Dear Employees,
Students,
Doctoral students,
People working and studying at the University of Silesia,
we have begun a new academic year. Despite the chronological flow of time in the history of our University, each autumn, we somehow renew its existence. As though, despite the accumulation of years, this one marks another fresh beginning. And we, along with it—despite our age and experiences—start anew, though slightly differently, with new people and in a new time. In this dialectic of renewal lies the University’s uniqueness—its eternal contemporaneity.
For universities must be eternal—institutions whose end cannot be conceived, because the pursuit of knowledge and the teaching of what we discover have no final horizon. Yet, at the same time, universities must remain ever contemporary for each new generation of students who come to understand and change the world in which they live—here and now. It is from this tension between the university’s continuity and its modernity that an unceasing crisis arises—a never-ending questioning of the university’s fundamental idea: Have we lost it in the race for evaluation, points, and grants? Are we faithful to the higher calling of knowledge for its own sake? And on the other hand, are we relevant enough to truly serve the young people who entrust us with their future, in the hope that academic education will make their lives better?
May we never lose the blessing of uncertainty when answering these questions. For it is this uncertainty that brings the creative restlessness of the People of University, ensuring that for us, nothing is ever closed, final, or fulfilled. It is this restlessness that allows us to embark on new projects, new courses, new collaborations; to try new methodologies, travel to new places, and meet new students and doctoral candidates. In recent years, we have given ourselves many proofs of the University’s renewing power. The title of European City of Science for Katowice and the ongoing ‘50 Weeks in the City of Science’ programme; the formation of a consortium and active collaboration among the seven public universities of Katowice; the New Concept of Studies; work on the Green Science Zone on the banks of the Rawa River; the recently concluded competitions for young researchers from across Europe—EUCYS and TalentOn. And all this ‘newness’ happens on the foundation and within the framework of the mission of the University, which returns to us each autumn.
I wish you all that this academic year brings a renewed sense of purpose in your work, studies, and pursuit of knowledge at our University.
Yours faithfully,
Prof. Ryszard Koziołek
Rector of the University of Silesia
Rector of the University of Silesia, Prof. Ryszard Koziołek | Photo: Julia Agnieszka Szymala