Ladies and Gentlemen,
one year of pandemic is behind us. Exceptionally hard for the world, and for the University, too. With the beginning of the new year, we were hoping that as soon as the vaccinations were in place, we would be able to take a deep breath and start planning the return to classes at the University, holiday trips, and official inauguration of academic year 2021/2022. Unfortunately, as Albert Camus wrote in The Plague, we still “live in a waiting room”.
Nobody was prepared for a global epidemic, which not only threatens our health and life, but also paralyses the operation of public institutions, including health care and education in the first place.
Despite the unbearable temporariness, the University operates, intensively and effectively, in a “state of emergency”. I would like to express my gratitude and deep respect to all employees of the University of Silesia for this determination and responsibility towards our students and doctoral students. I am equally impressed by the continuous scientific activity of our researchers, the increase of which I follow with pride and joy. We, as the Rector Committee, hope that our academic programmes of supporting research and financial reward for significant scientific achievements have found your approval. We regard them as consolidation of individual research passions and ambitions, which are the foundation for practising science as a profession and vocation.
It is extremely important, in light of the prolonged epidemic, to provide the academic community and the citizens with evidence of the University’s existence. You do it by maintaining the daily functioning of the University, conducting research and carrying out distance learning, but also through spectacular series of lectures, conferences with outstanding guests, participation in Scientific Premiere Stage, as well as bringing us the joy of new publications, awards for science communication and subsequent patent applications of our scholars.
As the functioning of public sphere is very limited, voice of the University is very much needed in many problems that can only be solved thanks to expert knowledge and scientific evidence. One of the reasons why countries were not prepared for the epidemic was the suppression of information delivered to politicians by medical doctors and scientists. In the world penetrated by false information created for political or economic reasons, it is people of the university that are particularly obliged to spread the scientific truth.
This year will definitely bring the world and our University changes for the better. A majority of us will get vaccinated, and I strongly hope that in the autumn we will recover the University of Silesia as a real community, filling our four campuses with the joint presence of employees, students and doctoral students.
Before this happens, in spite of the problems, let us fill this period of distancing with new ideas, projects and achievements. Stay healthy, taking care of yourselves, your families and friends.
With warm regards,
Ryszard Koziołek
Prof. Ryszard Koziołek, Rector of the University of Silesia in Katowice / Photo by Julia Agnieszka Szymala, Media Communication Centre at the University of Silesia