IDUB competition was a turning point for the higher education system and science.

Twenty best universities in the country were qualified to participate in the first IDUB competition. All of them met the statutory conditions regarding scientific categories obtained during the last comprehensive assessment of scientific units in relation to the number of fields of study and disciplines in which a university conducts scientific activity. Furthermore, a negative assessment of the Polish Accreditation Committee for any of the fields of study conducted by a university is regarded as disqualifying.

As a result, 10 universities, from among 20 universities entitled to participate in the competition, receive a subsidy increased by 10% in the years 2020–2026 for the implementation of development plans included in applications submitted to the competition. The rest of participating universities receive a subsidy increased by 2%.

Complete results of the competition

The Public Information Bulletin on the website of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education posts the complete results of the first competition under the IDUB programme, i.e.:

• a list of universities selected in the competition,
• a cover note from an international team of experts summarizing the entire application assessment process,
• reports containing the assessment of all applications submitted in the competition.

Assessment of applications

Help in preparing applications

In the applications assessed by the experts, the universities presented among others an analysis of their potential and development plans covering aims and measures primarily related to:

• increasing the impact of the university's scientific activity on the development of global science
• strengthening research cooperation with internationally renowned research centres
• improving the quality of student and doctoral student education
• improving staff policy at the university
• as well as improving the quality of university governance.

The universities were also required to indicate priority research areas within which they plan to conduct intensified scientific activities.

All the universities entitled to participate in the first competition of the IDUB programme received in 2018, as part of the "Excellence Strategy – Research University" project, additional financing (from PLN 700,000 – PLN 1 million) to support the preparation of applications and the implementation of relevant scientific research and analysis.

Assessment of applications – specific criteria

The applications presented by the universities were assessed in terms of:

• substantive level,
• significance of the objectives for raising the international standing of the university's operation,
• adequacy of the described operations for the objectives,
• and the potential of the university.

This was expert assessment. In assessing the criteria regarding the objectives and potential, indicators measuring primarily the quality of scientific activity conducted by universities were also taken into account.

In addition to the assessment based on the content of the application, the international team of experts interviewed representatives of all the universities. The universities also had
the opportunity to submit objections to draft reports. The result of the teams' work will be final reports to be found on the Ministry of Science and Higher Education website with
an assessment of the application, along with the justification.

Leaders of the IDUB competition

An international team of experts associated with the science and higher education sector has selected 10 universities that will become research universities in the future.

The list contains (in the order in which the universities were selected in the competition)

1. University of Warsaw
2. Gdańsk University of Technology
3. AGH University of Science and Technology
3. Warsaw University of Technology
3. Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
3. Jagiellonian University
7. Medical University of Gdańsk
8. Silesian University of Technology
9. Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
10. University of Wrocław

The second ten of the IDUB competition

The formula of the IDUB programme allows to state that each of the 20 universities participating in the IDUB programme is the winner. All the participating institutions have met the strict conditions for participation in the competition related to the quality of scientific research and  diversification of the profile of activity.

The universities which do not have the status of the winners receive annually until the announcement of the next competition additional funding amounting to 2% of the subsidy. 

These universities include (listed in alphabetical order):

• Lodz University of Technology
• Medical University of Białystok
• Medical University of Łódź
• Pedagogical University of Krakow
• Poznań University of Medical Sciences
• University of Gdańsk
• University of Łódź
• University of Silesia 
• Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences
• Wrocław University of Science and Technology

International IDUB team of experts

Each of the 20 universities was assessed by 15 outstanding experts. Among them were rectors, presidents or vice-rectors of leading European universities, including University
of Göttingen, University of Amsterdam, Aarhus University, University of Manchester or University of Southampton. The team also included scientists of high standing in the international scientific community. In the expert selection process participation of representatives of each field of science was ensured.  The team members have experience of working in institutions from various countries, including Germany, the U.K., France, Spain, the Benelux, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Hungary.

Members of the assessment team:

Prof. Lauritz Holm-Nielsen – chairman of the team of experts in the first competition under the ID-UB programme. In the years 2005–2013 rector of the Aarhus University. Co-author of the report on the Polish science and higher education system 2017 Peer Review Report on Poland’s Higher Education and Science System prepared by experts of the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility. In the past, he held many functions in institutions working for higher education and science, including in the years 2012–2015 he was the vice-chairman of the European University Association, and in the years 1993–2005 he worked as the main expert of the World Bank for higher education, he was executive director of the Sino-Danish Centre in Beijing 2013-18. Currently, serves as president of the Denmark’s Foundation for Nature (Den Danske Naturfond). He is a professor of botany and plantgeography.

Prof. Enric Banda – specialist in science policy and innovation, geophysicist. He was Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain (1996–1997), director of the Catalan Research and Innovation Foundation (2004–2007), chairman of the EuroScienceassociation (2006–2012), to name a few. Currently conducts consulting activity; he is among others permanent associate of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre.

Prof. Ulrike Beisiegel – in the years 2011–2019: president of the University of Göttingen. In the years 2012–2018 she was the vice-president of the German Rectors Conference. Biochemist and university professor. In the period 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 of the University of Hamburg. She is member of the senate of the Max Planck Society since 2011 and currently member of the boards of the universities, Frankfurt, Passau and Graz.

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

Prof. Therese Fuhrer – classical philologist from Switzerland, works at the University of Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität). Before that she worked, a.o., at the Free University of Berlin, the University of Freiburg and the University of Zurich.

Prof. Simon Gaskell – chemist, chairman of the Board of Directors of the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. In the years 2006–2009 he was the vice-president for research at the University of Manchester, and in the years 2009–2017 the president of Queen Mary University of London.

Prof. Éva Kondorosi – biologist. She is heading a scientific unit dealing with symbiosis and functional genomics at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. 2013–2018 she was a member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council, 2017–2018 – also its vice-president. She was the founder and the first director of research at the CNRS Institute of Plant Sciences (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France).

Prof. Yvan Larondelle – biotechnologist, specialist in the field of nutritional sciences. He is a professor at the Catholic University of Leuven. From 1993 to 2010 he held managerial functions at this university. A member of numerous scientific associations specializing in nutrition issues.

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

Prof. Peter Maassen – expert in research on research and higher education. Chairman of the Higher Education Development Association (Hedda) – the European association of institutions researching higher education. Professor at the University of Oslo.

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. Scientifically associated with research on the history of culture and religion in Europe.

Prof. József Pálinkás – atomic physicist. Professor at 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. Former Minister of Education in Hungary (2001–2002) and president of the University of Debrecen (1996–1997).

Prof. Sir Christopher Snowden – from May 2019, chairman of the Board of Directors of the ERA Foundation – British organization supporting engineering training and commercialization of scientific activity in engineering. From March 2015 to March 2019 president and vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton. President of the evaluation team in the international competition - Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in the field of engineering sciences. 2013‒2015 president of Universities UK (). He conducts scientific activity in the field of electronics and electrical engineering.

Prof. Carl Johan Sundberg – director of the Department of Education, Computer Science, Management in Medicine and Ethics and professor in the Molecular Exercise Physiology research group at the Karolinska Institute [Karolinska Institutet]. In addition to physiology, his research interests also include issues related to innovation, entrepreneurship and intellectual property. For 10 years he was the director of the Karolinska Institute investment fund.

Dr Cathie Vix-Guterl – French engineer specializing in materials sciences. 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 Alsaceresearch institute.