The internationalisation strategy of Polish science, the challenges of European University alliances, and the conclusions after the EAIE conference in Rotterdam were the topics discussed during the stationary meeting of the University Internationalisation Commission. The UIC was established by the Conference of Rectors of Polish Universities in November 2022 and brings together university plenipotentiaries for international cooperation from all over Poland.

The meeting, which took place on December 8 at the University of Silesia in Katowice, was opened by UIC President dr hab. Anna Jurkowska-Zeidler, prof. UG and UIC Vice-President prof. dr hab. Tomasz Pietrzykowski from the University of Silesia.

The floor was then taken by the Rector of the University of Silesia, prof. dr hab. Ryszard Koziołek, who talked about the events prepared as part of Katowice's obtaining the title of European City of Science 2024. The idea behind the celebrations is to organise 50 themed weeks full of scientific and popular science attractions, as well as cultural, sporting and artistic events created by the academic and municipal communities.

Progress in the preparation of the National Internationalisation Strategy was presented by the Director of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA - Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej), dr Dawid Kostecki. The inaugural meeting with the Ministry of Education and Science on this initiative was held on September 22, 2023. The NAWA Director outlined the plan to build a national strategy for the internationalisation of higher education and science and invited the community to collaborate.

The key issues related to internationalisation, i.e. micro-certifications and the legal status of European University Alliances, among others, were presented by the UIC President. ‘In particular, partners from European University Alliances draw attention to the need to define clear rules for the delegation of staff, joint affiliations, access to research infrastructure, processing of personal data, management of intellectual property or rules for joint procurement of goods and services,’ said prof. Anna Jurkowska-Zeidler.

After the break, the topic of European Universities was developed by dr hab. Dominik Antonowicz, prof. UMK, and dr Marta Jaworska from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. The academics talked about research on European Universities conducted at the Nicolaus Copernicus University Department for Research on Science and Higher Education.

In Polish universities, this programme is viewed strategically. The long-term future of a university is linked to alliances. The main barriers to the development of the European Universities initiative identified in the study are:

• legal and regulatory constraints - incompatibility of national legal systems;
• organisational constraints - e.g. cumbersome bureaucracy or lack of synchronisation of academic calendars;
• financial constraints - the need to involve funds from outside the consortia, e.g. to finance mobility programmes or to strengthen the language skills of academic staff.

At the end of the meeting, the experience gained during the presidency of the Transform4Europe consortium was shared by the Plenipotentiary for International Cooperation at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Silesia, dr hab. Małgorzata Myśliwiec, prof. UŚ.

Expert panels identified the main challenges in internationalisation. The UIC's aim is coordinated inter-university cooperation in these areas, which will allow consistent communication with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and international institutions related to, for example, the European Union.