Inauguration Ceremony of the Academic Year 2018/2019 in Kalisz

On October 15, 2018 the President Stanisław Woj­ciechowski State University of Applied Sciences in Kalisz (PWSZ) inaugurated the new academic year for the 20th time. We were honoured and pleased to share this special day with distinguished guests from the world of science, academia, and diplomacy, as well as the national and local authorities. We also welcomed 1500 freshmen, including international students. The ceremony was held in the University Hall, and it was a very auspicious occasion not only due to the matriculation of first-year students but also because of the creation of a new university unit: the International Prevention Research Institute Collaborating Center.
Traditionally, the Inauguration started at the University Church of the Holy Family, where the academic community, composed of university professors, employees, and students, gathered for the Holy Mass.
The ceremonial session of the PWSZ Senate commenced with the song “Laudate Dominum” performed by the university choir.
In his Opening Speech, His Magnificence Rector, Professor Andrzej Wojtyła drew the listeners’ attention to his vision of the mission of a higher education institution and presented achievements of PWSZ as well as ambitious plans for its future. He emphasised that “the very notion of the word ‹‹study›› goes beyond the meaning of the word ‹‹learn››, which means ‹‹to gain, acquire knowledge››, and implies ‹‹analysis and in-depth exploration››”. He added that university students and graduates “have to know how to analyse the surrounding environment and phenomena, set up observational hypotheses, choose the appropriate methodology to analyse phenomena and processes, and draw reliable, evidence-based conclusions”. Hence the role of reason and science in higher education. “We are now intensifying our scientific activities, as evidenced by the creation of an interfaculty scientific unit – the European Observatory of Health Inequalities – or the resumption of activities at the Didactic Centre of Gear Wheels Research. We also undertake international scientific cooperation, as evidenced by the establishment of a collaborating centre with the International Prevention Research Institute (iPRI) Collaborating Center. It is the first scientific institution in Poland to cooperate with this Institute. Furthermore, we have also established cooperation with the International Alliance of Patient Organisation (IAPO), and Jolanta Bilińska, who is its chair, has become our...


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