Jagiellonian University

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Jagiellonian University
Coat of Arms of the Jagiellonian University
Data
Motto Plus ratio quam vis
(Reason means more than power)
Polish Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Latin Universitas Jagellonica Cracoviensis
Established 1364
Location Kraków, Poland (EU)
Enrollment 41 086 (November 30, 2004)
Rector Professor Karol Musioł
Address Collegium Novum, ul. Gołębia 24
31-007 Kraków
Poland
Phone (+48 12) 422-10-33
E-mail rektor@adm.uj.edu.pl
Homepage www.uj.edu.pl
Membership EUA, Coimbra Group, Europaeum
Map
Kraków in Poland
Kraków in Poland

Jagiellonian University (Polish: Uniwersytet Jagielloński, often shortened to UJ) located in Krakow, Poland, and is ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement as the best Polish university.

It was founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great as Akademia Krakowska and thus is also among the oldest universities in Europe and the world, the second oldest in Central Europe (after the University of Prague).

The university was for much of its history known as the Cracow Academy, but in the 19th century the university was renamed to commemorate the Jagiellonian dynasty of Polish kings.

Contents

[edit] History

Casimir III realized that the nation needed a class of educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the laws and administer the courts and offices in the reunified state. He was also aware that the parish network was growing and its 3,000 schools were short of teachers. His ardent efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were rewarded in 1364, when Pope Urban V granted him permission to open the Cracow Academy. Its development was stalled by the death of the king, and later the university was re-established (1400) by King Wladislaus Jagiełło and his wife Jadwiga. The queen donated all of her personal jewelry to the university, allowing it to enrolled 203 students. By the end of the century, about 18,000 students, many of them foreign, 50% of burgher origin, had passed through its gates. The faculties of astronomy, law and theology attracted eminent scholars: for example, Stanisław of Skalbmierz, Paweł Włodkowic, Jan of Głogów, and Albert Brudzewski, who from 1491 to 1495 was one of Nicolaus Copernicus's teachers.

Throughout the history of the University, thousands of students from all over Poland, from Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bohemia, Germany and Spain have studied there. In the second half of the 15th century, over 40% of university students came from the countries other than the Kingdom of Poland. For several centuries, virtually the entire intellectual elite of Poland was educated at the University.

The first chancellor of the university was Piotr Wysz and the first professors were Czechs, Germans and Poles, many of them trained at the University of Prague in Bohemia. The university and the chancellors were partisans of the Council of Basel. Of the students attending about one third were Poles.

Jan Haller established a printing press in Krakow around 1500. By 1520 Greek philology was introduced by Constanzo Claretti, Wenzel von Hirschberg and Libanus; Hebrew was also taught.

Golden era of the University took place during the Polish Renaissance, between 1500 and 1535, when it was attended by 3215 students in the first decade of the 16th century - a record not surpassed until the late 18th century.

[edit] Alumni

Monument to Nicolaus Copernicus next to the Jagiellonian University's Collegium Novum (New College) in Kraków.
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Monument to Nicolaus Copernicus next to the Jagiellonian University's Collegium Novum (New College) in Kraków.

Famous historical figures connected with the University:

[edit] Famous professors

[edit] Enrollment

With 41,086 (2004) students and 3407 scientists it is one of the leading universities in Poland.

[edit] Library

The university's Jagiellonian Library (Biblioteka Jagiellońska) is one of the largest in the country, with almost 5.5 million volumes. It has a large collection of medieval manuscripts [1], for example Copernicus' De Revolutionibus or Balthasar Behem's Codex.

It also gathered the underground literature (so called drugi obieg or samizdat) from the period of communist rule (1945-1989).

[edit] Organization

Globus Jagellonicus - made in 1510 is the first known globe to mention the name of America.
Enlarge
Globus Jagellonicus - made in 1510 is the first known globe to mention the name of America.

The university is divided in 15 faculties:

  • Law and Administration
  • Medicine
  • Pharmacy and Medical Analysis
  • Health Care
  • Philosophy
  • History ([2])
  • Philology
  • Polish Language and Literature
  • Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science
  • Mathematics and Computer Science
  • Chemistry
  • Biology and Earth Sciences
  • Management and Social Communication
  • International and Political Studies
  • Biotechnology

Since 2000 the university is building a new complex of university buildings, the so-called Third Campus.

[edit] External links

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Europaeum

Bologna | Bonn | HEI, Geneva | Helsinki | Kraków (Jagiellonian) | Leiden | Madrid (Complutense) | Oxford | Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne | Prague
Coimbra Group (of European research universities)
Aarhus | Barcelona | Bergen | Bologna | Bristol | Budapest | Cambridge | Coimbra | Dublin | Edinburgh | Galway | Geneva | Göttingen | Granada | Graz | Groningen | Heidelberg | Jena | Kraków | Leiden | Leuven | Louvain-la-Neuve | Lyon | Montpellier | Oxford | Padua | Pavia | Poitiers | Prague | Salamanca | Siena | Tartu | Thessaloniki | Turku I | Turku II | Uppsala | Würzburg


 
Kraków
Districts:
Stare Miasto | Grzegórzki | Prądnik Czerwony | Prądnik Biały | Łobzów | Bronowice | Bieńczyce | Zwierzyniec | Dębniki | Łagiewniki | Swoszowice | Wola Duchacka | Prokocim-Bieżanów | Podgórze | Czyżyny | Mistrzejowice | Grębałów | Nowa Huta
Tourist attractions:
Kazimierz | Jagiellonian University | Sigismund Bell | Smok Wawelski | St. Mary's Basilica | Wawel
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