The University of Warsaw and the University of Cambridge have signed an agreement regarding the Cambridge Polish Studies. Polish language, literature and culture will be a permanent feature of the University of Cambridge.

The signing will mark the grant of 15 million złotys (approximately £3.1 million), allocated to the University of Warsaw by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, to endow in perpetuity a Polish Studies Programme at Cambridge.

The programme will provide opportunities for research collaboration, as well as teaching in Polish language, literature and culture.

The programme’s research output will be complemented by a series of high-profile public events that will aim to stimulate research in Polish culture and society, and promote greater understanding of Poland’s role in European history as well as its position as a rising economic power.

The new initiative will build on the success of the existing four-year pilot programme in Polish Studies at the University, led by Dr Stanley Bill of Cambridge’s Department of Slavonic Studies and supported by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP), the M.B. Grabowski Fund, the Zdanowich Fund and Cambridge’s School of Arts and Humanities.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, signed the agreement with the Rector of the University of Warsaw, Professor Marcin Pałys.

“The continuity of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge is an opportunity for both parties to develop teaching and research cooperation,” said Assistant Professor Maciej Duszczyk, Vice Rector for Research at the University of Warsaw. He added: “An Advisory Board for the new Polish Studies programme at Cambridge – consisting of representatives from the University of Cambridge, the University of Warsaw, and the Foundation for Polish Science – will be tasked with setting the framework for our collaboration.”

Professor Martin Millett, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Cambridge, said: “We are delighted to be strengthening this relationship with our colleagues in Poland, which is not only of strategic importance to the University of Cambridge, but of significant import at this time in the history of Europe.”

The agreement was concluded with the support of Poland’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

In the autumn, representatives of both universities will meet in Warsaw to take part in an event to marking the enhanced collaboration.