Warsaw University of Technology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Warsaw University of Technology |
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| Established | 1826 |
| Rector | Włodzimierz Kurnik |
| Students | about 30,000 |
| Location | Warsaw, Poland |
| Address | pl. Politechniki 1, 00-661 |
| Telephone | +(48 22) 660 74 19 |
| Affiliations | EUA |
| Website | www.pw.edu.pl/english/index.html |
Warsaw University of Technology is the largest academic school of technology in Poland, and one of the largest in East Europe, employing 2,000 professors. The number of students is 31,000 (as of 2004), most of them study full-time. There are 17 faculties covering almost all fields of science and technology. All of them are situated in Warsaw except for one in the city Płock.
The origins of Warsaw University of Technology date back to 1826 when engineering education was begun in Warsaw Institute of Technology.
Contents |
[edit] Faculties
[edit] Warsaw
[edit] Warsaw Central Campus
- Architecture
- Chemical and Process Engineering
- Chemistry
- Civil Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Electronic and Computer Engineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Geodesy and Cartography
- Mathematics and Information Science
- Physics
- Power and Aeronautical Engineering
- Transport
[edit] Warsaw Southern Campus
- Automobiles and Heavy Machinery Engineering
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Mechatronics
- Production Engineering
[edit] Płock Campus
- The University Outside Warsaw
- Civil Engineering, Mechanics and Petrochemistry
- College of Economics and Social Sciences
[edit] Historical Note
The origins of Polish universities of technology go back to the XVIIIth century. They were related to either military technology or mining, which demanded complicated technological processes as a result of the exploitation of deeper seams. The model school of technology, a university of technology, was designed by the French, who in 1794 founded the School of Technology in Paris. In the beginning of the XIXth century universities of technology were opened in Prague (in 1806), Vienna (1815) and in Karlsruhe (1824).
In Poland, the first multidisciplinary university of technology was the Preparatory School for the Institute of Technology, which was opened on 4 January 1826. The Warsaw University of Technology still cultivates its traditions. The man who played the most important part in creating the school and writing its syllabus was Stanisław Staszic. Kajetan Garbiński, a mathematician and Warsaw University professor became the director of the school. The School was closed in 1831, after the November Insurrection, and it was re-born as the Emperor Nicolas II University of Technology only in 1898, when the Technological Section of the Warsaw Society for Russian Commerce and Industry, whose director was engineer Kazimierz Obrębowicz, collected funds for the opening of the University. Classes, with Russian as the language of instruction, started on 5 September in the building at 81 Marszałkowska Street. They were soon moved to new buildings, built especially for the Institute. They were designed by Bronisław Rogóyski and Stefan Szyller.
On the day of the opening, the University had three faculties: the Faculty of Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering and Construction. In June 1902 the Faculty of Mining was opened. Poles constituted the majority of students until 1905, when their number reached 1100.
At the same time in Warsaw, which German troops had entered on 5 August 1915, the new occupants, who wanted to gain the sympathy of Poles, allowed Warsaw University and the Warsaw University of Technology to open with Polish as the language of instruction. The grand opening of both universities was held on 15 November 1915. Zygmunt Straszewicz was the first rector of Warsaw University of Technology. The period of World War I, together with the events connected with the restitution of the Polish State and the Polish-Bolshevik war did not help the development of the school. Daily lectures at the university only started in November of 1920. The school taught the young future engineers at several faculties: at the Faculty of Mechanics, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Aquatic Engineering, and finally, at the Faculty of Geodesy (or since 1925 - of Measuring). The last three faculties were merged on the basis of the new Academic Schools Law of 15 March 1933. The Polish Cabinet issued a decree on 25 September 1933, in which the new Faculty of Engineering was created.
The general number of the Warsaw University of Technology students in the period of twenty years between the wars grew from 2540 in the 1918/1819 academic year to 4673 just before the outbreak of the World War II. In the same period the school granted more than 6200 diplomas, including 320 for women. The Warsaw University of Technology became the most important scientific centre of engineering in Poland and gained international prestige. At that time, 66 people were given PhD titles, and 50 qualified as assistant professors. The University was a centre of scientific research for people whose achievements were fundamental for world science and technology, including Karol Adamiecki, Stefan Bryła, Jan Czochralski, Maksymilian T. Huber, Janusz Groszkowski, Mieczysław Wolfke and many others.
During World War II, despite enormous material losses and repressive measures, the Warsaw University of Technology continued to operate underground. Teaching continued in the form of clandestine and open courses, in vocational schools and from 1942, in a two-year State Higher Technical School. Approximately 3000 students took part in the clandestine courses and 198 got their engineer diplomas. Scientific research was also conducted, as 20 PhD and 14 assistant-professorship qualifying theses were written. There were also many works that were to serve the reconstruction of Poland after the war and constitute the foundation for the development of science in the future. Students and professors clandestinely worked on various projects. Professors Janusz Groszkowski, Marceli Struszyński and Józef Zawadzki conducted a detailed analysis of the radio and steering devices of the German V-2 missiles, at the request of the Polish Home Army Intelligence.
After German troops had been dislodged from Warsaw, classes started in improvised conditions on 22 January 1945, and by the end of the year all the pre-war faculties were re-opened. Old, demolished buildings were rebuilt quickly and new ones were erected. In 1951 the Warsaw University of Technology incorporated the Wawelberg and Rotwand's School of Engineering. The Academic and Research Centre in Płock was created in 1967. In the year 1945 there were 2148 students at 6 faculties, and in 1999 there were 22,000 people at 16 faculties. The Warsaw University of Technology granted over 104,000 BSc and MSc engineer degrees between the years 1945–1998.
Over the years, the University was an important scientific centre, educating academic staff not only for its own purposes, but also for other Polish schools of technology. Between 1945 and 1998 5500 PhD theses were written in all faculties. There were almost 1100 theses qualifying for assistant professorships. The number of academic staff grew significantly. In 1938, the University had 98 tenured professors and associate professors and 307 assistant professors and teaching assistants, whereas in 1948 there were 87 and 471, while in 1999 there were 371 professors, 1028 tutors, 512 lecturers and 341 teaching assistants.
