Warsaw University

University of Warsaw

Uniwersytet Warszawski
Latin: Universitas Varsoviensis
Former names	Royal University of Warsaw (1816–1863) Imperial University of Warsaw (1863–1919) Józef Piłsudski University of Warsaw (1935–1945)
Type	Public
Established	1816 (201 years ago)
Endowment	PLN 1,132,000,000 (approx. USD 373,000,000)
Rector	Marcin Pałys
Administrative staff	5,531
Students	51,700
Postgraduates	3,800 (2014)
Doctoral students	3,200 (2014)
Location	Warsaw, Poland
Campus	Urban
Affiliations	EUA, Socrates-Erasmus, EAIE, UNICA
Website	www.uw.edu.pl

The University of Warsaw (Polish: Uniwersytet Warszawski, Latin: Universitas Varsoviensis), established in 1816, is the largestuniversity in Poland. It employs over 6,000 staff including over 3,100 academic educators. It provides graduate courses for 53,000 students (on top of over 9,200 postgraduate and doctoral candidates). The University offers some 37 different fields of study, 18 faculties and over 100 specializations in Humanities, technical as well as Natural Sciences.

It was founded as a Royal University on 19 November 1816, when the Partitions of Poland separated Warsaw from the oldest and most influential University of Kraków. Tsar Alexander I granted permission for the establishment of five faculties – law and political science, medicine, philosophy, theology and the humanities. The university expanded rapidly, but was closed during November Uprising in 1830. It was reopened in 1857 under the name Akademia Medyko-Chirurgiczna (Academy of Medicine) based in the nearby Staszic Palace with only medical and pharmaceutical faculties. All Polish-language campuses were closed in 1869 after the failed January Uprising, but the university managed to train 3,000 students, many of whom were important part of the Polish intelligentsia, meanwhile the Main Building was reopened as the Imperial Russian University aimed at training military personnel. Over 70% of students were of Polish nationality, but after the revolution in 1905, the proportion dropped below 10% as a result of the boycott. The university was resurrected during the First World War and the number of students in 1918 was estimated at 4,500. After Poland's independence in 1918 the new government focused on improving the university, and in the early 1930s it became the country's largest. New faculties were established and the curriculum was extended. The university was named after Chief-of-State and Marshal of Poland Józef Piłsudski after his death in 1935. Following the Second World War and the devastation of Warsaw, the University successfully reopened in 1945.