EURASHE organised a Seminar on Professional Higher Education (PHE) titled ‘Innovative PHE: New Trends for the Future‘ in Warsaw (Poland) on 14-15 October 2015. It is organised by EURASHE and the Conference of Rectors of State Schools of Higher Vocational Education in Poland (KRePSZ). Underneath are further information on:
(Photograph: CC by by Radek Kołakowski)



Day 1 – Wednesday 14 October 2015
13.00 – Registration
14.00 – Opening of the seminar and Welcome words
Johan Cloet, Secretary General of EURASHE (Belgium)
Andrzej Kolasa, Dean of Faculty of Production Engineering WUT (Poland)
Jozef Garbarczyk, Head of the Conference of Rectors of State Schools of Higher Vocational Education in Poland (KRePSZ) (Poland)
14.30 – Keynote speech: Performance-based funding of higher education in Europe
Hans Vossensteyn, Director and Senior Research Associate at CHEPS of the University of Twente (Netherlands)
15.30 – Poster session on different models of financing of professional higher education
Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Poland & Portugal
16.30 – Panel discussion on financing of Professional Higher Education in Europe
Chaired by Johan Cloet, Secretary General of EURASHE (Belgium)
17.30 – End of the first day
19.30 – Dinner
Day 2 – Thursday 15 October 2015
09.30 – Plenary session: Working together for student development
Ketan Makwana, international speaker and entrepreneur, Enterprise Lab (United Kingdom)
10.30 – Parallel working sessions
Working session 1: Ensuring access to higher education for underrepresented group – case studies from the IDEAS project, Sadie King, principal Researcher and Consultant at the Tavistock Institute in London (United Kingdom)
Working session 2: Measures for supporting student development – Polish case study, Marek Frankowicz, professor at the Tarnow Higher Vocational School and rectors plenipotentiary on quality assurance (Poland)
12.00 – Lunch break
13.30 – Plenary session: Regional cooperation for development of PHE in Europe
Michaël Joris, Policy advisor at the international office of the University College Leuven-Limburg (UCLL) (Belgium)
14.00 – Parallel working sessions
Working session 1: Sectorial cooperation, Irene Sheridan, Head of CIT Extended Campus, Cork Institute of Technology (Ireland)
Working session 2: Regional cooperation in research, Sławomir Wiak, vice-rector of Lodz University of Technology (Poland)
16.00 – Conclusions and closing of the seminar
16.30 – End of the seminar and closing reception
Professional higher education as a sector keeps growing in Europe, as a result of a growing demand for profession-orientated higher education programmes that support students in acquiring skills and competencies fitting with labour-market needs. EURASHE’s mission is to strengthen our sector further, profile institutions and programmes, and support their development. In this regard, EURASHE is organising its annual seminar on professional higher education (PHE) titled ‘Innovative PHE: New Trends for the Future’. The seminar will take place in Warsaw (Poland) on 14 and 15 October 2015, and will be co-organised by the Conference of Rectors of State Schools of Higher Vocational Education in Poland (KRePSZ). This year’s seminar will develop 3 hot topics in professional higher education.
The economic crisis has made the higher education sector rethink its financing capacities and different European countries have shown various approaches to diversifying financial sources. The seminar will present best practices and discuss what is the role of the world of work in supporting PHE institutions in this regard.
Students are the central focus of higher education, and PHE institutions continue developing tools for student development. The second day of the seminar will focus on prevention models for student drop-out and tools for ensuring access to higher education for underrepresented groups. While PHE institutions cooperate with the world of work, and especially in establishing placements and internships for students in order to apply theoretical knowledge in a working environment, this seminar will look into the quality of such placements and internships in order to increase the student experience.
Finally, we will look more closely into regional cooperation, and how the engagement of different stakeholders ensures that PHE institutions also support regional development. In this regard, the seminar will bring together regional representatives, the world of work, chambres of commerce etc.
With a more practical approach, this seminar intends to bring together practitioners in order to further strengthen the capacities of PHE institutions. World of work representatives and regional stakeholders will on the other hand benefit from developing ties with the PHE sector, and the networking opportunities will support the establishment of cooperation among seminar participants.









Travelling to Warsaw
Warsaw is a well connected, centrally located capital city of Poland. LOT Polish Airlines is the main national airline connecting the city with most of the large European airports, making Warsaw easly reachable. Besides LOT and most of the large European cariers, Warsaw is as well connected with low-cost companies Wizzair and Ryanair making your travel more economical. Most of the flights land to the bussiest airport in Poland, Warsaw Chopin Airport. Only 10 km away from the centre of the city, it is well connected with an underground train. The second airport is the Warsaw Modlin Mazovia Airport, 40 km away from the centre of the city. This airport is mostly used by the low-cost carriers.
Visa requirements
Most European countries’ nationals are exempted from visa to enter Poland for a stay up to 90 days. In case you need to apply for a visa, please contact the secretariat to support you in the process.
Seminar map
View Seminar on PHE in Google Maps here.
Seminar location
The seminar will be hosted by the Warsaw University of Technology and will take place at the Faculty of Production Engineering, Narbutta Street 85, 02-524 Warsaw, Poland. It is shown in yellow on the map above.
Seminar dinner
The seminar dinner will take place at Pub Żaczek, located at ul. Wołoska 141A, Warsaw 02-507, Poland. It is shown in green on the map above.
Suggested hotels
Following is a selection of hotels in the city centre of Warsaw. They are shown (in red) on the map above.
- Hotel MDM, pl. Konstytucji 1, 00-647 Warsaw, Poland, from PLN 445/night or €106/night
- Hotel Metropol, ul. Marszałkowska 99a, 00-693 Warsaw, Poland, from PLN 445/night or €106/night
- Novotel Warszawa Centrum Hotel, ul. Marszałkowska 94/98, 00-510 Warsaw, Poland, from PLN 464/night or €111/night
- Polonia Palace Hotel, Al. Jerozolimskie 45, 00-692 Warsaw, Poland, from PLN 727/night or €173/night
- Hotel Mercure Warszawa Centrum, ul. Złota 48/54, 00-120 Warsaw, Poland, from PLN 445/night or €106/night
Organisers



- Funding in the Netherlands - Simple… or Not??? (0.1 MB)
- Funding Model of Professional Higher Education in Kazakhstan (2.1 MB)
- Higher Education-Enterprise Engagement for Regional Economic and Social Development (1.2 MB)
- Identifying Effective Approaches to Enhancing the Social Dimension of Higher Education (1.3 MB)
- Performance funding and agreements across the globe: Myths and realities (1.3 MB)
- Portuguese Public Polytechnic Higher Educatitition (UAS) Funding (1.7 MB)
- Regional Cooperation for Development Through PHE in Europe (4.5 MB)
- Warsaw University of Technology (1.4 MB)
- Warsaw University of Technology - 2 (1.5 MB)
- Working together for student development (1.6 MB)
- Working together for student development (1.6 MB)