University of Gdansk

The University of Gdańsk is a dynamically developing institution of higher learning, and one that combines respect for tradition with a commitment to the new. We offer a very wide range of academic subjects, and an equally wide range of subjects that lead to professional qualifications in demand on the job market. An increasingly large proportion of students pursue their studies in state-of-the-art facilities on the University's Baltic Campus, which is one of the largest university complexes in northern Poland.

The University of Gdańsk was founded on 20 March 1970. It was formed from an amalgamation of two institutions of higher education: the Higher Economics School in Sopot and the Higher Pedagogical School in Gdańsk. Later, it also included the Higher Teacher Training School. The precursor of the Higher Economics School in Sopot was the Higher School of Maritime Trade in Sopot, which opened in 1945 and awarded its first degrees in 1947.

Currently, the University of Gdańsk is the largest educational institution in the Pomerania region. We have eleven faculties with almost twenty eight thousand students, doctoral students and post-graduates, who are taught by one thousand seven hundred academic staff. In such fields of study as Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Oceanography, Quantum Physics, Pedagogy, Psychology, Law  and Economic Sciences, the University of Gdańsk is one of the best institutions in Poland. 

• Faculty of Biology

  Although the Faculty of Biology was formally founded in 2008, research and education in the field of biology have been tightly connected with the University of Gdańsk since its beginning in 1970. First MSc diplomas in biology were granted already in 1972. In the beginning, biology including environmental, molecular and marine biology or biotechnology was taught and studied at the Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences, later on at the Faculty of Biology, Geography and Oceanology and ultimately it was domiciled at the Faculty of Biology, finally encompassing most of over 30-year-old tradition of biological research and education at the University of Gdańsk. At present, the Faculty of Biology confers the PhD degree of Biological Sciences in Biology, Ecology or Microbiology and the post-doctoral degree (habilitation) in Biological Sciences in Biology. The Faculty encompasses 11 departments, 23 laboratories and 2 stations for research and education. 

• Faculty of Chemistry

  The Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Gdańsk was founded in 1991, although its beginnings can be traced back to 1945, when within the framework of the newly-established Teacher Training College (“Pedagogium”) teacher training in the field of chemistry commenced.
  At present the Faculty structure consists of 11 departments, hosting 30 research laboratories.
  The Faculty is authorised to confer the post-doctoral academic degree of doktor habilitowany (habilitated doctor) in the field of chemical sciences, in the discipline of chemistry, as well as to confer the academic degree of doktor (doctor) in the field of chemical sciences, in such disciplines as biochemistry and environmental protection. Furthermore, the Faculty is entitled to apply for the title of Professor of Chemical Sciences.

• Faculty of Economics

  The Faculty of Economics at the University of Gdańsk is an academic centre enjoying full academic rights and authorised to confer bachelor and master degree, doctoral, as well as post-doctoral academic degrees (doctor and habilitated doctor). It is also entitled to conduct the procedure leading to the conferment of the title of Professor. It is a prominent educational and scientific research centre in Poland in the field of economics and international economic relations. The educational offer of the Faculty of Economics comprises education in the scope of audit and taxes, business and economy, finance and banking, trade and integration, innovation and eco-business, marketing and entrepreneurship, transport and logistics, as well as international business.

• Faculty of History

  The Faculty of History was established in 2008 and comprises three institutes: The Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, the Institute of History and the Institute of Art History. It offers seven fields of study of the first- and second degree cycle (Archaeology, Ethnology, History, Art History, Regional Studies and Historic Tourism, German Studies and Religion Studies; furthermore, doctoral studies and five different post-graduate courses. In 2012 the Faculty of History was the winner of a competition organised by the Minister of Science and Higher Education for the best curricula and received a subsidy in the amount of PLN 1 million for implementation of ambitious plans aimed at improving the quality of education. In the recent parametric assessment of academic units conducted in 2013, the Faculty of History was granted category A status, which indicates that it can be regarded as very good.

• Faculty of Languages

  The Faculty of Languages boasts the broadest didactic offer, and the largest number of staff and students at the University of Gdańsk. Our motto is: Language in culture, culture in language.
  The Faculty provides 20 fields of study relating to the languages and culture of the world, the Baltic countries, Poland and the Pomerania region. The foregoing form part of the following scientific areas: philology, neophilology and cultural studies. We offer 13 philology degree courses (of which 11 neophilological), 6 cultural and artistic studies, and one, unique on a national scale, intercollegiate philological -and medical course - logopaedics (in collaboration with the Medical University of Gdańsk). We offer nearly 100 areas of specialisation in the framework of 20 first- and second-cycle, full time and part time degree courses. The Faculty offers doctoral studies and a wide range of post-graduate courses.

