In 1877, Emperor Franz Joseph I established in Lviv the Imperial-Polytechnical School with Polish as the language of instruction. At that time, it was the only university in the Polish territories occupied by the invaders, providing education in technical sciences at the tertiary level. The institution was inaugurated on November 15, 1878.

In independent Poland, the university initially operated as a Polytechnical School, and from 1921 as the Technical University of Lviv. The university comprised the Faculty of Transportation (until 1926), the Faculty of Civil Engineering (from 1926), the Faculty of Architecture, the Faculty of Mechanics, the Faculty of Chemistry, the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, and the General Faculty (until 1934). In 1939, 3,606 students supported by 61 professors started their degree programmes at the Technical University of Lviv.
After World War II ended, when Lviv had become incorporated in the Soviet Union, most of the displaced academic teachers found employment at the universities of post-war Poland. However, many of them did not survive the Soviet and German activity aiming to exterminate the Polish intelligentsia. Among them were also 8 professors of the Technical University of Lviv, murdered in Lviv in July 1941.

Intellectual legacy - the Technical University of Lviv

The main campus of the Technical University of Lviv, 1932. National Digital Archive

In 1902, after almost half a century of industrial milieus’ efforts, the German Emperor Wilhelm II agreed to establish the Royal School of Technology in Wrocław (Königliche Technische Hochschule Breslau). The construction works began in 1905, and between 1910 and 1911, a complex of 8 school buildings, adapted to the training of about 1,000 students, was opened. They were located in the quarter delineated by the current Smoluchowskiego, Łukasiewicza, Norwida, and Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego streets.

The Royal School of Technology (whose name dropped the word "Royal” at the end of 1918) started its activity on October 1, 1910, and was officially opened on November 29, 1910. In 1922, the university’s finally stabilised structure comprised the Faculty of General Sciences (from 1941 - the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Complementary subjects), the Faculty of Materials Management (from 1934 - the Faculty of Mining and Metallurgy), and the Faculty of Machinery Management (from 1928 - Faculty of Machine Science). In 1928, the Faculty of Civil Engineering was launched, offering a degree programme in architecture.

On January 20, 1945, due to the threat of a siege of Wrocław by the Soviet army, the university was closed down and its instrumentation and staff were evacuated. The buildings of the School of Technology which had not been destroyed during the fights for Wrocław (February - May 1945) were taken over by a unit of the Red Army on May 6, 1945.

The main building of the School of Technology, around 1930. Museum of Wrocław University of Science and Technology

Material assets - the Higher Technical School in Wrocław

The academic schools of post-war Wrocław came into being as a result of a decree issued on August 24, 1945, which established the University of Wrocław and Wrocław University of Science and Technology. The legal act provided for the establishment of a technical university with the following 4 faculties: chemical, mechanical and electrical engineering, civil engineering, and metallurgy and mining. In September 1945, however, the capital of Lower Silesia saw the inauguration of a merged tertiary institution, which combined university and polytechnic faculties and adopted the name of the University and Polytechnic in Wrocław. Under this formula, it operated until 1951.

In July 1945, Poles took over the facilities of the former School of Technology, where the Polish university opened its doors in November. The institution was inaugurated on November 15, 1945, with a lecture delivered by Professor Kazimierz Idaszewski - the first one to be delivered in Polish Wrocław. 512 students started their degree programmes then.

The key role in shaping the reality of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, which remained part of the structure of the University and the Polytechnic in Wrocław, was played by its Vice-Rectors: Professor Edward Sucharda (1945-1947), Professor Kazimierz Zipser (1947-1949), and Professor Dionizy Smoleński (1949-1951). In 1946, the university managed to launch the Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, the Faculty of Civil Engineering with the Division of Architecture, and temporarily (1946-1947), the Faculty of Technical Chemistry. The year 1949 saw the establishment of the Senate of Wrocław University of Science and Technology. In the same year, the university became a 5-faculty institute, comprising the Faculty of Architecture, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, the Faculty of Aviation (which operated until 1954), and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

In 1951, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, with its 2,670 students, freed itself from the organisational ties with the University of Wrocław. The nomination for the position of Rector was granted to Professor Dionizy Smoleński. In the academic year 1951/1952, the university’s structure was expanded with the Faculty of Chemistry and the Faculty of Sanitary Engineering. Next, more faculties were established - the Faculty of Communications in 1952, the Faculty of Agricultural Mechanisation (which operated until 1958) in 1953, and the Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering in 1954. From the academic year 1954/1955 on, classes at Wrocław University of Science and Technology were also conducted under the extramural and part-time system, and evening classes started in 1955. October 1956 saw the university’s first elections for the post of Rector, won by Professor Dionizy Smoleński.

