Projects aiming to facilitate the internationalisation of doctoral schools financed under the STER 2020 programme will run until 2023. We are presenting some example activities.

Developing a joint international curriculum for PhD students in Arctic geology, preparing courses in English, carrying out trainings with foreign staff and seminars with Nobel Prize winners – those are only several examples of how to strengthen the international relations of Polish doctoral schools. Eleven universities and one institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences that run such schools became 2020 beneficiaries under the STER – Internationalisation of Doctoral Schools programme..

Interdisciplinary doctoral schools, which have replaced doctoral studies, were introduced in the Polish higher education system in the previous academic year. International relations are one of the key aspects of their work. Entities that run such schools are addressed in the STER – Internationalisation of Doctoral Schools programme. Projects selected in the 2020 call for applications for the programme will run until December 2023. This year’s beneficiaries are: the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, the University of Wrocław, AGH University of Science and Technology, Gdańsk University of Technology, Lodz University of Technology, Silesian University of Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, and Henryk Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Their projects have been awarded financing in a total amount of approx. PLN 20 million. What activities are the programme beneficiaries going to carry out?

Silesian University of Technology wins in a contest held by the Polish Representation of Doctoral Candidates

One example is the Doctoral School of the Silesian University of Technology, which as a STER beneficiary is going to, among others, take up activities aiming to attract foreign PhD students. In particular, it is going to prepare foreign-language information materials directed at foreign doctoral candidates and adapt the School’s existing website to their needs. In addition, there are plans to pay scholarships to the best foreign PhD students as well as to Polish PhD students who will carry out doctoral projects in international cooperation and who will try to obtain joint or double degrees. Moreover, the Doctoral School will organise fellowships at leading scientific centres abroad for the best Polish and foreign PhD students. Apart from that, the Doctoral School is going to organise stays of foreign visiting professors from leading universities abroad. The visits are going to involve classes with PhD students.

- We are very happy to participate in the STER programme. It supports us in our activities aiming to increase the internationalisation of our doctoral school. It will enable us to offer PhD students education of higher quality and improve their international mobility. We will be able to attract a higher number of foreign doctoral candidates and thesis advisors as well as take up international cooperation with regard to joint and double degrees,’ says Prof. Tadeusz Wieczorek, director of the Doctoral School.

It should be noted that the Silesian University of Technology won the first place in the contest for the most PhD Student-friendly Course offered by a doctoral school or doctoral studies in Poland. The contest was held by the Polish Representation of Doctoral Candidates at the end of November 2020.

AGH wants to make use of all opportunities offered by STER

The AGH Doctoral School was awarded funding amounting to nearly PLN 2 million. Its project titled ‘Expanding the Internationalisation of the AGH Doctoral School’ is going to consist in, among others, activities related to recruiting PhD candidates from abroad as well as paying scholarships to the best foreign PhD students and to Polish PhD students who will carry out doctoral projects in international cooperation. In addition, the School is planning to facilitate foreign mobility of the best doctoral candidates from Poland and abroad as well as gather an international team of professors that will develop a joint international PhD curriculum in the area of Arctic geology.

‘The AGH Doctoral School wants to make use of all the opportunities offered by the STER programme. We expect that this project will help us not only increase the number and quality of candidates from abroad, but also boost the number of visiting professors who hold classes at the Doctoral School as well as take up cooperation with foreign entities that provide education to PhD students,’ says Prof. Marcin Szpyrka, director of the AGH Doctoral School.

InterDocSchool project from Wrocław University of Science and Technology

One of the beneficiaries under the STER programme is the Doctoral School of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, which was awarded financing amounting to PLN 2 million. The School is going to use these funds to pay for scholarships and fellowships abroad, among other things.

‘The InterDocSchool (“Internationalisation of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology Doctoral School”) project we submitted will enable us to increase the internationalisation of the Doctoral School,’ says the dean of the WUST Doctoral School, Prof. Krzysztof Walkowiak, in an announcement made by the university. ‘Our plans include organising fellowships abroad for doctoral candidates, summer and winter schools and study visits at other schools, inviting visiting professors and developing new courses in English,’ he adds. Currently, about 300 PhD candidates are studying at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology Doctoral School.

Meetings with Nobel Prize Winners at Jagiellonian University

Scholarships for the best PhD students, trainings for thesis advisors and PhD students and a seminar with Nobel Prize winners – these are only some of the activities planned at the Jagiellonian University, which was awarded PLN 2 million under the STER programme. The project titled ‘Doctorate for the Future with the Jagiellonian University Doctoral Schools’ will involve granting scholarships to the best PhD students who carry out their research at international level, facilitating PhD students’ international mobility and holding summer and winter schools devoted to various competences. In addition, the university is planning trainings for thesis advisors, staff and PhD students with foreign teachers, the development of remote teaching modules by foreign researchers as well as a seminar with Nobel Prize winners and candidates.

Changes in education of Doctoral Students

The introduction of doctoral schools is intended to reduce the mass character of education in third-degree studies and to improve the quality of PhD dissertations. Such schools – which offer education in at least two disciplines – may be established, among others, at universities, research institutes, institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and international institutes.

STER 2021 – towards internationalisation

NAWA’s ‘STER Internationalisation of Doctoral Schools’ programme is directed at Polish universities and scientific institutions that run doctoral schools. The objective of the programme is to support the internationalisation of doctoral schools that involves, among others, improving the quality of education in doctoral schools and the quality of research carried out by PhD students by means of international exchange of good practices and experiences, increasing the international mobility of doctoral students, attracting doctoral students and thesis supervisors from abroad, and conducting international research projects by doctoral students.

NAWA is planning to announce the next call for applications in April this year.