It’s hard to argue with the fact that the quality of higher education plays a direct role in ensuring a high level of innovation in a region, which in turn impacts economic growth. The Polish National Centre for Research and Development has just announced the newest edition of their Integrated University Programs grant contests, which aim to improve the programs of higher education facilities across the country. This time, there’s a billion Zloty at stake.

Effective education at Polish universities will contribute to the further development of our economy. The Integrated University Programs contests will have a hand in improving the competences of university staff, and diversifying the faculties by including international lecturers into university courses – says Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin, Minister of Science and Higher Education.

In order to accommodate higher education institutions of various sizes, NCBR has decided to divide the program into three separate tracks. This way, smaller education facilities will not need to compete with major universities. Each track of the contest has a separate budget, but apart from facility size requirements, the criteria remains the same for each applying institution.

Each applying institution needed to incorporate at least 3 or 4 of the following modules into their program:

  • education program module
  • competence increasement module
  • internship program module
  • academic career office / career consulting module
  • doctoral studies mode
  • management of higher education institutions module

Contests are a chance for student’s practical skills development. In addition to their education, they will be able to prepare for their future profession due to high quality internship programmes which will correspond with their teaching programs. They will be prepared for the challenges they will meet in their professional life – says prof. Maciej Chorowski, Director of National Centre for Research and Development.  


Public and non-public higher education institutions can apply for co-financing, and each project should last between 18 and 48 months. Each project can receive funding of 3 to even 40 million Zloty from NCBR, so there’s a lot at stake!

For more information about the Integrated University Programs grant contest, head to NCBR’s website. NCBR is Impact’18’s Partner, so make sure to join us in Krakow on June on June 13th and 14th! Register now!