The Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange has just wrapped up a two-day study visit with our guests from HARNO, the Estonian agency that serves as NAWA’s counterpart. The meeting was an excellent opportunity to discuss what matters most today in the internationalisation of higher education and science, and to exchange very concrete experiences from the daily work of both institutions.
The first day was fully dedicated to strategies. We talked about how national documents on internationalisation are developed, what types of research and analyses accompany this process, how implementation unfolds, and which good practices can help avoid common pitfalls. Our Estonian partners shared their observations, while we presented the Polish perspective and the lessons learned in recent years.
Our guests also met with NAWA teams responsible for communication and promotion, language programmes, and support for students, researchers, and institutions. We discussed the Research in Poland and Ready, Study, Go! Poland campaigns, collaboration with the Polish diaspora, Polish language courses and certification, as well as grants, bilateral programmes, Polish Returns, MSCA schemes, and European projects. These were intensive, substantive sessions that highlighted the wide and practical scope of NAWA’s activities.
During the open discussion, participants explored how the process of developing the national internationalisation strategy had been communicated at various stages, both during events and in the media. They also reflected on the lessons learned from several years of implementation: what would be done differently today, which elements were initially missing, and which turned out to be essential in practice. An important theme was the role of migration policies and their impact on the possibilities for internationalisation in a given country.
The visit concluded with a trip to the Welcome Point at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, where our guests could see firsthand how support for international students is provided directly at the university.
These were two days full of partnership-based conversations, inspiration, and plans for the future. We are delighted to have hosted HARNO in Warsaw and to have strengthened cooperation between Poland and Estonia in the field of higher education and science.
The study visit was carried out as part of the project entitled “Strategy for the internationalization of Polish higher education and science" from the European Funds for Social Development: Measure FERS.01.05 Skills in higher education.
