Ministry of Science and Higher Education

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education preparations for the Presidency

On July 1st 2011, Poland takes over a six-month Presidency of the EU Council. The Presidency is held periodically by each member of the European Union. It is a time of hard work and extraordinary responsibility for the direction, style and intensity in which things are moving forward in the EU. It is also a matter of enormous prestige and a big chance of multidimensional promotion for Poland in a cultural, economic as well as a political sense.

In practice it means that Poland will be hosting or chairing most of European events that are envisaged to be organised in the second half of 2011, including meetings of the EU Council and its subsidiary bodies, ministerial conferences and expert meetings. It will be a real test of efficiency and effectiveness for the Polish public administration.

To pass the test, appropriate preparations have begun as early as 2008 when the office of the Government Plenipotentiary for the Preparation of the Government Administration Bodies and Performing by Poland the Presidency of the EU Council was formed. The Department of Coordination of Poland’s Presidency of EU Council in the Ministry of Foreign Affaires (MFA) was entrusted with the coordination of activities regarding running the Presidency at national level. However, an essential key to success lies in the full commitment and close cooperation between central administration offices and the MFA.

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education has already undertaken a number of activities aimed at adequate preparing for the Presidency, e.g., establishing interdepartmental Presidency team. The most important areas in which the Ministry carries out its preparations are the following:

• programming the Presidency,
• budget,
• organisation and logistics,
• human resources,
• information and promotion.

The Ministry’s activities, within the scope of science and higher education, will be focused on a few key issues such as the implementation of the European Research Area, next Framework Programme in the field of research and technological development, Framework Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community – EURATOM, universities modernisation and mobility of researchers and students.

During the Polish chairmanship of the EU Council, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education will be the host of a number of important events, among others, an informal meeting of the Competitiveness Council, a meeting of the Research Working Group, the European Research Area Committee (ERAC) and Education Committee as well as a meeting of Directors-General for Higher Education and the Bologna Follow-up Group.

Within the Ministry there are the following Units responsible for carrying out tasks related to the Presidency – the Department of Strategy and the Bureau of the Minister.

You can read more about the status of preparations for the Polish Presidency of the EU Council on the following website: www.prezydencjaue.gov.pl/en/

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