• Faculty of Law and Administration

  The Faculty of Law and Administration offers education in the field of Law, Administration, Criminology, European and International Business Law and EU Administration, Taxes and Tax Consulting. TheFaculty of Law and Administration also offers a four-year program of third cycle (doctoral) in the field of law to holders of Master studies’ diploma. It also offers numerous post graduate studies.

• Faculty of Management

  The history of the Faculty of Management dates back to 1942 when the Maritime Institute was established by the Secret Western Poland University. After WWII the traditions of the Institute were continued at the College of Marine Commerce (WSHM) in Gdynia. At present, the Faculty of Management is one of the largest faculties of the University of Gdańsk, enjoying vast popularity among secondary school graduates. Some 5,000 students in total are doing the full-time and part-time programmes. The Faculty prides itself on having the highest number of post-graduate students of all other faculties at the University of Gdańsk, and for several years in has been running part-time doctoral studies.

• Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics

  The Faculty consists of four Institutes, each boasting its own scientific achievements and offering specific educational possibilities.

  Institute of Mathematics employs 50 scientists (including 6 full professors). Main scientific interests: real functions theory, algebra, geometry, topology, differential equations theory, probability theory, didactics of mathematics. Institute of Informatics employs 30 scientists (including 2 full professors). Main scientific interests: combinatorics, graphs and computational geometry, scattered programing, quantum information. Institute of Experimental Physics employs permanently 19 researchers, (6 are full professors). Main areas of interest are: atomic spectroscopy, molecular spectroscopy, solid state physics, physics of collisions, bio- and biomedical physics, quantum interferometry, acoustics.

• Faculty of Oceanography and Geography

  The modern teaching and research base of the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, is located in two places: Gdynia Campus, where the Institute of Oceanography is established and Baltic Campus, where the Institute of Geography is established. The Faculty has two field stations – the Marine Station in Hel and the Limnological Station in Borucino at Raduńskie Lake.

• Faculty of Social Sciences

  The Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Gdańsk comprises the following Institutes: Pedagogy, Political Sciences, Psychology, as well as Philosophy, Sociology and Journalism. The didactic offer of the Faculty consists of 11 degree courses. The Faculty runs doctoral programmes in Psychology, as well as Pedagogical and Political Sciences, and offers a broad range of post-graduate courses. The Faculty is authorised to confer the doctor degree in the field of social sciences and habilitated doctor in the field of social sciences.

• Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology UG&MUG

  The Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology UG&MUG is a unique institution in Poland created by two universities. This leads to the interdisciplinary character of the conducted research and teaching by combining biomedical and bio-molecular issues and their applications in biotechnology for health and life quality.The intercollegiate character of the Faculty allows for the use of infrastructure and expertise provided by two universities, and therefore combining the best international standards of research with the highest quality of teaching.

For centuries, Gdańsk was most often thought of as a large port and the largest port in the Republic of Poland. Its wealth was reflected in its numerous monuments and works of art but the city authorities never decided to found a university. This was connected with the Hanseatic nature of the city and with the fact that the patricians were content with the Gdańsk Academic Gymnasium, founded in 1558 and reformed in 1580. It was a school on a very high level; its teachers had significant scientific-scholarly achievements and its structures were similar to those of a university. Several times, including during the reign of Sigismund III, attempts were made to transform the Gdańsk Academic Gymnasium into a university but there was a lack of the appropriate atmosphere on each occasion. Nevertheless, the quality of education in Gdańsk testified to the high  intellectual culture of the local bourgeoisie. Despite the mercantile and craft nature of the city, there was no shortage of scientific personalities associated with Gdańsk. The city was, after all, the birthplace of Jan Heweliusz, Arthur Schopenhauer and Daniel Fahrenheit, to name only the  three of the figures who are best known in Europe. It is also no coincidence that it was in Gdańsk that the Natural History Society was founded in 1743. The Society enjoyed great prestige in European scientific circles for many years and was the first scientific institution of its kind in the Republic of Poland.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the question of founding an institute of higher education in Gdańsk took on greater significance. The supporters of founding a university, however, were not influential enough to force their intention through. In this situation, the Higher Technical School (Technische Hochschule) was founded in 1904. This institution enjoyed a deserved reputation in this part of Europe in the inter-war period. Apart from the normal polytechnic fields of study, it also had the equivalent of a Humanities Faculty, where research was conducted into literature, linguistics and history. One of the indications of the Gdańsk institution’s prestige was the fact that young Polish people undertook studies there. It is thanks to this that we can talk about a certain continuity and also about the existence, in contrast to Wrocław and Szczecin, of a “Polish Gdańsk”.

