Australian Embassy

Poland

Embassy address: 3rd Floor, Nautilus Building, ul. Nowogrodzka 11, Warsaw - Telephone: 521 3444 - Fax: 627 3500

Australian Education International Cooperation with Poland

Australia has a strong interest in promoting mobility – not only in its neighbouring regions but worldwide. To this end, the Australian government is committed to building and maintaining relationships with academic institutions in Europe.

There are a number of scholarships available that encourage student mobility and provide the opportunity for Polish academic institutions to build links with Australia.

International Students in Australia

At the end of 2010, there were more than 600,000 full-time, international students in Australia on a student visa. Of these, approximately 40,000 came from Europe, with approximately 6% (2,400) from Poland.

From Poland, the majority of students were enrolled either in the Vocational and Educational Training (VET) sector or on an English language programme.

Endeavour Awards

The Endeavour Awards is the Australian Government’s internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship programme providing opportunities for citizens of the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe and Americas to undertake study, research and professional development in Australia. Awards are also available for Australians to undertake study, research and professional development abroad.

The Endeavour Awards cover a number of areas:

Executive Awards – providing a professional development opportunity for 1-4 months
Post-graduate and Post-doctoral Awards;
Research Fellowships;
Vocational and Educational Training Awards.

Since the commencement of the Endeavour Awards in 2007, eight Polish citizens have received an Endeavour Award.

Citizens and permanent residents of Poland are eligible to apply for the Endeavour Awards.

Applications for 2012 Endeavour Awards will open 1 April 2011 and close on 30 June 2011.

For further information, contact:

http://www.deewr.gov.au/International/EndeavourAwards/Pages/Home.aspx

EU-Australia Joint Cooperation Projects

Australia and the European Union (EU) have undertaken joint mobility projects since 2003. These projects are an important part of Australia's relationship with European higher education and vocational education institutions. The programme provides funding for international curriculum development projects that involve short term mobility of students and staff between the EU and Australia.

The objectives of the programme are to promote mutual understanding between people from the EU and partner countries (including broader knowledge of their languages, cultures and institutions); and improve the quality of human resource development in both the EU and partner country, including the acquisition of skills required to meet the challenges of the global knowledge-based economy, through student and staff mobility and academic cooperation.

To date, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has funded 21 joint mobility projects, four of these projects involving Polish institutions.

It is expected that an eighth round joint cooperation projects will be announced at the end of 2011.

For further information, contact: http://www.deewr.gov.au/International/Pages/EuropeanUnion.aspx

OTHER ACTIVITY

Visiting Researchers Programme (VRP) - AUSTRADE

The Visiting Researcher Programme (VRP) initiative was implemented in 2009 to profile Australian universities and their research across Europe.

Its principal objectives include:

To reinforce Australia’s reputation for high quality research;
To promote Australian education and research to students and encourage higher quality international students to study in Australia;
To increase the numbers of European, Russian, African, Middle Eastern and Thai post-graduate students in Australia;
Attract Australian academics to these regions as guest speakers and therefore increase the recognition of the quality of Australian education and research;
To provide a unique opportunity for Australian universities to profile their research capabilities with their counterparts in these regions;
To create awareness of Australian research, development and innovation in specialist fields and support their commercialisation.

For further information, contact:

http://www.austrade.gov.au/Export/Export-Markets/Industries/Education/Events/VRP-Participants