Come to study in our city : examples of projects undertaken by local authorities and higher education institutions to promote Polish cities on foreign education markets

Processes of globalisation and internationalization of higher education are for cities a factor of social-economic development. Incoming foreign students create an international academic atmosphere and enrich local social life. Municipal authorities see in this a valuable resource and a chance for promotion abroad, which will bring prestige to the city and in the long term, an opportunity to have contacts which could revive local economy. Therefore they undertake close cooperation with higher education institutions in their area in order to create the brand of the city as an academic centre. In Poland such cooperation usually has the form of partnership projects run under the name of "study in". The article presents the aims and scope of "study in" projects run at the local level by municipal authorities and higher education institutions in order to promote the city and its educational offer among foreign students. As a case study, the undertakings initiated in Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw and Poznan were described. Preliminary research of strategic documents, reports and archive materials was done, which allowed to show the directions of undertaken promotional and investment actions in these cities. Running "study in" projects in Poland as a result contributes to the improvement of the offer of higher education institutions and strengthens the positive image of the cities as modern, dynamically developing places which are attractive to study, live in and undertake professional activity. Accepting the mutual strategy of marketing communication allows reducing the costs and increasing the complementary character of the offer of the city for foreign students