Higher Pedagogical School and the Higher Economic School

After the Second World War, the atmosphere in Gdańsk was not conducive to the founding of a university. The city and voivodeship authorities at the time did not appreciate the possibilities of a university being established in Gdańsk even though its founding would have constituted for the three cities of Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia and for the whole Gdańsk region an opportunity for scientific-scholarly and cultural  advance. There were also other priorities in Gdańsk at that time, including the concentration of efforts on the reconstruction of the ports and the revitalisation of the maritime economy, which pushed the vision of the university into the background.

The lack of a university could not be compensated by the founding in 1946 of the Higher Pedagogical School (renamed in 1952 as the State Higher Pedagogical School in Gdańsk). This institution could not take advantage of the good traditions of other institutions and was to a great extent dependent on persons previously connected with secondary education. The lack of an experienced staff must for a long time  have adversely affected the  outcomes of the teaching process and the activity of scientific-scholarly researchers. The post-war shortages in scientific-scholarly staff in the case of the Gdańsk HPS were still evident in the middle of the 1960s. The school’s beginnings were very difficult indeed. Not only the disappointing scientific-scholarly level of the staff but also the lack of material resources, the lack of teaching aids and difficulties with accommodation were all reasons for the institution’s slow rate of development, which only began to increase in tempo after 1956.

By 1960, the HPS already had 24 active departments. In the 1967/8 academic year, students were studying nine different subjects: Pedagogy, History, Polish Philology, Russian Philology, Geography, Biology, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. The intellectual atmosphere improved and, increasingly, greater attention was  paid to the  research activity conducted by members of staff. In 1959, the Humanities Faculty, as the first at the HPS, obtained the right to confer the academic title of doctor. Gradually, the status of the institution  grew in the eyes of the Gdańsk academic community. By the end of the 1960s, the HPS was making an ever greater mark in the  academic life of Gdańsk and the whole of Poland. In 1969, the school  employed 13 professors, 48 associate professors and 79 assistant professors. The HPS was also supported by academic staff from Toruń. The  rise in the status of the HPS is also illustrated by the  steadily increasing number of students: in 1946/7, there were 187 students; in 1969, there were already 2,444 students. The school was initially geared towards educating young people but gradually its  range of interests was broadened and its  academic position was strengthened – a new identity was being gained.

The second institution which paved the way for the beginnings of the University of Gdańsk was the Higher Economic School in Sopot. As early as 1945, a non-state Higher Economic School had been founded in Gdynia – on 17 August 1946, this was transformed into the State Higher School of Maritime Trade. A year later, the school moved its seat from Gdynia to Sopot and in 1952 changed its name to the Higher Economic School. Two years later, it obtained its academic entitlements and, as a result, the length of studies was initially extended to eight semesters then, in the 1960s, to nine semesters.

In 1945, the number of students at the HES was 300; by 1969 it had increased to 3,679. In 1959, the first doctoral award ceremonies took place. Three years later, the school was granted the  right to award habilitation titles. The combined total of doctorates awarded was 111 (including 76 members of the HES staff) and there were also 25 habilitations (including 18 members of the HES staff). In the 1960s, the publishing activity of the Sopot staff members increased markedly. The factor increasing the prestige of the school in the eyes of the scientific-scholarly world was the systematic improvement in the level of the  academic staff, which is clearly testified to by the fact that there were 7 professors and 25 associate professors among the   tenured academic staff in 1970.

Towards the end of the 1960s, every tenth student of Economics in Poland was studying at the school in Sopot. The school’s attractiveness also came from the fact that the HES was the only Economics school in Poland educating specialists in the maritime economy.  This certainly had a great influence on tightening the economic bonds between Poland and the sea, creating the foundations for the maritime economy and its further opening out to the sea. Most graduates found employment in the maritime economy and it was from among their number that management personnel were in large measure recruited. 

