Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences (UPWr) is one of the best specialist universities in Poland. It conducts training and research in the field of agricultural and natural sciences as well as the engineering and technical ones.
Wrocław, located in south-west Poland, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, a place of diverse industry, wide range of services and good access to cultural life. Wrocław is also an academic city where 30 universities and colleges educate approximately 110 thousand students each year.
UPWr has nearly 1,600 employees, educates 8,000 students and almost 200 doctoral students. It offers 28 degree programmes at 5 faculties, and – in accordance with the idea of lifelong learning – 22 post-graduate studies, Open University of the Third Age, courses, trainings and activities for children.
In the area of research and scientist employment, UPWr follows the standards of the Human Resources Excellence in Research Logo, awarded to the University by the European Commission in 2017, and in the didactic area it strives to provide education able to meet the current requirements of the labour market.
Every year, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences is listed among the universities with the largest number of patents. Of the five international scientific and research projects currently carried out at UPWr under the Horizon 2020 programme, SynBio4Flav has obtained over 500 thousand EUR of funding, and GATHERS became the best-evaluted project in Europe financed in the amount of over 800 thousand euros. As part of its cooperation with business, the University commercializes research results and know-how. Poland’s first implementation of development research co-financed by the European Union is the technology of permanent water retention in soil, developed at UPWr. Recently, UPWr has also found itself among the signatories of the Magna Charta Universitatum created on the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna. This document contains the principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy, and promotes ties between European universities.
For several years, the University has been listed in the international Shanghai Ranking among the best universities in the world in the fields of Food Science & Technology and Veterinary Science.
The "Perspektywy” ranking – the most prestigious and comprehensive ranking of universities in Poland – placed UPWr’s Veterinary Medicine, Food Science, Geodesy and Cartography, and Animal Husbandry respectively among the top three in the country. Veterinary Medicine can boast a positive assessment of the European Association of Faculties of Veterinary Medicine (EAEVE) and an "Excellent study programme" title granted by the Polish Accreditation Comitee, which confirms the highest quality of education at the faculty.
In the last evaluation of Polish research units, UPWr received one outstanding A+ grade – for the nutrition and food technology disicpline, and an A grade for the civil engineering and transport, and the social and economic geography and spatial management disciplines.
In 2022, UPWr joined the prestigious group of consortia of the European Universities with the EUGREEN Alliance consisting of 9 European HEIs.
These and other achievements have placed UPWr among top 20 universities in Poland that competed for the title of a research university, thanks to which it will, in the coming years, receive increased subsidy for the development of its research potential.
In pursuit of scientific excellence in the priority research areas – food, environmental and veterinary sciences – UPWr established 14 Leading Research Teams which work on the development of their disciplines, initiate and conduct international research of crucial importance and obtain external funds for the University to carry out scientific studies. The Interdisciplinary International Doctoral School educates young scientists preparing them to work in research units and industry in Poland and abroad.
Supporting the international mobility of academic staff and students is one of the most important elements of the UPWr development strategy. That is why the University has for years been participating in programmes such as Erasmus+, CEEPUS, Fulbright and DAAD, encouraging students to gain experience abroad, and PhD students and scientists to cooperate with best research units in the world and conduct research in international and interdisciplinary teams.
