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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 University of Gdańsk was the Higher School of Maritime Trade in Sopot, which began its activities in 1945 and awarded its first degrees in 1947.
Currently, the University of Gdańsk is the largest educational institution in the Pomorze region. We offer almost forty different fields of study with over one hundred and forty different specialisations. We have eleven faculties with almost thirty-three 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 and Economic Sciences, the University of Gdańsk is one of the best institutions in Poland. Within the framework of European programmes, such as Erasmus, UG students can broaden their knowledge and study abroad, thus broadening their educational experience. They also participate in the MOST programme, which enables them to study for one semester at any of the nineteen universities in Poland. The UG Careers Office, which is the leader among vocational consultants in the Pomorskie Voivodeship, helps students to find employment and make decisions concerning their professional development. The numerous foreign placements undertaken by the University's academic staff help them to offer students a modern and open education.
Academic staff
The members of the academic staff of the University of Gdańsk conduct scientific and scholarly research on a world-class level, not only creatively expanding the frontiers of knowledge, but also serving the whole of the Pomorze region with their knowledge and experience, thus aiding its dynamic modern development. Because of the development and the activities of its academic staff, the University of Gdańsk has become an incubator for entrepreneurship in such areas as Biotechnology, Biology and Chemistry. The University is currently cooperating with higher education institutions in all the countries of Europe and in many more distant countries around the world. Research and other activities are conducted within the framework of over one hundred international agreements with foreign partners. A series of University institutes and departments have obtained, or are in the process of obtaining, the prestigious status of centres of excellence, which is the European certificate and stamp of quality.
UG students
Apart from acquiring knowledge, students can realise their passions and broaden their interests in over one hundred and eighty scientific and scholarly 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 Alternator Academic Cultural Centre, which organises cultural projects and events that are important for the whole Pomorze 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.
Our range of courses
In recent years, the University has created new fields of study and adapted its range of courses to meet the requirements of the labour market. In 2004, Archaeology was added to our range of courses, in 2005, Cultural Studies, and in 2006, Journalism, Media and Communication. Also in 2006, in conjunction with the Medical University of Gdańsk, the University initiated studies in Logopaedics, a unique initiative in Poland. The latest fields of study at the University of Gdańsk are Ethnology, Historical Sightseeing and Tourism, Applied Linguistics, Special Pedagogy, Social Work, Spatial Management, Geology, American Studies, International Economic Relations, and also courses offered in English, such as International Business. Every year, the University expands its range of courses in doctoral and post-graduate studies.
The University of Gdańsk strongly supports the idea of the creation of the European Space for Higher education, in January 2004, the UG Senate passed a resolution introducing the Bologna system from the 2005/2006 academic year (three-cycle higher education) as the basic system of education at the university. The University of Gdańsk was the first institution of higher education in Poland to introduce in 2004 the full scope of the Bologna system of education, which facilitates the work of students and opens new perspectives for obtaining a degree. To meet the increasing demand for knowledge, the University of Gdańsk offers doctoral studies, and also over eighty fields of post-graduate study, which open up the opportunity for a professional career in Poland and in Europe.
In mari via tua
One of the assets of the University of Gdańsk is its relationship with the sea. The reputation of the university in marine matters is built on its excellent research stations with their international reputations: the Hel Marine Stationof the Institute of Oceanography and the Bird Migration Research Station. The marine image of the university is also enhanced by its fields of study, specialisations and scientific research connected with the sea and with the Baltic coast in particular. This concerns, above all, the Faculties of Biology, Oceanography and Geography, and such subjects as Biology, Geography, Environmental Protection and Oceanography (Gdańsk is the only place in Poland where this subject can be studied). It also concerns the Faculty of Chemistry, where research is conducted into protection of the marine environment, and the Faculty of Law and Administration, which carries out important research into maritime law, international maritime law, the laws and systems of towns in Pomorze and maritime criminology.