March 20, 1970 – the Foundation of the University of Gdańsk

The changes taking place at the HPS and the HES, including the increase in the scientific-scholarly potential of these institutions, created conditions conducive to the founding of a university in Gdańsk. In the second half of the 1950s, among the academics at the HPS, more supporters were gradually being found for the idea of transforming the Higher Pedagogical School into a university. The academic community, which  had gained in prestige, drew attention to the deepening disproportion between the growth in the economic importance of Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia and the slow development of the Humanities and Natural Sciences there. The period from 1956 to 1970 was a time of an ever-louder articulation in Gdańsk of the thought of the desirability of the founding of a university. The local media also began to devote more space to this matter. On 24 January 1957,  in the wake of  the “Polish October”, the Organising Committee for the University of Gdańsk was founded. The main initiator of this project was the Rector of the HPS at that time,  Professor Andrzej Bukowski. The committee’s plan to inaugurate classes at the new institution in the 1959/1960 academic year proved too optimistic and was based, as it appeared to Warsaw, on quite fragile foundations.

Despite the setback, the discussion about founding a university in Gdańsk did not abate during the following years. On the contrary, it began to acquire a greater intensity and the number of committed persons  steadily increased. The supporters of the idea of founding a university, Professors Janusz Sokołowski, Andrzej Bukowski, Gotfryd Kupryszewski, Roman Wapiński, Tadeusz Szczepaniak, Stanisław Ładyka and Jan Wojewnik,  had to find support  for the idea among local decision-makers and influential politicians, including Stanisław Kociołek. It is hard to overestimate here the role of the Rector of the HPS, Janusz Sokołowski, whose mediatory talents and ability to achieve compromises negated the efforts of influential opponents of the founding of a university in Gdańsk and allowed for the many-year-long impasse to be broken.

Initially, there was no agreement as to whether the starting-point for the foundation of the new university should be the creation of a branch of the Nicholas Copernicus University in Gdańsk and its gradual evolution into a separate institution, or a merger of the two existing institutions: the Higher Pedagogical School and the Higher Economic School. On 20 March 1970, the Sejm (Parliament) of the People’s Republic of Poland took the decision to found the University of Gdańsk, but it had been a few months earlier, on 3 October 1969, that Stanisław Kociołek informed the  academic community of Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia that the  Communist Party authorities had expressed their agreement to the establishment of a university in Gdańsk. Initially, there was a project to call the institution the Baltic University, but because the Polish abbreviation (UB) had very bad connotations [Translator’s note: UB = Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, the Security Police], it was decided to call it the University of Gdańsk.

The foundation of a university in Gdańsk constitutes one of the most important  watersheds in the centuries-long scientific-scholarly tradition of the city, since the university – on account of its openness  – became the place for creative debate and the centre of science, scholarship and culture, which influenced the whole region. The University of Gdańsk  opened on 1 July 1970. It was the result of the fusion of two schools or rather three: besides the Higher Pedagogical School and the Higher Economic School, there was also the Higher Teacher Training School.

The first Rector of the University of Gdańsk was Professor Janusz Sokołowski, who up to then had been Rector of the HPS, and his Deputy was the former Rector of the HES, Professor Stanisław Ładyga. Five faculties inherited from the HPS and the HES - Humanities, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, Biology and Earth Sciences, Economics of Production, Economics of Transport – formed the first part of the university and were joined by a sixth, Law and Administration. Currently, after intensive transformations in the 1990s, and then again in 2008, the University of Gdańsk has eleven faculties: the Faculty of Biology, the Faculty of Chemistry, the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Languages, the Faculty of History, the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, the Faculty of Law and Administration, the Faculty of Management, and the Inter-collegiate Faculty of Biochemistry of the University of Gdańsk and the Medical University of Gdańsk.

Just over two months after the University’s first inauguration  of the academic year , Gdańsk and neighbouring Gdynia witnessed demonstrations and riots. Both the events of December 1970 and, to a greater degree, those of the “Gdańsk August” of 1980 influenced the myth of Gdańsk, which was growing in the country, and indirectly the growth of the significance of the university. Graduates and staff of the university: Aleksander Hall, Lech Kaczyński, Maciej Płażyński, Donald Tusk, and Wiesław Walendziak, to name but a few, played a great role in the anti-Communist opposition. It is in no small measure thanks to them and to a whole host of anonymous employees and students of the University of Gdańsk that there blew “the wind from the sea” and  later systemic changes could take place. The opposition activity of the staff and students of the university is undoubtedly one of the most  important and inspiring pages in its relatively short history.

