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24In such a favourable climate of change, a first pilot project regarding career advising services(financed by the British Know How Fund) was launched in Torun. The enthusiasm and persistenceof the Head of the British Career Services at Hull University, John Franks, met with positive reactionsfrom the Rector of Nicolaus Copernicus University (by then neither the biggest nor mostknown university in Poland but with a great potential: a new rector with new ideas for developmentand promotion), as well as from the head of the regional Labour Office. Through this pilotproject, the first career advising service in Poland was established in Torun in 1993.Four years later, in 1997, a TEMPUS JEP project proposal was prepared with partners fromPoland, the UK and Holland with the aim to create eight career advising services at Polish universities.The project proposal included training and consultations by British and Dutch specialistsfinanced by TEMPUS JEP funds. The proposal also included co-financing from the Polish Governmentfunds in the form of basic equipment equal to approximately EUR 3,000 per office (whichenabled to buy one computer, some furniture and books). The information about the project proposalwas sent to all Polish HEI. The HEI which wanted to become involved in the project wereasked to submit their requests in which they described the following:•••strategic and operational plans for their career advising services,additional support available from other stakeholders,premises designated for their career advising service.In the meantime, many regional labour offices declared support for the project so that half ofthe proposed staff (originally included in the TEMPUS JEP proposal) was to be financed by labouroffices. The costs that were neither included in TEMPUS JEP proposal, nor in funds received fromthe Polish Government, nor in support by labour offices, had to be financed by the universitiesthemselves.Individual university proposals were evaluated and compared by the TEMPUS JEP project expertcommission which then selected the best eight proposals for initial project funding. Therefore,the success of the proposals depended on the will of university rectors and directors ofregional labour offices to cooperate and share risks and costs.The eight new successful career advising services, and the older one at Nicolaus CopernicusUniversity, did an excellent job by promoting the idea of career services throughout the country.The number of career advising services began to rise through the development of the governmentalprogramme “1job” (from 2003 to 2005), with three grant competitions which offered financialsupport for the creation of career advising services at universities. (N.B.: The grants themselvesprovided only small subsidy - 5,000 Euro sufficient to buy basic equipment. The majority of costsstill had to be a covered by universities themselves).Launching career advising services in a transition country: Case study from Poland