When Academic Institutions Join Their Forces

The official community inauguration event will take place on Tuesday, October the 1st, at 2 P.M. in the Aula Leopoldinum in the main building of the University of Wrocław.

In elegant gowns, rectors, pro-rectors and deans of the Wrocław public academic institutions will take their seats in lodges, and the procession will present academic banners. 20 students - two representatives of each Wrocław academic institution-will participate in ceremonial matriculation, and the act will be performed by the Rector of the Wrocław Medical University, Professor Marek Ziętek. Occassional speech will be delivered by Rector Professor Roman Kołacz - chairman of the College of Rectors of the Academic Institutions of Wrocław, Opole and Zielona Góra (KRUWOZ), and inaugural lecture-by an eminent cardiologist of the Wrocław Medical University, Professor Piotr Ponikowski, who will tell us what we have learnt from the paradoxes of cardiology. The event will be added splendour with the joint performance of choirs of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław: the Feichtinum Choir and the Stanisław Krukowski Choir directed by Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny and Artur Wróbel.

Ten academic institutions of Wrocław: the University of Wrocław, the Wrocław University of Economics, the Wrocław Medical University, the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, the Wrocław Academy of Physical Education, the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts (Faculty in Wrocław) and Tadeusz Kościuszko Land Forces Military Academy have all been engaged in the organisation of the event, coordinated by Maria Wanke-Jerie, chief specialist for community cooperation at the UPWr Information, Promotion and Recruitment Office.

The joint academic year inauguration is part of the community celebrations programme. On the 1st of October, at 8:50 A.M., in the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, a service will be held for the academic community of Wrocław. Later on the same day, at 12:00, exhibition of Ray Bartkus will be opened in the Neon Gallery of the Centre for Applied Art at ul. Traugutta 21, and following the ceremony in the Aula Leopoldinum both the rectors and invited guests will walk to the Market Square where at 430 P.M., for the seventh time, they will listen to a unique performance of the song Gaudeamus Igitur by the choirs of the Wrocław schools and academic institutions, which will be broadcast nationally by TVP2, the second channel of Polish television. The performance of the academic anthem will be preceded by the occassional speech delivered by Rector Professor Roman Kołacz - chairman of the KRUWOZ.

On the 1st of October 2015 the Wrocław academic community will communicate its potential and capacity as well as the will of creative cooperation to the entire city. This event is not the only occasion when the Wrocław academic institutions join their forces together for a common cause. One such joint initiative which is particularly worth mentioning is the Lower Silesian Science Festival, whose 16th edition will take place this year thanks to the work of hundreds of people, with an impressive list of participating academic institutions, institutes, cultural centres and schools. Coordinators of the Festival are appointed by the College of Rectors and annually distinguished with awards for their contributions to the integration of the Wrocław academic community. For over a decade the Science Festival has been taking place not only in Wrocław but also in other cities and towns of Lower Silesia. The event has gathered a number of prestigious awards and its organizers have become members of the European Science Events Association. This is the best evidence that when the aim is noble, integration and cooperation are fruitful.

Another example of that are academic offices for promotion, which for over a decade have been running joint initiatives, such as the roadshow of the Wrocław academic institutions around the country, organized in 2005, 2006, 2009, and around Ukraine in 2006 and 2007, as well as three editions of fairs entitled ‘The Wrocław Student Index Book’ or the joint academic online competition opening the door to academic education in Wrocław to the best graduates of secondary schools from all over Poland. This year’s ceremonial presentation of the ‘Student Index Book for the bold ones’ competition awards with the participation of the rectors and President of Wrocław Rafał Dutkiewicz will be held on the 30th of September at 12:00 in the Session Room of the Wrocław Town Hall.

Małgorzata Wanke-Jakubowska
Communication officer of the Community Inauguration