Rector’s letter to the AGH UST Community for the inauguration of the academic year 2022/2023

Dear Employees, Doctoral Students, Students, Pensioners, and Friends of the AGH UST

We are entering the new academic year 2022/2023 that marks the beginning of another phase in the functioning of our university, which will allow us to fulfil even the most ambitious plans. This will be a time of new challenges and efforts; however, I am certain that it will also provide us with a plethora of successes.

Therefore, on this special occasion, I would like to open this letter by thanking all employees, doctoral students, and students of the AGH University of Science and Technology for their commitment and proactive attitude during the past year. And what an unusual and challenging year that was.

We have seen the onset and are still watching the progression of the war in Ukraine. Most of all, this crisis is a tragedy of the Ukrainian society, the citizens of a country that fights head-on to retain its sovereignty. But this is also the struggle to keep our neighbouring state functioning (including the spheres of education and science), in which, as a university and the entire academic community of Poland, we try to provide assistance. I am convinced that by defending the right to live in their own independent country, the Ukrainian people will return to their peaceful lives; and we declare our unceasing support for the Ukrainian scientists, doctoral students, and students, just as we have been doing so from the beginning.

In addition to the ongoing war just outside our borders, the past year has been marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forces us all to try to overcome its negative implications. All this creates an economically complex situation with which we have to deal externally and internally, trying to maintain the financial balance of our Alma Mater. Unfortunately, it seems that we will be dealing with similar issues in the coming academic year.

Nevertheless, I am certain that due to the resolve and joint efforts of our community, we will be able to stand strong in the face of these current challenges and any new ones that may come our way. We expect the latter to come in copious amounts because we have set ambitious goals.

Since the beginning of this term of office, we have been working towards making this institution a university of the future. In this sense, we primarily carry the torch of educating students, that is, we pass on the knowledge to the next generation. In the economy based on technology and innovation, the leading roles are played by practical, technical, organisational, and social knowledge. These aspects become the basis for growth in innovation and competitiveness of the economy. We want to equip all those young people who leave the walls of our university not only with professional knowledge but also with all kinds of skills and qualities that will allow them to actively shape our country and the world.

The AGH UST has been developing as a university of the future, based on a more than a century-old tradition of taking up scientific challenges, creating technological solutions that serve the economy, and fulfilling tasks that stem from the needs of the country or economic entities. On the other hand, as a research university, we have been striving to provide the highest quality of scientific investigation, to enrich knowledge by developing studies in the field of technical sciences, exact sciences, social sciences, and humanities, which meet the highest international standards of scientific cognition.

I wish all members of the academic community a prosperous and favourable year, which will bring you even more success, both professional and personal.

Traditionally, God bless you for the coming year!

Professor Jerzy Lis
AGH UST Rector