The Polish Minister of Investment and Economic Development Jerzy Kwieciński and the Norwegian Ambassador Olav Myklebust have signed the first Programme Agreement under the 3rd edition of the EEA and Norway Grants – in the area of education. In the launching event, which took place on March 8, 2019 in the premises of the Ministry, the director of the Financial Mechanism Office in Brussels Henning Stirø and the deputy minister of investment and economic development Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak participated as well. Thanks to the Programme „Education” 20 million euro go to Poland, dedicated i.a. to vocational education, scholarship programmes and training for teachers.
The "Education” Programme, with a total allocation of EUR 23,53 million (of which EUR 20 million come from the EEA Financial Mechanism and EUR 3,53 million constitutes the national contribution), will be implemented by the Foundation of the Development of the Education System as Programme Operator, in cooperation with partners from the Donor States: the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (DIKU), the Liechtenstein Agency for International Educational Affairs (AIBA) and the Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNIS).
The Programme will be a continuation of the Scholarship and Training Fund implemented under the two former editions of the EEA and Norway Grants.
What kind of projects will be supported?
The support under the Programme will be offered to Polish institutions acting on all educational levels.
Four thematic components are foreseen:
- professional development of staff of educational institutions;
- mobility in higher education – for students and academics;
- strengthening of quality and adequacy of vocational lifelong-learning;
- strengthening of quality and adequacy of education on all levels (except of VET and lifelong-learning) through institutional cooperation.
The Programme Operator plans three calls for project proposals within each of the four components (in 2019, 2020 and 2021). The scale of co-financing within the individual components will vary, closing within the range between EUR 2-30 thousand in the case of initiatives in the area of professional development of personal of educational institutions and between EUR 20-200 thousand in the case of the component mobility in higher education and EUR 35-250 thousand in the two other components.
The types of activities to be supported include in particular: study visits, sharing of experience, job shadowing, trainings for the Polish staff carried out by experts from the Donor States, development and modernization of the educational offer and of the national strategies and policies in the area of vocational education and lifelong-learning. The support will be available for bilateral activities as well, including preparation visits for applicants of project proposals submitted under the calls.
The Foundation of the Development of the Education System plans to organise an launching event for the Programme in April 2019, during which detailed assumptions of the Programme will be presented.
Initially, the first open call is envisaged for May this year.
Fund for Bilateral Relations
An important aspect of the implementation of the EEA and Norway Grants in the 3rd edition remains strengthening of bilateral relations with the Donor States. In the case of the Programme „Education” additional EUR 250 thousand coming from the Fund for Bilateral Relations will be dedicated for this purpose. The funds will support activities implemented by Polish institutions together with the entities from the Donor States.