In August 1980, when the development of the situation in Gdańsk was being followed with bated breath by almost the entire world, the university had to pass a difficult examination. This was only made possible by the determination of, above all, people like Professor Robert Głębocki. His appearance among the strikers at the Gdańsk Lenin Shipyard was an expression of the active support of the  academic world for the struggle for a free Poland.

In the first free university elections in May 1981, Professor Robert Głębocki was elected Rector of the University of Gdańsk. A few months later, after the imposition of martial law, thanks to his pragmatism and diplomatic talents, and also thanks to the support of his Deputy Rector, Professor Józef Bachórz, it was possible to avoid wide-scale repressions, although among the internees and the arrested there was no lack of staff and students of the University of Gdańsk. Soon, however, Professor Robert Głębocki was forced to resign from his post as Rector. It must be emphasised that his successors, Professor Bronisław Rudowicz and Professor Karol Taylor, continued his policy of quiet but effective defence of the supporters of “Solidarity”. Thanks to their attitudes, and also to those of Rector Czesław Jackowiak, attitudes characterised by wisdom combined with pragmatism, the university came out of the era of the People’s Republic of Poland relatively unscathed.

During more than 40 years of existence, the University of Gdańsk has had eleven Rectors. The university has been led in turn by the following professors: Janusz Sokołowski (1970-1981), Robert Głębocki (1981-1982), Bronisław Rudowicz (1982-1984), Karol Taylor (1984-1985), Mirosław Krzysztofiak (1985-1987), Czesław Jackowiak (1987-1990), Zbigniew Grzonka (1990-1996), Marcin Pliński (1996-2002), Andrzej Ceynowa (2002-2008), Bernard Lammek (2008-2016). For the term of office 2016-2020 Jerzy Gwizdała was elected. Each of them has played his part in the development of the university. The Rector who led the university for eleven years  and exerted the greatest influence on its profile was Professor Janusz Sokołowski. He gave the university in the first period of its existence great developmental dynamism  and caused it to become a significant institution of higher education in Poland by the end of the 1970s. By maintaining the appropriate contacts with the representatives of the authorities at that time, he managed to maintain, to the extent that it was possible, the autonomy of the university. He was not only an exceptional person with great charisma and an outstanding academic, but also a Rector who could with great sensitivity unite the whole university community.

Professor Sokołowski from the very beginning placed great emphasis on strengthening the scientific-scholarly potential of the young university. Apart from the  academic development of the former staff of the HPS and the HES, an important role, particularly at the beginning of the 1970s, was played by the  commitment of staff from other academic centres  to the University of Gdańsk. For example, the recruitment base for English Philology from its creation in 1973 was the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Gaining new academics was undoubtedly facilitated for the Rector by the attractiveness of Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia and by their dynamism. In most cases, the new employees quickly became integrated with their new surroundings and made a great contribution to the development of the university. A great role was played by the founders of Gdańsk Pedagogy, Professor Ludwik Bandura and Professor Marian Grochociński. It is not possible to omit here the name of Professor Gotfryd Kupryszewski, the founder of the UG’s peptide school. The leading position of Linguistics would not have been possible without the scientific-scholarly and teaching achievements of Professor Leszek Moszyński. Let us add only two more examples: thanks to Professor Krystyna Wiktorowa, a new field of study at Polish universities was opened, Oceanography, while thanks to Professor Zenon Ciesielski a new field of studies in Poland (and for many years the only one) was formed at the University of Gdańsk, Scandinavian Studies.

Currently the research and teaching staff of the University are its major strength, and in fields of study such as Biology, Chemistry, Oceanography, Quantum Physics, Pedagogy, Psychology, Law and Economics, the University of Gdańsk is one of the leading institutions in the country.

The dynamic development of the University is reflected in numbers. The University began with only five faculties; today there are eleven. At the end of 1970, classes were taught at the University by 23 professors and 49 doctors with habilitation degrees. Today the University employs altogether 1700 research and teaching staff, and around 3000 people work here, making the University one of the biggest employers in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. In December 1970, the number of students at the University did not exceed 10,000 (it was, in fact, 9,382). Now, including doctoral students and students following non-doctoral post-degree courses, there are more than 30,000. Thus, the University of Gdańsk is the largest university-level institution in the Pomeranian region, and one of the largest universities in Poland. In 1970 at the University students took courses in a dozen or so  fields of study; today almost all academic disciplines and subjects are represented, and students take courses in 73 fields of study and more than 217 specialized programs.

