Opening ceremony of the academic year 2022/2023 at Bialystok University of Technology

The Rector of Bialystok University of Technology drew particular attention to the joining of forces of the three technical universities of Eastern Poland – Bialystok, Lublin and Rzeszów Universities – under the common name of the Via Carpatia Polytechnic Network.

– Our network includes secondary schools, primarily technical schools and partners from the socio-economic environment, – said Professor Marta Kosior-Kazberuk – Each of the three universities – signatories to the Network – will coordinate a different thematic area, but of course all universities participate in the co-creation of specific proposals for action. Hence, the beneficiaries will include secondary school students, university students, university research and teaching staff and the broadly defined socio-economic environment. We will support vocational education under the slogan ‘From technical schools to universities of technology’, help first-year students to level their knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry or other subject areas. Together, we want to activate young people in competitions for teenage inventors, similarly develop the integration of student scientific circles among technical universities of Eastern Poland, and, in cooperation with entrepreneurs, prepare innovative courses of study and, together with them, encourage students to study engineering.

In her speech, the Rector of Bialystok University of Technology recalled that the University is currently implementing 28 projects financed from central funds (EU, NCBiR, MEiN, OP Infrastructure and Environment, other operational programmes) with a total value of approximately PLN 128 million. In the 2021/2022 academic year, the staff of Bialystok University of Technology received funding from central funds for 11 new projects worth more than PLN 10 million, and are conducting 3 R&D projects with industrial partners, worth more than PLN 1.2 million.

– Last year we intensified international cooperation again. Bialystok University of Technology is the second university in Poland and the first among technical universities with the highest percentage of students coming from abroad. – emphasised Assoc. Prof. Marta Kosior-Kazberuk, DSc, PhD, Eng. – Last year, we received a total of over PLN 8 million for international cooperation projects.

The Rector of Bialystok University of Technology also referred to the situation in which the Ukrainian people had to face Russia’s attack on their sovereign state.

– Bialystok University of Technology is a university where democracy, equality and freedom are the foundations of the modern world. – stressed Assoc. Prof. Marta Kosior-Kazberuk, DSc, PhD, Eng. – We have supported and will continue to support Ukraine, which is fighting aggression. We continuously support our partner universities in Ukraine by offering all kinds of assistance. The entire academic community of Bialystok University of Technology has joined in the collection of donations, the collection of medical supplies, and we have also made our infrastructure available – our student residence halls and sports hall. We organised free Polish language courses and specialised e-learning courses in Ukrainian. We made it possible for Ukrainian students and doctoral students to transfer to study at our university, and opened the Erasmus+ programme for them.

Professor Volodymyr Onyshchenko, Rector of the National University “Yuriy Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, Ukraine, an honorary professor of Bialystok University of Technology, was due to speak at the inauguration of the 2022/2023 academic year. However, the Rector has decided that in the face of the escalation of the war with Russia, he cannot leave the University. In a video statement sent out, he said, among other things:

I would like to thank you and the entire Polish nation for supporting Ukraine in such difficult times for our country. As an honorary professor of Bialystok University of Technology, I am extremely pleased that you are in solidarity with Ukraine. It is extremely important that from the first days of the war you have shown your support to the academic community of Poltava National University, you have admitted students and young scientists of our University under the academic mobility programme. With your actions and determination you have shown confidence in the National University “Yuriy Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, and faith in the victory of Ukraine!

Congratulatory letters from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Minister of Science and Higher Education Przemysław Czarnek, PhD were handed over by Provincial Governor Bohdan Paszkowski.

A letter from Secretary of State at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Dariusz Piontkowski was presented by 1st Podlasie Deputy Governor Tomasz Madras, PhD.

Guest of the ceremony was Secretary of State at the Ministry of Family and Social Policy, Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled Persons Paweł Wdówik.

– Bialystok University of Technology has for several years been one of the small group of leaders among technical universities which open themselves to students with disabilities, but also to serving the community in which there are citizens with disabilities, – said Minister Paweł Wdówik.

A letter from Artur Kosicki, PhD, Marshal of the Podlaskie Voivodeship, was presented by Wieslawa Burnos from the Podlaskie Voivodeship Board.

Best wishes to the students of Bialystok University of Technology were expressed by Tadeusz Truskolaski, PhD, President of the City of Białystok. He jokingly added that, as an economist, he had found an indicator that, per capita, Bialystok University of Technology has more students than Lublin University of Technology, i.e. it is the largest technical university in north-eastern Poland.

After the ceremonial matriculation of students, representatives of the first year of studies, and the new doctoral students of the Doctoral School of Bialystok University of Technology, international students and students of the Academic Secondary School of Bialystok University of Technology were welcomed into the academic community.

This was followed by speeches of the President of the Student Parliament of Bialystok University of Technology Adrian Twardowski and the President of the Doctoral Student Self-Government of the Białystok University of Technology Piotr Golonko, MSc.

The inauguration ceremony of the 2022/2023 academic year was crowned by a lecture entitled “Why Xylopolis has the potential to be of value to the region?” delivered by engineer Jan Mikołuszko, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Unibep S.A. One of the originators of the presentation of the Podlaskie Voivodeship at EXPO 2020 exhibition in Dubai, which got a spectacular response in the media all over the world, presented the idea of continuing the promotion of the region in the form of the construction of Xylopolis on the premises of Bialystok University of Technology – a facility combining the functions of an exhibition centre, with education and science, and a place for the exchange of experience of entrepreneurs connected with wood.

– Xylopolis can become a new icon of architecture and entrepreneurship in Podlasie, – concluded Jan Mikołuszko.

The ceremony was attended by rectors of partner universities, Podlasie local government officials, government administration officials, honorary consuls, representatives of local business, representatives of the clergy led by Archbishop Józef Guzdek, Metropolitan of Białystok.

The live broadcast was made by the university’s PlatonTV team. The musical setting of the ceremony was provided by the Choir of Bialystok University of Technology under the direction of Professor Wioletta Miłkowska.

On 1 October 2022, Bialystok University of Technology enrolled 2,337 students for full-time and part-time first- and second-cycle programmes.

Full-time first-cycle studies were started by 1,792 students.

Opening ceremony of the academic year 2022/2023 at Bialystok University of Technology

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