5 million to explore the potential of Wrocław’s universities. UWr and UMed join forces
The University of Wrocław and the University of Medical Sciences in Wrocław are preparing a plan for federalisation. The aim is to strengthen the potential while maintaining the autonomy of both universities.
A grant of almost PLN 5 million was awarded to the Wrocław universities by the Ministry of Education and Science. Thanks to it, a group of external experts will be selected to assess the potential of federalisation. University teams are already working on preparing the relevant data.
The Steering Committee is headed by the Rector of the University of Wrocław, Professor Robert Olkiewicz, who emphasises that the project is geared towards federalisation. – Federation means that both universities retain their identity, there are rectors of both universities, each has its own Senate. In turn, it is headed by a president. The formula for his or her election remains open,” explained the rector of the University of Wrocław. Prof. Robert Olkiewicz added that the opportunities for cooperation are immense – from the development of good practices in the area of management, to scientific projects or new – jointly conducted – fields of study, such as biomedicine.
The rector of the Wrocław University of Medical Sciences, Prof. Piotr Ponikowski, explained that the established teams made up of staff from both universities are identifying common ground and barriers that may arise in the process. He added, however, that the essence of the project is to invite someone from outside – a professionally prepared advisory group that will look at the data objectively. – It is the external experts without emotion, equipped with the right tools, methods, but also experience, who will point out the potential benefits and risks of pooling potentials. Doing it ourselves would always be fraught with the risk of serious error,” explained Rector Ponikowski.
The final decision on action will be taken by the Senates of the two Universities once they have familiarised themselves with the results of the analysis.
Both rectors emphasised that the invitation to cooperate is open to the entire academic community of Wrocław.