In the first half of the 1950s, new facilities of Wrocław University of Science and Technology were successively handed over for use: the building housing the chemical departments at the junction of Łukasiewicza and Wybrzeże Wyspianskiego Streets (A-2), the seat of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Łukasiewicza Street (B-5) in 1953, and in two new edifices in Grunwaldzki Square (D-1 and D-2) in the years 1954-1955. Also at that time, 3 student halls of residence were opened in Grunwaldzka Street. In 1960, the Academic’s Home was established in Grunwaldzki Square, with the university’s academic teachers in mind.

In 1960, Professor Zygmunt Szparkowski began his term of office as Rector (1960–1969). The university’s first institutes came into being in 1963. The new units at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering were the Institute of Materials Science, the Institute of Machine Construction Technology, and the Institute of Machine Construction and Operation. Also, the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Metallurgy of Rare Elements was set up at the Faculty of Chemistry. In 1966, the Faculty of Communications was transformed into the Faculty of Electronics, and its laboratories were relocated to facilities built between 1964 and 1971 in Janiszewskiego Street.

In March 1968, Wrocław University of Science and Technology became a centre of protest for Wrocław’s students. In the community of 9,654 students, 1,553 people became under the threat of expulsion from the university.

In December 1968, the organisational chart of Wrocław University of Science and Technology comprised 11 faculties, including the ones operating before that date, i.e. the Faculty of Architecture, the Faculty of Civil Engineering, the Faculty of Chemistry, the Faculty of Electronics, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, the Faculty of Sanitary Engineering, and the Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering, as well as the new ones - the Faculty of Mining, the Faculty of Engineering and Economics (renamed the Faculty of Computer Science and Management in 1972), and the Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology. The departments were done away with. Furthermore, 29 institutes were opened outside of the faculties’ structure. In 1968, the Wałbrzych Branch of Wrocław University of Science and Technology was opened, and a similar institution was created in Legnica in 1969.

On March 15, 1969, Professor Tadeusz Porębski became the university’s Rector (1969-1980). In the 1970s, extensive research programmes adapted to the needs of the industry were launched, and the foundations were laid for the university’s computerisation. An attempt was also made to improve the teaching and social conditions, as evidenced to this day by the building of the Faculty of Chemistry in Norwida Street (C-5), erected in the period 1974-1979, the complex of student halls of residence in the area of Wittiga Street, the building of the Institute of Electrical Engineering Systems in Norwida Street (A-10), developed in 1975, and the tower building of the Institute of Civil Engineering in Grunwaldzki Square (C-7), completed in 1980.
In the academic year 1971/1972, the branches of Wrocław University of Science and Technology in Kłodzko and Świdnica (which operated until 1982) started their activity, and in 1977, the university’s branch was established in Jelenia Góra. In the academic year 1979/1980, a total of 10,939 students were enrolled in full-time and evening courses.

On December 1, 1980, after the resignation of Professor T. Porębski, the position of Rector of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, was assumed by Professor Bogusław Kędzia. After the election held in June 1981, a new Rector - Professor Tadeusz Zipser - was appointed. On December 13, 1981, martial law was imposed in Poland. On that day, the trade union NSZZ "Solidarność" of Wrocław University of Science and Technology proclaimed an occupation strike. On December 15, the strike was pacified. On December 29, 1981, Professor Tadeusz Zipser, who participated in the protest, was removed from the post of Rector.

During the period of martial law, the Rector’s functions at Wrocław University of Science and Technology were performed by Professor Jerzy Schroeder (January-August of 1982) and Professor Wacław Kasprzak (1982-1984).

