Poland is being allocated nearly 1 billion euros from the European Union's Human Resources Operational Program to improve standards in higher education and to train R&D staff.

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education March 26 launched two competitions for institutions to develop programs connected with training R&D staff.

Under the first competition, the ministry will grant funding to those who come up with the best ideas for training researchers in areas such as technology transfer and the protection of industrial and intellectual property. "This involves training courses for researchers involved in protecting intellectual and industrial property," says Prof. Maria Orłowska, the deputy minister for science and higher education. "These are very complicated matters. We'll also need courses for lawyers involved in drafting the necessary legal documents if we're going to set up contacts between science and industry."

The second competition is open to institutions seeking assistance in financing managerial training courses on managing scientific research and establishing contacts with the business community. This sort of training helps researchers find businesspeople willing to market technological innovations. Introducing technological innovations onto the market is vital to economic growth, Orłowska says. "Research shows that a nation's level of prosperity can be measured by its Summary Innovation Index, which is based on 25 indicators and is constructed in a similar manner to university league tables," she says.

The Summary Innovation Index takes factors other than the application of new technology into account. One of these is education, especially in engineering and exact sciences. To this end, the Human Resources Operational Program has set aside substantial funds for college studies in areas deemed vital to the economy. Making engineering and exact science courses more attractive to young people is going to be the most important but most difficult task. Poland had around 30,000 mid-level technical vacancies at the end of June 2007, according to the Central Statistical Office (GUS), and the outlook does not look overly optimistic. Engineering vacancies are predicted to increase even further over the next few years. Making technical courses more attractive to students is therefore a must. This is a problem confronting all of Europe, not just Poland, Orłowska says.

There is an acute shortage of mechanical, electrical and civil engineers, and technological and environmental science experts, according to Orłowska. These courses still attract considerably less interest than the humanities despite their graduates having more success in finding employment, especially employment that is financially and intellectually rewarding. Providing scholarships to outstanding students is one idea that has been mooted. "We're proposing generous scholarships for students with exceptional results beginning from either the second semester or second year," Orłowska says. While no definitive figures have yet been mentioned, the ministry estimates it will pay more than zl.1,000 per month.

Those higher education institutions that come up with the most promising ideas to promote scientific and engineering studies can look forward to extra funding. This will include setting up new degree courses and modifying existing ones. The business community may have a valuable role to play in designing and funding these kinds of courses.

Mateusz Rybicki


Engineering Graduates and Technicians Needed

Poland's Ministry of Science and Higher Education will channel extra funds to colleges and universities that increase student capacity at courses in fields such as construction, environmental engineering, power generation, electrical engineering, machine mechanics, automation science, robotics, mathematics, biotechnology, biomedical engineering, and mechatronics. Funding for this project will come from the European Union's Human Resources Operational Program. The government wants to promote these scientific and technical courses because people with these skills are in short supply in the Polish labor market.

According to statistics, in the middle of last year Poland lacked more than 30,000 engineers and mid-level technicians. Moreover, it is estimated that in a year's time there will be a shortage of 55,000 engineers from a variety of fields, and in five years' time this number will grow to over 76,000.

The government will further finance universities that increase their intake of students in these fields of study in the 2008-2009 academic year. They will receive zl.14,000 for every additional student for three years of study. Furthermore, if such a need arises, money will be made available to finance additional training for students who may have problems with mathematics and physics. Half of the planned additional student intake will receive grants of zl.1,000 each a month. In the first year of study, students with the best results on their high-school certificates will get grants. Results from end-of-year college examinations will determine which students get grants in the following years. Universities that wish to offer the desired courses must take part in a competition organized by the ministry. The results of the competition will be announced in late June.