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The International Relations Office at Wrocław Medical University organised the 2nd Erasmus Staff Week.
2024-06-03
10:36
From the 20th until the 24th of May we hosted representatives from Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy IASI, Romania; Ternopil National Medical University and Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Ukraine; University of Debrecen, Hungary; University of Crete and University of Thessaly, Greece; Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Lithuania; University of Medicine Tirana, Albania, Caucasus International University, Georgia.
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History of the University
Faculty of Medicine
The Faculty of Medicine is the oldest Faculty of Woclaw Medical University. It was established in 1945, as one of the faculties of the University and Technical University in Wrocław. The first Dean of the Faculty of Medicine was Prof. Ludwik Hirszfeld, who, in 1945, gave the inaugural speech opening the first academic year in Wrocław. In 1945, 467 students began their studies at the Faculty of Medicine.
On 1 January 1950, the Faculty of Medicine of the University and Technical University was transformed into an independent institution - the Medical Academy. There were two Faculties at the Academy: Medicine and Pharmacy. At that time, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine was Prof. Antoni Falkiewicz. With the establishment of the Medical Academy, the number of students at the Faculty increased to 2,100.
From 1948, the Unit of Dentistry functioned within the Faculty of Medicine, and in the period from 1954 to 1966 - also the Unit of Pediatrics. In 1992, from the organisational structure and staff of academic teachers of the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Postgraduate Medical Training was created. The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry was created in 2000. In 2003, the unit for foreign students, where lectures were conducted in English - the English Division, was established. After those changes, the Faculty of Medicine has taken on the greatest burden of teaching responsibilities.
Initially, the scientific staff of the Faculty of Medicine consisted mainly of professors from the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv. The first meeting of the Medical Faculty Council was held on 12 January 1946, with the participation of 14 people. When the Medical Academy was established, the Faculty of Medicine consisted of 30 Departments managed by 8 associate professors, 13 docents and 4 deputy professors.
Many world-renowned scientists conducted their research at the Faculty of Medicine. on 12 February 1958, Prof. Wiktor Bross performed the first open-heart surgery in Poland, and on 31 March 1966, the first kidney transplant from a living donor. Those were achievements of European significance at that time. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Third Clinic of Surgery, headed by Prof. Zdzisław Jezioro specialised in oesophagal surgery, achieving a leading position in the country. Moreover, works in the fields of microbiology (Ludwik Hirszfeld), biochemistry and enzymology (Zygmunt Albert, Tadeusz Baranowski, Edward Szczeklik, M. Orłowski and Apolinary Szewczuk), spatial ectrocardiography (Hugon and Zofia Kowarzyk), bacteriology (Stefan Ślopek), pathology of pregnancy and foetus (Hanna Hirszfeldowa), experimental surgery (Wiktor Bross) were awarded state prizes.
Photo: Tomasz Walów/UMW
Faculty of Health Sciences
The academic traditions of post-war Wrocław date back to 24 August 1948, when the first Polish higher education institutions were established in the capital of Lower Silesia: University and Technical University. One of the six faculties of the University was the Faculty of Medicine, with 26 departments. In 1950, the University and Technical University were split and the Medical Academy was established. There were two faculties at that time: Medicine and Pharmacy.
The Faculty of Public Health was originally located in a building on Worcella Street, it is currently located at 5 Bartla Street in a building of a former nursing high school. In the interwar period, the building housed the 'Charitasheim Sanatorium' run by German nuns. The Sanatorium operated until the end of the Second World War.
In 1957, the 1st National Congress of the Polish Nurses Association and the Section of Nurses of the Trade Union of Health Care Workers formulated a postulate to establish higher education in nursing. In 1959, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare appointed the Programme Committee for the establishment of higher education in nursing. The work lasting 6 years led to the creation of organisational and legal conditions for the establishment of nursing faculties at medical academies throughout Poland. In 1969, the first in nursing school in the country was established in Lublin - at the Medical Academy (Medical University of Lublin). The following years brought the establishment of nursing faculties: in 1974 in Katowice, in 1975 in Kraków and Poznań.
The Faculty of Nursing at the Wroclaw Medical Academy was established in 1978. Following the decision of the Senate and the then Rector of the Medical Academy, Prof. Stanisław Iwankiewicz, the Rector's plenipotentiary for the establishment of the Faculty of Nursing was appointed in 1977. It was Józef Małolepszy, Doc., PhD. Following the Ordinance of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of 29 June 1978, the Faculty of Nursing was established at the Wroclaw Medical Academy, as the fifth in the country. Thanks to the help of the management of the School of Midwives, which made the rooms of the building at 25 Worcella Street available, the difficulties related to the premises were solved.
In the period from 1979 to 1984, the Faculty managed an extramural branch of 3-year supplementary master degree studies for the graduates of the liquidated teacher training courses for secondary medical schools. After 12 years (in 1996), due to the great demand, a 5-year master degree course was introduced in the extramural system.
