Inauguration ceremony of the academic year 2023/2024

6.10.2023

More than 1,700 first-year students, including nearly 100 from abroad, began their studies at the Medical University of Gdańsk. The Senate’s ceremonial session inaugurating the 2023/2024 academic year was held on 6 October with the participation of, among others, Deputy Speaker of the Senate Bogdan Borusewicz, social advisor to President Andrzej Duda Piotr Karczewski, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Jarosław Sellin and Deputy Minister of Health Piotr Bromber. The ceremony was honoured with the presence of Members of Parliament – Piotr Adamowicz, Jerzy Borowczak, Marek Rutka, and Jarosław Wałęsa, as well as Krzysztof Saczka, Chief Sanitary Inspector, Maciej Merkisz, Pomeranian State Provincial Sanitary Inspector and Director of the Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Gdańsk, Member of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Board Agnieszka Kapała-Sokalska, President of Sopot Jacek Karnowski and Vice-President of Gdańsk Monika Chabior.

As the Rector, Professor Marcin Gruchała, emphasised in his opening speech, this year’s recruitment process was record-breaking, both in terms of the number of candidates wishing to commence their education at the University and in terms of the nearly 80 laureates and finalists of Olympics and subject competitions who declared their intention to study at the MUG.

– Among you are the best of the best. Every university has opened its doors to you, but it is here, at the Medical University of Gdańsk, that you have decided to educate yourselves, develop and gain the foundations for your future career. This is a beautiful journey, although not an easy one, but you can be sure that the academic teachers you will meet on your way to the coveted diploma will do their best to prepare you well, both in terms of subject matter and ethics, for your future professions – said prof. Marcin Gruchała, Rector of the Medical University of Gdańsk.

As the Rector emphasised, the University’s special concern is to ensure a good teaching atmosphere and a comfortable studying environment for its students. In agreement with the University’s Student Government, a new function was established within the structures of the MUG – Ombudsmen of Confidence. Their tasks include bringing the student community closer to the ethical principles and practices in force at the University, taking initiatives to improve communication in the student-university relationship, as well as promoting knowledge of the values, rights, and freedoms close to our community. The nominations were handed over by Rector Gruchała together with the President of the University Student Government, Aleksandra Drzycimska. By the decision of the students, the functions of Students’ Trustee will be held by:

• Joanna Jassem-Bobowicz, Ph.D., Division of Neonatology
• Weronika Ciećko, Ph.D. from the Centre for Competence Development, Integrated Care and e-Health
• Dr. Habil. Anna Paprocka-Lipińska – Head of the Division of Medical Ethics
• Adrian Stefański, Ph.D. of the Division of Preventive Medicine & Education
• Damian Szczesny, Ph.D., Officer for Quality and Didactic Methods.

The Rector of the MUG also referred to the challenges facing the university community on the threshold of the new academic year. He pointed to the need to increase the remuneration of public university staff as the most urgent need.

– The development goals of every Polish university cannot be realised without adequate funding for science and higher education from the state budget. Investment in infrastructure is important, but investment in professional staff is even more important – Rector Gruchała noted. – In the current situation of low salaries, and the consequently decreasing interest of young people in scientific careers or work at universities, it is becoming real that it is impossible to provide students with good teaching staff, an efficient organisation of teaching, or scientific research. Academic staff is not a cost, but an investment.

Prof. Roman Kaliszan Award and Medal

During the inauguration of the new academic year, the Roman Kaliszan Award and Medal were presented. This year’s recipient of the award was Professor Tomasz Bączek, Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the Office of the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” Program. Professor Bączek was awarded for his achievement entitled Quantitative Structure-Retention Relationships (QSRR) as an effective source of information facilitating precise characterisation and selection of chromatographic columns and prediction of retention in pharmaceutical and biomedical analytics.

Immatriculation of students and doctoral students

Dr. Habil. Tomasz Smiatacz, Vice-Rector for Student Affairs, officially welcomed first-year students to the MUG academic community. The Deans of the individual faculties presented the students with congratulatory letters, while the Rector, Professor Marcin Gruchała, welcomed them and accepted them as students of our University. The oath of doctoral students was conducted similarly, with Prof. Jacek Witkowski, director of the First Doctoral School of the Graduate School of Medicine, taking part. Michał Bystram, a graduate of the public health faculty, clinical research student, and doctoral student at the First Doctoral School, and Dagmara Kroll from the Board of the Doctoral Student Council of the Medical University of Gdańsk also addressed a few words to their younger colleagues.

The musical setting of the ceremony was provided by the Tadeusz Tylewski Medical University of Gdańsk Choir under the direction of Błazej Połom.

The ceremony was broadcast on the Facebook profile of the MUG and on the university’s YouTube channel.

Photo: Paweł Sudara/MUG