In 1984, the election of the Rector was won by Professor Jan Kmita (1984-1990). On November 15 of that year, the first celebration event of Wrocław University of Science and Technology was held. In September 1990, the official Polish name of the Faculty of Civil Engineering was changed to include hydro-engineering, and the Faculty of Sanitary Engineering was transformed into the Faculty of Environmental Protection. In the same year, the seat of the Institute of Telecommunications and Acoustics (C-5) was opened in Janiszewskiego Street. In the academic year 1989/1990, there were 7,459 students at Wrocław University of Science and Technology.

On December 1, 1990, Professor Jan Kmita handed over the Rector's insignia to Professor Andrzej Wiszniewski (1990-1996). In June 1991, a new statute of Wrocław University of Science and Technology was adopted, significantly changing the existing structure of the university - as a result, the institutes became incorporated in the faculties. Furthermore, the departments were restored; in December 1992, the first of them - the Department of Spatial Planning - was established. In the academic year 1992/1993, Wrocław University of Science and Technology saw 10,662 students (for the first time in many years, the number of 10,000 students was exceeded). In 1995, the first Medals of Wrocław University of Science and Technology were awarded to Professor Henryk Hawrylak, Professor Jan Kmita, and John W. Shumaker.

In 1996, the election of Rector was won by Professor Andrzej Mulak (1996–2002), whose term of office saw the establishment of new organisational units: the Department of Humanities (1999 - renamed the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2013) and - as the twelfth one - the Faculty of Microsystem Electronics and Photonics (2002). In 1997, the building of the Institute of Mathematics in Janiszewskiego Street (C-11) was commissioned, and the year 2000 saw the completion of the building of the Technology Transfer Centre in Smoluchowskiego Street (B-11). In the academic year 2002/2003, 31,297 people began their courses at our university.

In the years 2002-2008, the position of Rector of Wrocław University of Science and Technology was held by Professor Tadeusz Luty, who was the first person in this position to address the challenges brought by Poland’s accession to the European Union, which took place in 2004. In 2004, the Faculty of Mining adopted the name of the Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining, and Geology. In the same year, with the commissioning of the building of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Computer Science and Management in Łukasiewicza Street (B-4), a good streak of development projects began at the university. In 2006, the building of the Centre for Science and Research of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (D-20, Janiszewskiego Street) was opened, and 2007 marked the handing over of the building housing the Integrated Student Centre in Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego (C-13).

In 2005, the two-cycle degree programme model was adopted at technical universities. In December 2007, an electronic student ID card for 32,093 students of Wrocław University of Science and Technology was introduced.

On September 1, 2008, the position of Rector at Wrocław University of Science and Technology was assumed - for the first time for an eight-year term - by Professor Tadeusz Więckowski (2008-2016). During the 8-year term of the Rector's office, the opportunities offered by Poland's participation in the European Union were exploited. The material potential of the university kept growing, testimony to which were the numerous development projects undertaken then, e.g. the “Geocentrum” complex in Na Grobli Street (L-1, 2012) or the premises of the “Technopolis” Education and Technology Centre (C-16 in Janiszewskiego Street and M-11 in Długa Street), built in the period 2012-2014, as well as the “Bibliotech” building, completed in 2014 in Grunwaldzki Square (D-21).

In 2013, the building of the Student Culture Zone (C-18, Hoene-Wrońskiego Street) was opened, catering to over 34,000 students pursuing their degree programmes in 41 fields of science. The year 2014 also marked the inauguration of the Academic Comprehensive Secondary School of Wrocław University of Science and Technology. In early 2015, institutes were conclusively removed from the faculty structures, and the department became the basic organisational unit. In the same year, the Faculty of Mathematics, the thirteenth organisational unit of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, became active.

In April 2016, Rector of Wrocław University of Science and Technology was elected for the years 2016-2020. This function was assumed by Professor Cezary Madryas. “I believe that the Rector’s role," he said in his first address, "is to run the university in such a way that every employee, student, and doctoral student has a sense co-creating its present and future. By following this principle, it is possible to achieve success in all its respects."

Wrocław University of Science and Technology

Monumental buildings of the Wrocław University of Technology at pl. Grunwaldzki (today D-1 and D-2), 1956. Archives of the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

Students of the Polytechnic in the May Day march, 1968. Museum of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology

Academic High School of Wrocław University of Science and Technology (C-13), photo: K. Mazur