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What is the Dual Career Programme?

The aim of the Dual Career Programme is to provide athletes with the best conditions for continuing and developing their sporting career and academic study. Part of the concept of the Programme is to take a flexible approach to studying, but above all to provide support to properly manage and plan a sports career harmoniously combined with university study. The joint sport-education goal is achieved by combining quality coaching and top-level education, without compromising the goals of either activity. The organisation of studies within the dual career programme, ensures balanced development in the academic and sporting fields. Strategically, the Dual Career Programme is an integrated system responding to the objectives of the Conclusions of the EU Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on dual careers for athletes (2013/C 168/04).

For what purpose?

Man acquires knowledge from the earliest moments of his life until his death. Lifelong education distinguishes between basic, successive stages of education, culminating in a university degree. This is a permanent and natural process. Just as permanent is the existence of universities and it is natural that their development is driven by talented young people.

Today, the University of Toruń is climbing up the international research and scientific rankings. In Poland, the NCU ranks among the top five universities, is the largest unit in the region and one of those that can boast the status of a research university. Also in terms of the development of recreation and sport, the University wants to follow the best European and world models. Today, leisure and academic sport is one of the University’s strategic areas of development.

This is why we have created the conditions for the sustainable development of athletically gifted young people – the dual career student-athlete programme at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. A survey of athletes commissioned by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism shows that more than 50 per cent of respondents are tying their future to non-sporting fields or have not yet decided on their future.

The city and the region have developed a youth training system and its funding system from kindergarten to secondary schools, where students train in: sports academies, sports clubs, sports classes, sports championship schools. More often than not, however, their careers break down after high school. We want the University of Toruń to be the natural next step for athletically talented young people, not only in terms of education but also in terms of sport. The dual career programme aims to become a bridge between athletically gifted young people and the University.

For whom?

The dual career programme puts the spotlight on a new type of university candidate – the student-athlete! We address the programme to young people who are aware of the role of sport and education in their lives. We would like to see studies undertaken by people determined to achieve results in both academic sport and academics. Our aim is to recruit academic athletes who will tie their career to the University! 

What does the University offer student-athletes as part of the Programme?

At the university recruitment stage:

• athletes holding a current International Master Class, Master Class or First Class in Olympic and non-Olympic disciplines in the selection procedure for the individual courses studies are awarded the maximum number of points;
• eligibility is based on a certificate issued by a Polish sports association specifying the type of sports class and the sports achievements on which it is based;
• candidates are also exempt from the recruitment fee, this applies to all fields of study.

At university:

• preferred fields of study for student-athletes, i.e. a list of fields of study where it will be possible to flexibly combine academic study with an athletic career. This list was created in cooperation with the dean authorities of the individual faculties and took into account all the considerations arising from the integration of study and sporting careers. We want to avoid the pitfall of offering student-athletes courses whose mode of instruction, e.g. laboratories, will make it difficult or even impossible to carry out the Programme holistically. Of course, all fields of study offered by the University are open to applicants, however, with the proviso that those not listed may give rise to problems arising from the need to attend contact classes;
• for students admitted to the dual-career programme, we have prepared the possibility of studying in an individual mode – an individual study plan, which is detailed in the Rules and Regulations for Studies. We believe that this is the best solution combining a flexible approach to the study plan, ensuring the highest quality of education through individual selection of the educational content, individual selection of the forms of education – the student-athlete may apply for an individual arrangement, as far as the organisational possibilities allow, priority in individual selection of the group within the didactic classes and realisation of the educational results with partial or total lack of participation in the contact classes. The didactic classes under the individual mode of study may also be conducted with the use of methods and techniques of distance learning, according to the principles laid down in the Rector’s decree;
• A student-athlete participating in the Programme will be placed under the didactic and academic supervision of a tutor at the faculty conducting the course and a sports tutor within the University Sports Centre. They will jointly agree with the individual lecturers on the form of participation in classes, opportunities for self-study and dates for credits and examinations so that these do not interfere with the training process;
• sports leave – short and long-term – will also be available for outstanding athletes studying at the University. This solution will ensure a high level of education during periods of particularly intensive training work caused by preparations for the most important and largest sporting events. The relief from study during this period will allow you to focus on your sporting performance. The focus will be on academic performance in later periods when training returns to normal volumes;
• The Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń focuses on talented young athletes who will also want to develop their passions in academic sport, representing the University at the Polish Academic Championships, European Championships or the Universiade. In addition to academic sport, we want to develop sporting potential in the national leagues, cooperating in this respect with leading sports clubs, giving our students the opportunity to play in both the highest competition classes and the lower leagues. Working in partnership with leading sports organisations, we are able to ensure the continuity of athletes’ sporting careers and the continuation of the educational cycle from primary school to university;
• The University’s dual career programme provides a rich social offer for students. Rector’s scholarships and commemorative prizes will be funded for the most outstanding athletes who are admitted to the university. Later on, students can count on sports scholarships for their performance. The university continues to develop its system of social material aid.

The partner of the dual career programme is the City of Toruń

On 9.10.2018, Professor Beata Przyborowska – Vice-Chancellor for Education and Michał Zaleski – Mayor of the City of Toruń signed a partnership agreement on the dual career student-athlete programme and the rules of cooperation between the University and the City of Toruń in promoting sport.

The object of the Agreement is to establish rules for cooperation between the University and the City of Toruń in promoting sport. The signatories of the Agreement will take long-term action to develop sport and the dual career programme. In addition, the Agreement provides for joint work on improving organisational, legal, economic and social conditions, developing sports infrastructure, and increasing the availability of qualified human resources for the development of sports-talented young people.

Partnership agreement (only polish version)

Patronage of the President of the Board of the Academic Sports Association prof. dr hab. Alojzy Nowak

It is with great affection that I refer to all the activities of the University’s broader academic community, which will foster the implementation of the programme for student-athletes and thus provide excellent conditions for the symmetry of the study programme and the development of their sporting career path within the walls of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. It will be a multifaceted, interdisciplinary programme that will provide student-athletes with an integrated system corresponding to European standards.

In thanking you for taking up, implementing and carrying out the Student-Athlete Dual Career Programme, we are not only pleased to be patrons, but also declare all kinds of assistance in the atmosphere of searching for answers, examples of good practice in the area of broadly defined academic sport.

Honorary patronage of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship Piotr Całbecki
On 18.10.2018, the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs and Personnel Policy, Prof. Andrzej Sokala, received a letter informing him that the University’s dual career student-athlete programme had been granted honorary patronage by the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship, Piotr Całbecki. This is undoubtedly a recognition of the University’s initiative aimed at the holistic education of young people with sporting talents.