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Jagiellonian University
Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Latin: Universitas Jagellonica Cracoviensis
Motto:	Plus ratio quam vis (Let reason prevail over force)
Established	1364
Rector:	Professor Karol Musioł
Students:	44,214 (2006)
Location	Kraków, Poland
Affiliations:	EUA,Coimbra Group,Europaeum NAFSA,Utrecht Network,EAIE
Website:	http://www.uj.edu.pl/

For several academies alternatively called "Krakow Academy", see Education in Kraków

The Jagiellonian University (Polish: Uniwersytet Jagielloński, often shortened to UJ) is located in Kraków, Poland. Originally founded as Akademia Krakowska (English: Cracow Academy) in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, it is the second oldest university in Central Europe after the Charles University in Prague, and one of the oldest universities in Europe. It was renamed as the Jagiellonian University in 1817 to commemorate the Jagiellonian dynasty of Polish kings.^[1] The Times Higher Education Supplement ranked Jagiellonian University as the best Polish university in 2006.^[2]

Contents 1 History 2 Famous people connected with the university 3 Outstanding professors 4 Enrollment 5 Library 6 Organization 7 Student Life 8 See also 9 Note 10 External links

Casimir III realized that the nation needed a class of educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the laws and administer the courts and offices. His efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were rewarded in 1364, when Pope Urban V granted him permission to open the Cracow Academy. Its development was stalled by the death of the king, and later the academy was re-established (1400) by King Wladislaus Jagiełło and his wife Jadwiga. The queen donated all of her personal jewelry to the academy, allowing it to enrol 203 students. The faculties of astronomy, law and theology attracted eminent scholars: for example, Stanisław of Skalbmierz, Paweł Włodkowic, Jan of Głogów, and Albert Brudzewski, who from 1491 to 1495 was one of Nicolaus Copernicus's teachers.

Throughout the history of the University, thousands of students from all over Poland, from Lithuania, Russia, Hungary, Bohemia, Germany and Spain have studied there. In the second half of the 15th century, over 40% of students came from the countries other than the Kingdom of Poland. For several centuries, virtually the entire intellectual elite of Poland was educated at the University.

The first chancellor of the academy was Piotr Wysz and the first professors were Czechs, Germans and Poles, many of them trained at the Charles University in Prague in Bohemia. Of the students attending about one third were Poles.

By 1520 Greek philology was introduced by Constanzo Claretti and Wenzel von Hirschberg; Hebrew was also taught.

The Golden era of the Cracow Academy took place during the Polish Renaissance, between 1500 and 1535, when it was attended by 3215 students in the first decade of the 16th century. As the popularity declined, this record was not surpassed until the late 18th century.

In 1846, after the Kraków Uprising,[2] the city and its university became part of the Austrian Empire. The threat of a closure of the University was dissipated in 1847 by the Austrian Emperor's decree to maintain it. New buildings, like the Collegium Novum opened in 1887, were added.

Nowadays, the administrative offices including those of the Rector and Deans are located at the historic Collegium Novum.

Since 2000 a new complex of university buildings, the so-called Third Campus, is under construction, due for completion in 2009^[3].

• Saint John Cantius (1390-1473), scholastic and theologian
• Jan Długosz (1415-1480), historian
• Laurentius Corvinus (1465-1527), humanist, lecturer at the Academy
• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), astronomer, promoter of heliocentrism
• Francysk Skaryna (1485?-1540?), pioneer of the Belorussian language, the first to print a book in an Eastern Slavic language (1517 in Prague)
• Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503?-1572), poet, diplomat and political thinker
• Marcin Kromer (1512-1589), historian, Prince-Bishop of Warmia
• Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584), poet, one of the pioneers of the Polish language
• Stanisław Koniecpolski (1590?-1646), military commander and politician, Grand Hetman of the Crown
• John III Sobieski (1629-1696), military leader and a king of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, won the Battle of Vienna
• Carl Menger (1840-1921), economist and lawyer, founder of the Austrian School of economics
• Wacław Sierpiński (1882-1969), mathematician
• Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942), anthropologist
• Henryk Sławik (1894-1944), diplomat, designated a Righteous Among the Nations for the rescue of Jews in World War II Hungary
• Tadeusz Pankiewicz (1908-1993), pharmacist, Righteous Among the Nations who aided Jews in the Kraków Ghetto
• Józef Cyrankiewicz (1911-1989), communist politician, prime minister of Poland (1947-1970)
• Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972), psychiatrist
• Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyła, 1920-2005), pope and Catholic bishop of Rome
• Zbigniew Czajkowski (b. 1921), fencing master, "Father of the Polish School of fencing"
• Stanisław Lem (1921-2006), writer
• Wisława Szymborska (b. 1923), poet, Nobel Prize in Literature (1996)
• Norman Davies (b. 1939), British historian
• Krzysztof Zanussi (b. 1939), film director