The strategy adopted by the Senate of the University in 2010 recalls the institution’s traditions, stressing its most important values and its mission. It also sets out its development strategy through to 2020.

Apart from acquiring knowledge, students can realise their passions and broaden their interests in faculty and interfaculty scientific research groups and student organisations operating at the University of Gdańsk. They can participate in the Academic Choir of the University of Gdańsk, which has won many prizes at international festivals, the Jantar Song and Dance Ensemble, or the AlternatorAcademic Cultural Centre, which organises cultural projects and events that are important for the whole Pomerania region. Another important part of academic life is sport, and the teams of the UG Academic Sports Union and of the Physical Education and Sports Department regularly win medals and awards in the most important sporting competitions in Poland and abroad.

Students active in research groups and student organisations achieve spectacular successes. Every year they win prizes in international competitions in the USA, Europe and Asia for their innovative ideas, inventions and IT applications. They have also distinguished themselves in research and organisational activity. Students from the University ENACTUS group have for the last several years, with great interest from the local community, been successfully implementing social and ecological projects across the Tri-City, for which they have been named Enactus Polish National Champions and have represented Poland each year in the finals of the ENACTUS World Cup. The Academic Enterprise Incubator has enjoyed considerable success, helping students to achieve professional independence by setting up their own businesses. In 2014, the University of Gdańsk was placed among the top ten Polish tertiary institutions designated most friendly toward young entrepreneurs. It was awarded the title by AIP of TOP 10 Startup Friendly.

Dorms

The University of Gdańsk has a wide range of accommodation in its student dormitories located all over the Three Cities.  Depending on the particular dormitory, facilities include: kitchens, quiet rooms for study, laundry facilities, drying rooms, and even exercise facilities. We also have rooms adapted to meet the needs of handicapped students. Monthly cost of accommodation varies from dormitory to dormitory, but is in the range of 300-500 zł.

Sports facilities

• Fitness Room and Biological Renewal Center
• 2 Fitness Centers
• 3 Gymnastics Halls
• Swimming Pool

A world-class faculty, winners of many prestigious prizes, inventors, professionals linking the worlds of research and business

The teaching and research staff of the University is 1,700 strong. In such fields as biology, bio-technology, chemistry, oceanography, quantum physics, pedagogy, psychology, law, and economics, the University is among the leading institutions in Poland, and also enjoys recognition at an international level. A vital aspect of our scientific and scholarly research is the practical application of the ideas and projects developed by our staff. They are regularly commissioned to write expert opinions. The University is an incubator for enterprises in areas such as biotechnology, biology, and chemistry.

University of Gdańsk scientists have won the “Polish Nobel Prize,” the Foundation for Polish Science Prize. Quantum physicists have taken the prize twice: Professor Ryszard Horodecki in 2008, and Professor Marek Żukowski in 2013. Members of our staff have been awarded grants by the National Center for Research and Development, the National Science Center, and also the Foundation for Polish Science.

One of the most important scientific successes achieved by researchers from the University of Gdańsk is the development, by a team led by Professor dr hab. Grzegorz Węgrzyn from the Faculty of Biology, of a method of treating Sanfilippo syndrome, previously thought incurable. Work on the treatment has now entered the third phase of clinical trials. In addition, a team led by Professor Franciszek Kasprzykowski (of the Faculty of Chemistry) has developed the antimicrobial agent Cystapep 1.

Scientists from the University of Gdańsk have helped to build many international research consortia, for example:

• “Industrial Crops producing added value Oils for Novel chemicals” (ICON), - the aim of this project is to apply genetic engineering to “improve” the oils of selected industrial plants.
• “Sub-seabed CO2 Storage: Impact on Marine Ecosystems (E)” – the aim of this project is to determine risks connected with storing CO2 under the seabed.
• “ The Center for the biotechnology of medical products. A Packet of innovative bio-pharmeceuticals for therapeutic and profilactic use with humans and animals” – the aim of this project is to develop the production of innovative phramaceutical products – medicines and vaccines for humans and animals. 
• The University of Gdańsk has also signed an agreement with the European Council for Scientific research to implement a project under the direction of Professor dr hab. Ryszard Horodecki, entitled “Quantum resOurces: conceptuaLs and APplicationS – QOLAPS” within the IDEAS – Advanced Grant Program.
• The project MOBI4Health aims to expand the research potential of MWB UG and GUMed in the field of molecular biotechnology. It is largely based on the spectrum analysis of the masses of biological particles, which will make it possible to develop innovations in the field of biotechnology serving the life and health of humans and the environment.

