Polish universities feel, they deserve a better place in international rankings. To discuss what can and should be done to improve the quality of research, rectors of best universities in the country gathered 1-2 December in Warsaw at the conference “Polish Universities in International Perspective – Rankings and Strategic Management of University” organized by Perspektywy Education Foundation jointly with the Conference of Rectors (CRASP) and Polish Accreditation Commission (PAC). Jarosław Gowin, minister of science and higher education addressed the conference and took part in the discussions chaired by Jan Szmidt, Rector of Warsaw University of Technology and President of CRASP, Wojciech Nowak, Rector of Jagiellonian University, Marcin Pałys, Rector of University of Warsaw and Waldemar Siwinski, President of Perspektywy.

The international perspective on the position of Polish universities in rankings presented representatives of the major global rankings: Ben Sowter of QS, Billy Wong ofTimes Higher Education, Isidro Aguillo of Webometrics and Perit Cakir of University Ranking of Academic Performance (URAP). Sabine Behrenbeck of the German Council of Science and Humanities and Victor Koksharov, Rector of Ural Federal University and Isak Froumin of the Higher School of Economics in Moscow shared with the Polish academic audience the neighboring countries experience in the implementation of the Excellence Initiatives.