University of Silesia in Katowice

The strength of a classic university is the high level of research in all its scientific disciplines and its presence in international science. Monitoring this level and taking actions toward raising it are essential instruments for joining the leading universities in the country and being a recognized academic center in Europe. This is supported, among others, by investments in infrastructure for science and experimental education (chemistry, biology), which we plan to complete in 2027 and 2029, respectively, instrumentally supporting the further development of the fields of exact and natural sciences as well as engineering and technology.

Similarly to a high scientific level, the highest quality of education for students is of fundamental importance for the future of our university. Along with the education reform (New Concept of Studies), we have begun and will develop interdisciplinary and individualized education across the entire university. The prepared reform of second-cycle studies aims to integrate students as strongly as possible into the scientific research conducted at the university and to link education even more closely with the labor market thanks to an extensive system of internships and mentoring. We want to create even better conditions for student mobility, which is facilitated by the unique and prestigious Transform4Europe (T4EU) alliance.

A primary goal of the University is to care for the development of young staff, including the improvement of doctoral schools. We strive to ensure they attract the best candidates and provide doctoral students with comprehensive development based on the best possible education program, the effective implementation of research projects, and entry into the international scientific community through internships, conferences, and other forms of international research cooperation. A separate and equally important task of the university is the support of post-doctoral researchers.

Under the widely adopted slogan “Science as the New Industry of Silesia,” the University has become the initiator and leader of many activities that have made it an active participant in important debates and plans regarding the future of the voivodeship. The Academic Consortium – Katowice City of Science (linking seven public universities in Katowice: the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, the Academy of Fine Arts, the Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education, the Silesian University of Technology, the Medical University of Silesia, and the University of Economics in Katowice) is a unique alliance of universities in Poland. We want to develop this cooperation, thereby strengthening the influence of the academic sphere on the direction of the region’s transformation. The Scientific Program for Silesia and the Green Science Zone are two fundamental instruments of this influence that we want to develop in the coming years.

International cooperation in all areas of the University’s functioning is our strategic goal, which in the coming years will lead to an increase in its rank within the T4EU alliance. Effective use of this membership will facilitate international scientific and teaching cooperation for our academic staff and enable students to benefit from the teaching offer of the alliance’s universities. Transforming the University into an international university is a strategic goal justified by both the mission and demographic forecasts.

We have seen how important and measurably beneficial it is for the University to communicate the results of scientific research in a broad, understandable, and attractive way. We support every activity in this area, from the individual activity of employees to cyclical faculty events and spectacular ones like the Silesian Science Festival (ŚFN). In this way, we build the University’s public authority.

A necessary condition for every goal we set is the improvement of working conditions at the University – so that they favor the development and general well-being of the employees. This ranges from salary conditions within the current subsidy to the improvement of the space and equipment of the workplace and the better organization of research, teaching, and administrative units. We recognize that a necessary condition for the development of every person forming the University community is a sense of security and equality of opportunity in the realization of educational and professional challenges. We want the University to be a valued employer.

The goal of the 2019 organizational reform of the University was the greatest possible freedom in conducting scientific research. We will supplement this area with the possibility of creating other organizational units at the faculty (e.g., chairs or departments).

The University actively counteracts the undesirable effects of AI implementation while simultaneously creating conditions for the safe, ethical, and productive use of this technology in research, teaching, and administrative work.

It is important for us to feel a sense of pride and satisfaction that by studying and working at the University, one is part of its community. We will take further steps so that no one feels excluded from it. As the creators of our Mission, adopted by the Senate on May 20, 1997, wrote:

“The University of Silesia serves not only the great idea of protecting and transmitting thought that is the result of the work of past generations, but also contributes to the cultural heritage of society through creative research and artistic work, the interpretation of contemporary reality, and the analysis of the evolution of values shaping the immediate environment. The geographical and cultural location of the University on the borders of regions […] favors the European dimension of the University as a place whose identity is constituted not through isolation, but thanks to the readiness to hospitably welcome that which is Other and Different”.