Following a successfully completed registration procedure carried out with SMM Legal’s support, the Polish Branch of Coventry University in Wrocław will be able to welcome its first students in the autumn of 2020. This is the first branch campus of a foreign university to open in Poland in over two decades, and the second case of this type in history. The first foreign university to start its operations in Poland was the European College in Bruges, which opened its Polish branch campus in the early 1990s.
‘To open a branch campus in Poland, a foreign university is required to obtain a permit from the Minister of Science and Higher Education and complete a registration procedure’, says Mr. Mateusz Stańczyk, coordinating the case team at SMM Legal. ‘Our Client had to make a trailblazing effort to complete a procedure which has not yet been tested in practice, with all the challenges inherent to the scientific-commercial nature of university’s operations. Thanks to efficient cooperation with the authorities involved in the process and the legal support provided by our team, the project was successful. Our experience has shown that this path is available also to other international educational initiatives in Poland’, adds Mr. Stańczyk.
The formal-legal process comprised the assessment of university’s credibility and potential by the Minister of Science and Higher Education, in collaboration with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Polish Accreditation Committee. Subsequently, the University had to be entered into the National Court Register.
The Polish branch campus of Coventry University will offer university-level British programmes in the English language. The studies are to be carried out in collaboration with local employers, in order to prepare the students to meet job market expectations and boost their employability.
‘This concept perfectly aligns with our Firm’s philosophy’ says Prof. Maciej Mataczyński, Managing Partner at SMM Legal. ‘We have our roots in the academia, and thus have thorough knowledge of the needs of the research community. On the other hand, as an employer, we provide young graduates with an opportunity to confront the knowledge obtained at university with business reality. A recent project we have launched together with the SWPS University is just one example of our activity in this field’, he adds.
Coventry University boasts nearly two hundred years of history. It belongs to top 100 universities in Europe from the perspective of teaching quality and conditions. In the category of student relations, it is one of the top three.
