The “Initiative of Excellence – Research University” (IDUB) programme is a key element of the Act on Higher Education and Science
The priority of the programme is to identify and support universities that will strive to achieve the status of research universities and will be able to successfully compete with the best academic centres in Europe and around the world. The programme gives the winners the possibility to raise the quality of scientific activity and education and, consequently, increase the international significance of the university’s activity.
In 2019, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education held the first competition under this programme. As a result, ten universities, out of the twenty eligible, are guaranteed an annual funding increase of ten per cent of the 2019 subvention in the period from 2020 to 2026 to implement the development plans included in the competition applications. The remaining participating universities receive a subsidy increased by two per cent.
Winners of the IDUB competition
An international team of experts associated with the science and higher education sector has selected ten higher education institutions that will become research universities in the future. They are (according to the order on the list of universities selected in the competition):
Gdańsk University of Technology
AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow
Warsaw University of Technology
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Jagiellonian University in Kraków
Silesian University of Technology
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
IDUB’s second ten
Taking the form of the IDUB programme into consideration, one can state that each of the twenty universities that participated in the competition is a winner. All the participating universities met restrictive conditions of the competition related to the quality of conducted scientific research and diversification of the activity profile. Universities that are not among the winners receive additional funding each year. These universities are (alphabetical order):
Wrocław University of Science and Technology
Poznan University of Medical Sciences
Medical University of Bialystok
Pedagogical University of Krakow
Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences
Experts of the 1st IDUB Competition
Each of the twenty universities was evaluated by fifteen eminent experts. They included individuals who have served as rectors, presidents or vice-chancellors of leading European universities, including the University of Göttingen, the University of Amsterdam, Aarhus University, the University of Manchester, and the University of Southampton. The team members were also scientists who enjoy authority in the international scientific community. The experts were selected in such a way as to ensure participation in the team of representatives from each field of science.
The members of the team have experience of working in institutions in various countries, including Germany, England, France, Spain, Benelux, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and Hungary.
