Over 26,000 students started their academic year at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. During the ceremony, Professor Arkadiusz Wójs, the new Rector of our university, received the insignia of the Rector's authority.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, admission to this year's inauguration was limited, and the broadcast of the event was streamed online.

The ceremony began with the handing over of the insignia of authority – the neck-chain, the staff, and the ring – to the new Rector, Professor  Arkadiusz Wójs. The insignia are not only a symbol of the Rector's authority but also of the autonomy of the university. The chain symbolises the rector's bond with Alma Mater, the ring is a symbol of the marriage with the whole university community, and the staff is intended to testify to the independent and autonomous authority.

In his speech, the new Rector pointed out that a modern technical university has four main, natural and intertwined functions related to knowledge – creation, collection, transfer, and application. According to Professor Wójs, creating knowledge means, first and foremost, scientific research, collecting knowledge is the so-called library and maintenance of laboratories, and the application of knowledge means supporting local economic undertakings as well as participating in the economic development of the whole country and facing global challenges.

– As far as transferring knowledge is concerned, it means educating students as well as, more broadly, instilling values and general culture, respect for the truth and knowledge, and awareness of their own mistakes. The transfer of knowledge is also participating in the debate on fundamental issues, such as ethical issues at the junction of technology and medicine, or global warming – said the university’s Rector.

Professor Wójs stressed that every university has a mission to create space for academic freedom and experimentation, i.e. free thinking. In his words, the university must also be an oasis for those who want to work for higher aims without being bound by a short-term profit and loss account.

– The fundamental challenges that Wrocław University of Science and Technology is facing now are, above all, to improve the appeal and quality of the education it provides as well as the quality of its research, that is, to create knowledge of global significance. To meet these challenges, it is essential to build an academic community. Our community must have a sense of purpose, and good interpersonal relations based on values such as justice, truth, and partnership must be created. We must eliminate misconduct such as abuse of power, demagogy, sexism, and chauvinism. We must look for a golden mean between the stability of education and the scientist’s work and the exercising a creative pressure on ourselves and cooperation and competition that helps to create quality – said Rector Wójs.

In his speech, the Rector also made a quotation from the Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk's book “The Books of Jacob” – “God created man with eyes in the front, not in the back of his head, which means that man is to deal with what will be, not what was”.

– I believe that there are good times ahead of Wrocław University of Science and Technology and the world. Sources of optimism for our university can be seen with the naked eye. This is hasn’t been the first crisis in history, and universities existed before urbanisation, mass culture, the press, television, and the Internet. As fundamentally false, I reject the view that the good times were once, and that modernity is evil. We, as a university community, cannot afford to be pessimistic. Our task is to develop the greatness of the university in the times we live in. I encourage you to do this, and I declare that I’m leaving everything else to work together with you for a great Wrocław University of Science and Technology, worthy of our aspirations and our city – concluded Professor Wójs.

The Rector’s speech was followed by the ceremonial matriculation of students. Over 6 thousand students start pursuing their education at Wrocław University of Science and Technology in the new academic year. On their behalf, the oath was taken by representatives of the university’s each faculty.

– We have found ourselves starting in a difficult time because the pandemic poses new challenges before us. We hope, however, that we will meet you in person later this year and we are looking forward to that – said University Professor Agnieszka Bieńkowska, PhD, Vice-Rector for Education.

Łukasz Pocheć, President of the WUST’s Students’ Self-Government, pointed out that by becoming part of the academic community, young people begin a new chapter in their lives.

During the ceremony, seventeen people were awarded medals of the Commission of National Education for their special contribution to education and youth mentoring. Docendo Discimus – the Rector’s special awards for special achievements in the field of teaching were received by 11 people.

The inaugural lecture entitled "In search of effective therapy for COVID-19" was delivered by Professor Marcin Drąg from WUST’s Faculty of Chemistry.