DUM ZAHRANICNI SPOLUPRACE

Their core work

DZS (Dům zahraniční spolupráce) is the Czech national agency for international education and research cooperation, operating under the Czech Ministry of Education. Their core work involves managing cross-border educational programs, coordinating national participation in European school and research mobility schemes, and acting as a policy bridge between Czech educational institutions and EU-level initiatives. In H2020, they contributed to school improvement and STEM education projects, bringing national agency reach — access to Czech schools, regional education authorities, and ministry-level contacts — as an implementation and dissemination partner.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects began in 2020, so a long-term evolution cannot be traced from project dates alone. However, keyword patterns suggest a shift in emphasis: their earlier project involvement centered on broad STEM education policy, curriculum integration, and national ministry engagement (Scientix 4). Their more recent funded work (MenSI) moved toward school-level implementation — mentoring, peer learning, and the pedagogical use of ICT within specific school communities. The direction suggests a progression from top-down policy advocacy toward ground-level school improvement practices.

DZS appears to be moving from broad STEM policy coordination toward practical, technology-enabled school improvement, making them a potentially useful partner for projects targeting teacher mentoring, digital classroom transformation, or national-scale educational rollout in Central Europe.

How they like to work

DZS has never led an H2020 project — they participate as a third party or funded partner, which reflects their institutional role as a national facilitator rather than a research driver. With 10 partners across 9 countries from just 2 projects, they engage in mid-sized, multi-country consortia typical of EU Coordination and Support Actions. This suggests they are brought in for their national network reach and policy connections rather than for direct research output.

DZS has worked with 10 distinct consortium partners across 9 countries, a notably broad geographic spread for just 2 projects. Their network is pan-European in character, consistent with the international mandate of a national education agency.

What sets them apart

DZS offers something most university or research partners cannot: direct institutional access to Czech schools, regional education authorities, and the Ministry of Education. As a national agency with an international cooperation mandate, they are a credible dissemination and implementation channel for education-focused projects that need to reach schools at scale in the Czech Republic. For consortia targeting Central European education systems, DZS provides both legitimacy and reach.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MenSI
  Their only directly funded H2020 project (EUR 67,955), focused on a concrete school-level intervention — mentoring and ICT-based peer learning — demonstrating operational rather than purely advisory involvement.
• Scientix 4
  Participation in Europe's flagship STEM education network, which connects national agencies, schools, and education ministries across 30+ countries, reflecting DZS's role as the Czech node in pan-European science education infrastructure.