The first IDUB Progress Review Conference

15.10.2020

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

IDUB logo On September 15-16,2020, the 1st Progress Review Conference of the Universities participating in the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” (Polish acronym IDUB) programme was held. The conference was organised by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in cooperation with the University of Warsaw, in the framework of the initiative of the Minister of Science and Higher Education - NKN FORUM.

The organisation of reporting conferences is one of the ways to implement the recommendations for regular monitoring of the progress of programme implementation.

The main topic of the conference were measures taken by universities selected in "The Excellence Initiative – Research University" competition in the first months of development plans implementation. The aim of the conference was also to enable the presentation of activities and projects of the universities which benefit from the 2% increase of subsidy.

In 2019, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education held the first competition under the IDUB programme. 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%.

The conference was organised with the support of members of an international team of experts who assessed the applications submitted to the competition. In cooperation with the experts, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education prepared a questionnaire on the measures taken by the universities.

PRE-EVENT QUESTIONNAIRES

UNIVERSITIES SELECTED IN THE IDUB COMPETITION (IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THE UNIVERSITIES WERE SELECTED)

UNIVERSITIES PARTICIPATED IN THE IDUB COMPETITION (LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER):

The results of the survey became the basis for the preparation of the final conference programme.

Programme

The conference also refers to the appeal of Jarosław Gowin, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Higher Education (November 2015 – April 2020). During the ceremony announcing the results on 30 October last year, Jarosław Gowin stressed that university authorities should make the plans included in the applications openly available and implement them in a dialogue with the academic community and the public.

The conference was a hybrid event and the language of the conference was English.

Moderators:

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. 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.

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.

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).