The Faculty of Economics includes the Institute of Maritime Transport and Trade, the members of whose staff conduct research into the economic aspects of the functioning of transport and trade at sea. They also offer the speciality of International Maritime Transport and Trade, educating specialists in this field.
The interests of the University's literary scholars are focussed on the city and the region. Long-term research is being conducted into the connections between the literatures of various epochs and maritime issues in Pomorze. Works are also being prepared on the folklore of north-eastern Poland and on Balto-Slavic mythology.
In their research, historians concentrate on the problems of the Baltic Sea region and the history of Gdańsk and Pomorze.
In this way, the University of Gdańsk implements its motto of in mari via tua, and serves the development of the Pomorze region, whose wealth is the very sea itself.
Foreign cooperation
The University of Gdańsk cooperates with universities, institutions of higher education and scientific/scholarly research institutions from almost all the countries in the world. This enables both a broadening of its range of courses and an increase in the expertise of the academic staff, as well as the expansion of the University of Gdańsk into new subject areas. An important element of these joint activities is the implementation of projects within the Framework Programmes of the European Union. In the period from 2002 to the end of 2008, the University of Gdańsk participated in over one hundred European and international projects. The largest number of projects was realised within the 5th Framework Programme, including the establishing of three European Centres of Excellence: the Research and Education Centre for Urban Socio-Economic Development (RECOURSE), the Centre of Excellence for Baltic Development, Education and Research (BALTDER), and the Centre of Excellence in Bio-safety and Molecular Biomedicine (BioMoBil). Successes were also enjoyed by the University of Gdańsk's research teams within the 6th Framework Programme, where two of the realised projects constituted a so-called excellence network: Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (MARBEF), and the European Vigilance Network for the Management of Antiviral Drug Resistance (VIRGIL). UG research teams are also expressing considerable interest in the 7th EU Framework Programme by applying for grants announced by the European Commission.
For Polish science, scholarship and research, Poland's membership of the European Union opened new possibilities of financing activities through, among other things, taking advantage of structural funds - the European Social Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, and Community initiatives. In the 2004-2006 programme period, projects were realised both within the framework of the Sectoral Operational Programme for Human Resources Development, and within the framework of the Integrated Regional Operational Programme. The University of Gdańsk also participated in Interreg III and the EQUAL Initiative. In the 2007-2013 programme period, the University is in the process of implementing the first projects from the Operational Programme: Innovative Economy, Pomorskie Regional Operational Programme, and the Human Capital Operational Programme, including the strengthening and development of its teaching potential within the framework of Priority IV: "Tertiary education and science".
Members of the academic staff of the University of Gdańsk also win other European and international grants, e.g. within the framework of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, as well as the Lifelong Learning Programme.
Participation in European programmes also allows the expansion of the university and the broadening of its teaching and research base.
A significant element of international cooperation is the joint organisation by the University of Gdańsk and other scientific/scholarly institutions of conferences and symposia.
Another is the participation of the university in consortia working on the implementation of larger research programmes.
The university's foreign cooperation activities are also developing within the framework of over one hundred bilateral cooperation agreements with foreign partners, and also on the basis of almost two hundred and fifty agreements which the University of Gdańsk has signed with European institutions within the framework of the LLP-Erasmus Programme. The University of Gdańsk has, from the very beginning, joined in those European programmes connected with the possibility of arranging foreign placements for students, such as Europraca and Erasmus - Work experience.
UG's development strategy
The current development strategy of the University of Gdańsk is concentrated on the expansion of the university within the framework of three campuses: Oliwa (the Baltic Campus of the University of Gdańsk), Sopot, and Gdynia. In 2008, on the Oliwa Campus, the university took possession of the new building of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Institute of Geography, which contains modern multi-media lecture halls, dedicated rooms for sociology, observation, therapeutics, art, music and photography, as well as radio and television studios designed, above all, for students of Journalism and Social Communication, and also a spacious hall for exhibitions and concerts.