• Stanisław of Skarbimierz (1360-1431), rector, theologian, lawyer
• Paweł Włodkowic (1370-1435), lawyer, diplomat and politician, representative of Poland on the Council of Constance
• Albert Brudzewski (1445-1497), astronomer and mathematician
• Maciej Miechowita (1457-1523), historian, chronicler, geographer, medic
• Jan Brożek (1585-1652), mathematician, physician and astronomer
• Henryk Jordan (1842-1907), professor of obstetrics
• Walery Jaworski (1849–1924), gastroenterologist
• Władysław Natanson (1864–1937), physicist
• Stanisław Estreicher (1869-1939), founder of the Jagiellonian University Museum
• Tadeusz Estreicher (1871-1952), pioneer in cryogenics
• Marian Smoluchowski (1872-1917), pioneer of statistical physics
• Stanisław Kutrzeba (1876-1946), rector, General Secretary of the Polish Academy of Learning
• Andrzej Gawroński (1885-1927), founder of the Polish Oriental Society, master of Sanskrit
• Stanisław Kot (1885-1975), historian and politician
• Tadeusz Sulimirski (1898-1983), historian and archaeologist, experts on the ancient Sarmatians
• Henryk Niewodniczański (1900-1968), physicist

With 44,214 students (including 1,009 from abroad) and 3,605 academic staff (2006) it is one of the leading universities in Poland. The school also enjoys an exclusive exchange program with The Catholic University of America and its Columbus School of Law.[3]

The university's Jagiellonian Library (Biblioteka Jagiellońska) is one of the largest in the country, with almost 5.5 million volumes. It has a large collection of medieval manuscripts [4], for example Copernicus' De Revolutionibus or Balthasar Behem Codex.

It also gathered the underground literature (so called drugi obieg or samizdat) from the period of communist rule (1945-1989).

The university is divided in 15 faculties:

• Law and Administration
• Medicine
• Pharmacy and Medical Analysis
• Health Care
• Philosophy
• History
• Philology
• Polish Language and Literature
• Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science
• Mathematics and Computer Science
• Chemistry
• Biology and Earth Sciences
• Management and Social Communication
• International and Political Studies
• Biotechnology

In 1851 first Student Scientific Association was founded. Now, over 70 Student Scientific Associations exist at the Jagiellonian University. Usually, their purpose is to promote student's scientific achievements by organizing lecture sessions, science exursions, even international conferences for students like the International Workshop for Young Mathematicians organized by the Zaremba Association of Mathematicians.

• Nawojka The legendary first female student from the 15th century

• Official Homepage

v • d • e Europaeum
Bologna • Bonn • HEI, Geneva • Helsinki • Kraków (Jagiellonian) • Leiden • Madrid (Complutense) • Oxford • Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne • Prague

v • d • e Coimbra Group of European research universities
Aarhus • Barcelona • Bergen • Bologna • Bristol • Budapest • Cambridge • Coimbra • Dublin • Edinburgh • Galway • Geneva • Göttingen • Granada • Graz • Groningen • Heidelberg • Iaşi • Jena • Kraków • Leiden • Leuven • Louvain-la-Neuve • Lyon • Montpellier • Oxford • Padua • Pavia • Poitiers • Prague • Salamanca • Siena • Tartu • Thessaloniki • Turku I • Turku II • Uppsala • Würzburg

v • d • e Kraków
Districts: Stare Miasto  · Grzegórzki  · Prądnik Czerwony  · Prądnik Biały  · Krowodrza  · Bronowice  · Bieńczyce  · Zwierzyniec  · Dębniki  · Łagiewniki-Borek Fałęcki  · Swoszowice  · Podgórze Duchackie  · Bieżanów-Prokocim  · Podgórze  · Czyżyny  · Mistrzejowice  · Wzgórza Krzesławickie  · Nowa Huta
Tourist attractions: Wawel  · Kazimierz  · National Museum in Kraków  · Sigismund Bell  · Sukiennice  · St. Mary's Basilica

Coordinates: 50°3′39″N, 19°55′58″E