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UCL delivering training for university leaders in Poland
The Institute of Education (IOE) is helping to prepare staff at Polish universities for changes and developments in the higher education sector with a unique training programme.
19 August 2020
As part of a national level drive, Polish universities have been tasked with understanding how they can better contribute to society in Poland.
Project lead Dr Tatiana Fumasoli, Director of the Centre for Higher Education Studies at the IOE, said: “The Polish higher education system is undergoing major policy reforms that aim to reconfigure university governance and institutional autonomy and introduce a national research evaluation exercise.
“Polish universities need to respond to this rapidly changing environment and LiUM provides their middle and senior managers with a 5-day intensive course where best practices in university leadership are discussed and analysed.”
Preparing for change in higher education
The Leaders in University Management (LiUM) course covers key conversations in higher education. The programme featured topics around the consolidation of the university, the socioeconomic contribution of higher education, innovation in teaching and learning, and the impact of artificial intelligence and data science.
The course was developed and designed by the IOE and supported by UCL Consultants (part of UCL Innovation & Enterprise). UCLC provided programme management, contracting and finance expertise.
Agnieszka Galkiewicz - Klosinska from GM Synergy said: “Exchange of good practices with more experienced partners has always been the best source of inspiration, therefore we are glad that we managed to carry out those visits in cooperation with UCL”
As of January 2020, 120 members of professional services staff from universities across Poland had participated in the training.
A programme built on collaboration
The project involved close collaboration with colleagues from across UCL. The IOE, UCL’s Office of Vice Provost (Research), Office of Vice Provost (Operations), UCL Human Resources, UCL Arena and UCL Global Engagement devised sessions.
In addition, colleagues from across Innovation & Enterprise including UCL Consultants and UCL Business delivered sessions, introducing Innovation in Universities across the UK.
Individual sessions included:
- commercialisation of research results,
- academic consultancy,
- linking enterprise to strategy,
- spin-outs,
- start-ups,
- and international partnerships.
One participant from the programme, explained: ‘The course was delivered by highly experienced professionals, both academic and non-academic. The sessions were designed in the perfect way. A set of interactive lectures, talks, debates and workshops and especially important, real life case studies were really valuable‘
Transforming Higher Education
UCL Consultants (UCLC) has particular strengths in helping to develop educational capacity development programmes. Clients include business, government, public sector and higher education (HE) clients in the UK and around the world.
The IOE and UCLC previously designed and delivered a bespoke training programme for the Ministry of Poland: Masters of Didactics. This helped HE academics across Poland to expand their skills and teaching methods.
UCL’s Dr Clare Bentall, lead on the four year project: “Both of these projects are strategically important to the development of higher education in one of the largest countries in Europe and contribute to UCL’s reputation and stronger networks with academic colleagues and their institutions.”
The programme is co-financed by the European Social Funds and is delivered as part of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland.
UCL Consultants
UCL Consultants (UCLC) is the wholly owned consultancy company of UCL. We support the mission of UCL Innovation & Enterprise to transform knowledge and ideas into action.
