“I declare the academic year to be open”. Inaugural session of the Gdańsk Tech Senate | Gdańsk University of Technology

The ceremonial session of the Senate began with the reading of letters containing best wishes for the new academic year. The letter of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, was read by his advisor, Piotr Karczewski, and the letter from Mateusz Morawiecki, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland – by Dariusz Drelich, the Pomeranian Voivode. In turn, the words addressed to the academic community by the minister of education were read by prof. Krzysztof Wilde, rector of Gdańsk Tech.

At the beginning of his speech, prof. Krzysztof Wilde, the rector of Gdańsk Tech referred to the war events. – Let me start with the unjustified and shameful attack by Russia on Ukraine, our closest neighbor, which was a huge blow not only to a large Ukrainian part of our academic community, but to all of us. The war showed, however, that in the face of danger, we can open our hearts wide, join our forces and rush to help. Our academic community – both students and doctoral students, as well as academic and administrative staff – has passed the exam in the most important values that should guide us throughout our lives with flying colors: solidarity with another human being, empathy, tenacity and the fight for the common good.

In the second part of the speech, the rector referred to the position of the university in the country and in the world, emphasizing that for the third time Gdańsk University of Technology was included in the prestigious Shanghai Ranking, bringing together the best universities in the world, as well as in a number of other international rankings and competitions.

– We have also confirmed our strong position in the country. In this year's evaluation, our university turned out to be by far the best among technical universities, and it is worth adding that we can also be found in the top three classifications of all universities in Poland.

Prof. Krzysztof Wilde also summarized the activities of the Fahrenheit Universities in the last academic year, citing a number of joint initiatives, the last two of which – the Fahrenheit Science Picnic and the joint opening of the new academic year of Gdańsk universities, attracted not only many members of the city's academic community, but also hundreds of Gdańsk residents.

The Rector also mentioned the investment activities currently under way at the university.

– In just a few weeks we will solemnly open the STOS Competence Center – the most modern IT center in Europe, which – at a cost of approximately PLN 240 million and with a large share of European funds – is being built at the back of our campus at Traugutta Street by the Faculty of Management and Economics at Gdańsk Tech. It is the largest investment in the post-war history of Gdańsk University of Technology and I am sure that it will be a distinguishing feature on the scientific map of Europe not only for our university, but also for the city of Gdańsk and the entire Pomeranian region.

Prizes and awards

In the next part of the ceremony, the title of "Personality of Gdańsk University of Technology" was awarded to the distinguished scientist. This year it was received by prof. Jan Buczkowski "in respect of the exceptional merits for the University aimed at creating the image of Gdańsk University of Technology as a modern technical university combining the strength of tradition with modernity, in particular for building a uniform, recognizable and coherent system of external and internal visual identification of Gdańsk Tech, for activities aimed to create a museum of art and technology on the campus (...) "

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The next point of the ceremony was the matriculation of students. The best newly admitted representatives of all eight faculties took the oath. Jakub Persjanow, chairman of the Student Self-government of Gdańsk University of Technology, also took the floor. Then, the award was presented by the University Business Club of UBC+, operating as part of the Gdańsk Tech Alumni Association, to the best student of Gdańsk University of Technology., Barbara Klaudel from the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics and Aleksander Obuchowski from the Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics received PLN 5 thousand each this year.

Also the winners in the prof. Romuald Szczęsny’s Competition for the best diploma thesis prepared at Gdańsk University of Technology were honored. The winner turned out to be MSc. Edyta Piłat from the Faculty of Chemistry, for the thesis entitled "Hybrid systems for the release of antibacterial compounds composed of a polyurethane matrix printed in FDM technology and a hydrogel layer". The master's thesis was carried out under the supervision of Justyna Kucińska-Lipka, PhD, DSc, Eng., professor at Gdańsk Tech. The competition also awarded 3 distinctions, which were received by: Oliwia Piotrowska, MSc, Eng. (FMEST), Weronika Kalista, MSc, Eng. (FETI) and Aleksander Obuchowski, Eng. and Bartosz Rydziński, Eng. (FAPM).

At the end of the ceremony, prof. Joanna Sułkowska from the University of Warsaw gave the inaugural lecture entitled "The impact of the development of artificial intelligence methods on human life".

The musical side of the ceremony was taken care of by the Academic Choir of Gdańsk University of Technology under the direction of prof. Mariusz Mróz.