In 2006, also on the Oliwa Campus, the university took possession of the new Main Library of the University of Gdańsk, the most modern in the Pomorze region and designed as a centre of academic information for the whole community. Fully computerised, it offers free access to over five hundred thousand volumes. The reading rooms and special rooms for individual study meet all the demands of the 21st century and serve the needs of students and the academic community of the whole region. Since 2005, Gdynia has been able to boast the elegant building of the Institute of Oceanography with its modern laboratories and workrooms, lecture hall and exhibition room. The building of the Institute of Oceanography was recognized by the Chairperson of Gdynia City Council as the best investment in 2006 in the "Gdynia Time" competition. On the Sopot Campus, in 2006, the new Teaching and Conference Centre of the University of Gdańsk was opened.
The Baltic Campus of the University of Gdańsk
Among the plans for the development of the University of Gdańsk in the years 2007-2013 is the extension of the university's campus in Gdańsk-Oliwa within the framework of the programme entitled "The Construction of the University of Gdańsk's Campus in the years 2007-2013". The concept of the Baltic Campus of the University of Gdańsk involves the construction, alongside existing buildings - the University administrative building, the Faculties of Law and Administration, Langauges, History, Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, and the Main Library of the University of Gdańsk - of a new building of Social Sciences and the Institute of Geography. Plans call for theconstruction of a seriesof new buildings for the Faculties of Biology, Chemistry, Social Sciences and the Institute of Geography. As part of a second stage of construction, these plans project the building of an Informatics building for the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, a National Centre for Quantum Informatics, a new Modern Languages building for the Faculty of Languages, and also a University Centre for Sport and Recreation, as well as a students' hostel with about 240 places (a second such hostel is planned for the Sopot Campus).
Part of the programme for the Baltic Campus of the University of Gdańsk, a project entitled "The Construction of Buildings for the Faculties of Chemistry and Biology of the University of Gdańsk", is on the List of Key Individual Projects for the Operational Programme "Infrastructure and Environment" in Priority XIII of the Higher Education Infrastructure Plan (for the years 2007-2013). The University of Gdańsk has received financing of 236 million PLN for this investment. Within the framework of this investment, there will be built two new buildings for the Faculty of Chemistry (for Chemistry and for Environmental Protection), and one building for the Faculty of Biology. The three modern buildings which will be constructed within the framework of this project will enable graduates to acquire crucial competences in the field of ICT, foreign languages and vocational qualifications, and also to conduct research at a level matching that in the rest of the world. The Faculties of Biology and Chemistry will educate highly qualified specialists in the fields of science, which will undoubtedly help to develop the skills of the administrative and business workforce of Pomorze and the whole Baltic Sea region.
The construction of the Baltic Campus of the University of Gdańsk is an opportunity to create in Pomorze one of the strongest academic and scientific centres in the Baltic Sea region. The Baltic Campus, located in Gdańsk-Oliwa, will play the role of the scientific, teaching and student centre of the Three Cities of Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia. The University of Gdańsk, aware of its potential, has come forward with an initiative for conducting joint activities in research and development by scientific centres and institutions located by the Baltic Sea.
The development of research activity, the introduction of new fields of study, giving the opportunity for comprehensive development, and the expansion of the teaching and research base, will allow the University of Gdańsk to reinforce further its position as the leader among the higher education institutions in Northern Poland.
University of Gdańsk in The Three Cities
All buildings of the University of Gdańsk, together with its scientific research stations, are located at a range of sites from Gdańsk to the Hel Peninsula, thus covering a sizeable portion of the Polish coast. Most of the faculties are concentrated in the Three Cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. The Trójmiasto, or the Three Cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot, is one of the most beautiful places in Poland. Together the three cities have over 800,000 inhabitants. The Three Cities conurbation possesses an efficient transport system, an international airport, and ferry connections with Scandanavia. Historic Gdańsk, modern Gdynia and Sopot, the pearl of the Baltic Sea on the very coast itself, each year attract thousands of tourists. The attractive location of the Three Cities on the coast and its many outstanding theatres, concert halls and museums constitute an additional asset and an attraction for students choosing to study here.
The University of Gdańsk in figures 2014
