Organisational aspects

The Act of 20 July 2018, The Law on Higher Education and Science, as subsequently amended (ustawa z dnia 20 lipca 2018 r. - Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym i nauce, z późn. zm.) requires that academic staff continuously improve their professional skills. Each higher education institution (HEI) sets organisational arrangements and rules for participation in, and funding for continuing professional development (CPD) in its internal regulations. 

Incentives for participation in continuing professional development (CPD) activities 

In accordance with the Law on Higher Education and Science, all academic teachers may take, although under different conditions, research, study or training leave to enhance their teaching or research competence or obtain a doctoral or post-doctoral degree. The rector may grant the following types of paid leave to academic staff:

• academic staff holding at least a doctoral degree: sabbatical leave to conduct research, with its total duration of up to 1 year during 7 years of work at a given HEI;

• academic staff preparing a doctoral dissertation: sabbatical leave of up to 3 months;

• all academic staff: leave to undertake a study or training period, research or teaching placement abroad, or to participate in a conference abroad, collect research data or material, undertake a study visit, conduct other kind of research activity, or conduct joint research with a foreign institution based on an agreement on research cooperation;

• all academic staff: leave to conduct joint research with the Łukasiewicz Centre or an institute of the Łukasiewicz Research Network.

Work regulations of each HEI lay down detailed rules and procedures for granting such types of leave. 

Public HEIs receive a state-budget subsidy for the maintenance and development of the teaching and research capacities, which is allocated for, among other things, professional development of staff. HEIs may also apply for grants for projects including staff development, mainly academic staff, abroad as part of programmes funded from national and/or international sources. See also Academic staff mobility in Chapter 12.2 ‘Mobility in higher education’, and Chapter 12.5 ‘Other dimensions of internationalisation in higher education’. 

Academic teachers undergo a periodic performance appraisal (see Approaches and methods for quality assurance – Internal quality assurance in Chapter 10.2 ‘Quality assurance in higher education’), and their achievements are evaluated in a procedure for the award of a doctoral or postdoctoral degree or the professorial title. Additionally, as part of its regular and mandatory programme evaluations, the Polish Accreditation Committee assesses conditions for staff development created by organisational units of HEIs providing degree programmes.