History of the Silesian University of Technology
The establishment of the Silesian University of Technology was the realisation of an idea that had existed for many years. As early as at the end of the 1920s, efforts were made to establish a technical university in Upper Silesia, which through its scientific development and teaching activities, would support this highly industrialised region of great development potential.
In 1929, the Silesian Parliament began formal proceedings to build and organise the Silesian University of Technology in Katowice. Despite the enormous commitment, it was not possible to start work on the establishment of the university before the outbreak of the Second World War. Plans were resumed in the first months of 1945, and as early as 26 February a temporary Organisational Committee of the Silesian University of Technology was established. On 24 May 1945, the Presidium of the National Council issued a decree establishing the Silesian University of Technology.
The first inauguration of the academic year of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice took place on 29 October 1945. At that time 2750 students started their education. The study plans and curricula were based on models taken from the Lviv Polytechnic. Also, the professors of the Silesian University of Technology were mainly former employees of the Lviv Polytechnic. At that time there were four faculties: Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering, with almost 200 teaching staff. From the very beginning, the excellent staff of professors was one of the strongest assets of Gliwice university.
The event that had a significant influence on the character of the University and its relationship with Upper Silesia was the establishment of the Faculty of Mining in 1950. Already in 1954, the first 314 mining engineers took up positions in mines and other departments in the industry. In 1953, another new faculty was established, this time it was Mechanical and Power Engineering. Eleven years later, the Faculty of Automatic Control was established. In the following years, further faculties of the Silesian University of Technology were established: in 1969, the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and the Faculty of Metallurgy based in Katowice, in 1970 the Faculty of Organisation and Management based in Katowice, which, after a few years' break, was reactivated and moved to Zabrze in 1995. In 1977, the Faculty of Architecture was established, in 1978 - the Faculty of Transport, and in 1984 - the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy with its seat in Dąbrowa Górnicza was established. This faculty functioned for only six years.
Recently, further units with faculty rights have entered the structure of the Silesian University of Technology: Institute of Physics - Centre for Science and Education, Institute of Education and Communication Research, Foreign Languages Centre, as well as the Scientific and Didactic Centre "Centre for Engineering Education in Rybnik" and the Scientific and Didactic Centre for the Railway Transport.
The university, which was established in 1945 in Upper Silesia, in one of the most industrialised regions in Europe, has played an important cultural and opinion-forming role for over 75 years. Today, it is one of the largest universities in the country. It belongs to the elite group of 10 winners of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education competition: "Excellence Initiative - Research University".
