Although some time has passed since this document was compiled, the topic remains essential for the future of Belarusian students in Poland. We are bringing this 2023 initiative back to light, recalling when we drafted a comprehensive policy paper regarding the reform of the scholarship system. What exactly did we achieve, why is it so vital and necessary, and what solutions did we recommend?

In 2023, as the Belarusian Students' Association (BSA), we prepared a detailed analytical document (policy paper) titled “Improvement of the Konstanty Kalinowski Scholarship System”. This program, run in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science , serves as a lifeline for citizens of Belarus who have been repressed by the current regime and denied their right to higher education at home. At that time, we identified two fundamental challenges faced by students:

1. Financial Crisis: The active stipend (1,250 PLN per month for Bachelor's students and 1,500 PLN for Master's students) drastically lost its purchasing power over the years due to inflation and rising living expenses. These amounts plummeted well below the social minimum (calculated at 1,782 PLN by IPiSS at the time) , failing to guarantee students the means for a stable and decent livelihood.

2. Lack of Transparency: Scholarship recipients reported a clear lack of understanding regarding the selection rules and criteria , occasionally pointing out a lack of transparency within the process.

Our proposal addressed these challenges through two main pillars of reform:

• Financial Support: We presented a cost-modeling framework containing seven different upgrade scenarios (increasing the budget requirements from 20% to nearly 100% compared to the status quo). As the most immediate and practical step, we urged an immediate raise to match the social minimum , alongside a 4% annual indexation mechanism to maintain a steady ratio against living costs , and expanding payouts to cover the full 12 months of the year instead of 10.

• Improving Transparency: We called for the creation of a clear, publicly accessible set of criteria defining qualification for repressed individuals. We recommended expert consultations involving Polish institutions (NAWA, NZS, the Kalinowski Scholarship Committee, PSRP, ministries) and Belarusian human rights defenders and activists (Viasna, BSA, RADA) to establish fair procedures aligned with Polish administrative realities.

What were the results and what are we doing next?

Publishing this document allowed us to provide precise, data-driven evidence of the financial struggles experienced by Belarusian students in Poland, granting us a strong mandate in negotiations with state entities. We demonstrated actionable models designed to implement true good governance. While bureaucratic processes take time, we are not stopping our efforts. We continuously monitor the material well-being of Belarusian students in Poland, sustain our dialogue with policy makers, and remain committed to ensuring that no student is forced to give up their education due to financial hardship or unclear administrative guidelines.