A modern campus

For many years the University has been carefully investing in infrastructure development in order to ensure appropriate conditions for students and the highest possible quality of education

The available space in all University buildings for teaching, research, and administration comprises some 137,000 square meters. The largest University campus is the Oliwa Campus which has almost 98,000 square meters for teaching and research.

In the last few years, the infrastructure of the University of Gdańsk has been transformed. Its dynamic development has meant a virtual “rebirth” of the University. Most of the University is concentrated on three campuses. The Baltic Campus of the University of Gdańsk is in Gdańsk-Oliwa has dramatically expanded. Buildings dating from the 1970s and housing the Faculties of Languages and Literature, History, and Mathematics and Physics were supplemented in the 1990s by the new Law and Administration Building. Subsequently one of the most modern academic libraries in Poland, the UG Main Library, was opened. Between 2007 and 2013, new buildings were added:

• The Faculty of Social Sciences and the Institute of Geography Building. This has a surface area of more than 31,000 square meters, and is made up of five connected buildings – a four-story central building, and four wings of four storeys each that house four institutes.
• The Faculty of Biology Building. This covers more than 28,000 square meters, and consists of modern teaching and research laboratories, seminar and lecture rooms, auditoriums, and a technology hall, where it is possible to conduct classes in chemical and environmental engineering and research.

The University continues to expand

• Soon the Neophilogy (Modern Languages and Literature) Building will be opened. It will have a surface area of 11,000 square meters. It will be a dual-purpose building with separate parts: one dedicated to modern languages and literature, and the other to administration. The Rectorate will be based in the latter section of the building. The four floors of the section of the building dedicated to modern languages and literature will huse: the English and American Studies Institute, the German Studies Institute, the Institute of Eastern Slavic Studies, the Department of Classics, the Department of French Language and Literature, the Department of Scandinavian Studies, and the Department of Slavic Studies.
• The Instiitute of Biotechnology is at present under construction. It will be one of the most up-to-date research and teaching buildings in Poland, and is being built for one of the most outstanding faculties of its type in the country. It will cover almost 8,000 square meters.

Our development plans also call for the construction soon of a building for the Institute of Computer Studies, covering an area of more than 6,800 square meters. A sports complex will also be built, which will hold a sports’ hall, a stadium with running track and jumping area for light athletics, and tennis courts and a tennis hall. It is also planned to open new student dormitories on the Oliwa Campus and in Sopot.

Besides the campus in Gdańsk-Oliwa, the University of Gdańsk also has a presence in Sopot. The Economics and Management Faculties are based there, as are the recently opened Teaching and Conference Center and the Computer Center. A new wing has also been added to the Economics Faculty building. The University also has a site in Gdynia – the recently modernized and substantially expanded Institute of Oceanography.

A wide range of courses

11 faculties, 71 fields of study, 201 specialized programs. A rich tradition of research and scholarship, the University’s links with the sea, celebrated research stations with an international reputation, like the Marine Station of the Institute of Oceanography in Hel, the Research Station for Bird Migration, and the Biological Research Station.

The University first consisted of six faculties: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, Biology and Earth Sciences, Humanities, Law and Administration, the Economics of Production and the Economics of Transport. Throughout its history, the University has had ten Rectors: Professor Janusz Sokołowski (1970-1981), Professor Robert Głębocki (1981-1982), Professor Bronisław Rudowicz (1982-1984), Professor Karol Taylor (1984-1985), Professor Mirosław Krzysztofiak (1985-1987), Professor Czesław Jackowiak (1987-1990), Professor Zbigniew Grzonka (1990-1996), Professor Marcin Pliński (1996-2002), Professor Andrzej Ceynowa (2002-2008) and Professor Bernard Lammek (from 2008). At present, the University consists of 11 faculties which offer students courses in 71 fields of study, and more than 200 specialized programs.