In 1978, there were four divisions within the faculty: nursing pedagogy, social nursing, nursing work organisation, clinical nursing and rehabilitation. The first graduation diplomas were awarded in 1982.
By Resolution no. 620 of the Senate of the Wroclaw Medical University of 22 September 2008, the Faculty of Public Health was changed to the Faculty of Health Sciences. Currently, the Faculty of Health Sciences educates students in the following fields of study: nursing, obstetrics, physiotherapy, public health and medical rescue.
Photo: Tomasz Walów/UMW
Faculty of Pharmacy
The Faculty of Pharmacy of Wroclaw Medical University began its activity shortly after the end of hostilities. Immediately after the liberation, a group of scientists associated with the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv came to Wrocław. The group of the professors from Lviv was joined by volunteers from other parts of the country, professionally associated with the medical and pharmaceutical community. The task of the group was to re-establish a Polish higher medical school in Wrocław, destroyed by the war.
The Faculty of Pharmacy was established in 1946 by the Decree of the Council of Ministers, initially as the Pharmacy Unit at the Faculty of Medicine of the University and Technical University in Wrocław, and from January 1950 - as the Faculty of Pharmacy at Wroclaw Medical University. The first director of the Faculty of Pharmacy was Prof. Tadeusz Baranowski, PhD - Head of the Division of Physiological Chemistry, and his deputy was Prof. Bogusław Bobrański, PhD – head of the Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. The Wrocław authorities allocated a building at 38/39 Szewska Street, which had housed the German Pharmaceutical Institute, to the newly-formed Pharmacy Unit. 80 per cent of the building was destroyed.
Together with the first students, the pioneers of pharmacy in Wrocław cleared the ground to prepare the building for the necessary construction works and to ensure at least provisional conditions for teaching. The inaugural speech was given by Prof. Grzegorz Poluszyński, PhD, on 6 March 1946. In the academic year 1946/47, 115 people started their studies in the first year, 125 in the second year, 49 in the third year and 9 in the fourth year of study. At the end of the 1940s, there were a total of approximately 300 students at the Faculty of Pharmacy. On 1 January 1950, based on the Regulation of the Council of Ministers, the Faculty of Medicine together with the Pharmacy Unit of the University and Technical University in Wrocław was transformed into an independent university, initially the Academy of Medicine, then the Medical Academy, and the Pharmacy Unit was renamed the Faculty of Pharmacy.
In the academic year 1979/1980, the Division of Medical Analytics was established at the Faculty of Pharmacy, which began training future employees of medical diagnostic laboratories - MAs in medical analysis. The first head of the Division of Medical Analytics, and the Vice-Dean later on, was Prof. Michał Masiak, PhD.
In 2012, the relocation of the departments and divisions of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Wroclaw Medical University to new premises, the so-called New Pharmacy (Nowa Farmacja), operating in accordance with the standards of modernity of the 21st century, began.
By the Order of the Rector of Wroclaw Medical University of 9 August 2019, the name of the Faculty of Pharmacy with the Unit of Medical Laboratory Diagnostics was changed to the Faculty of Pharmacy.
Photo: Tomasz Walów/UMW
The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry was established by Order 31/XIIIR/2000 of the Rector of Wroclaw Medical University of 24 May 2000 based on the existing Unit of Dentistry of the Faculty of Medicine. The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry started its activity on 1 October 2000.
In June 2003, the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry received accreditation for the didactic process in the field of dentistry from the Accreditation Committee of Medical Universities for 5 years. The Polish Accreditation Committee positively assessed the quality of education in the field of dentistry. According to the Committee, the university meets the staffing and organisational requirements and has the appropriate material base to conduct master studies in the field of dentistry.
On 27 October 2003, by the decision of the Central Commission for Academic Title and Degrees, the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry was granted the right to award the title of Doctor of Medical Sciences in the discipline of dentistry. By Order no 14/XIVR/2005 of the Rector of the Medical Academy of 16 November 2005, the Postgraduate Training Centre was established at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.
In October 2008, the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry received accreditation of the didactic process in the field of dentistry from the Accreditation Committee of Medical Universities for the following 5 years. On 17 December 2012, by the decision of the Central Commission for Academic Title and Degrees, the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry was granted the right to award the title of PhD in the discipline of dentistry. A year later, on 16 December 2013,
by a decision of the Central Commission for Academic Title and Degrees, the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry was granted the right to award the title of MD, PhD in the discipline of medicine.
In terms of didactic activity, the main task of the Dean's authorities was to adapt the curriculum to the applicable standards, as well as to make teaching more practical. In the academic year 2005/06, classes in English were introduced at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. The first graduates from the ED Faculty of Medicine received their dental diplomas in the 2010/2011 academic year.
The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry organises foreign student exchange under the Socrates-Erasmus programme. The students have the opportunity to study in university centres in Europe (Germany, Italy, France).
Photo: Tomasz Walów/UMW