Monsignor Professor ANDRZEJ KRYŃSKI

Monsignor Rector, the Polonia University is a private higher education college. Who was its founder?
The creation of the college on the 26th of June 1992, was my own and my international friends’ initiative. It is thanks in large measure to our educational potential and the traditions and examples borrowed from the co-founders of our college – The Western Catholic University in Angers, and the International Cooperation Organisation for Development Projects (DISOP) in Brussels – that we have been able to mould the principles which guide the Polonia University. Our aim is to satisfy the current requirements of employers, whilst equipping our students with an international perspective on cultures and professions, all in the spirit of christian responsibility and engagement in the problems of today’s world. Over the last fifteen years, the college has been implementing fully its chosen mission. Proof enough is the fact that already over five thousand graduates have left the campus holding a higher education diploma or a master’s degree.

Is the University a catholic college? What is the University like?
The Polonia University is not a catholic school, although unlike most Polish educational establishments it provides formation and upbringing in the spirit of christian values. I am certain that it is precisely this system of values which helps our graduates in a large way to fully participate in processes shaping today’s world.

What was the guiding idea of the founders?
The Polonia University defines its mission in the educational sphere with the following words: an interdisciplinary approach – innovation – Europeanisation – professionalism. Our educational establishment’s activities are above all directed at cultivating in young people an ability to look critically at various problems which demand taking specific decisions. Our intention is that our alumni will be able to be responsible members of the European Community and will be able to live in accordance with responsible principles and participate in the shaping of Poland’s new countenance.

Who are the University’s lecturers?
The academic teaching staff numbers over 400 lecturers, including 44 professors, 70 with the doctoral title “doktor habilitowany” 80 with doctorates, 100 research assistants, 47 ordinary lecturers, and also 40 foreign professors and 20 research assistants from abroad. Most of our lecturers are held in good esteem by the international world of academia. Together they form a professional team – people of learning who continually widen their competences, which due to the high qualifications achieved, enable students to develop intellectually. Our lecturers help students gain the very best theoretical and practical knowledge, whilst at the same time shaping their moral courage and the stance of a responsible citizen.

With which higher education schools does the University cooperate?
The Polonia University cooperates with many foreign academic centres and educational institutions. We have agreements with 54 universities and higher education colleges on 5 continents, so it would be difficult to mention them all here. We have been participating since 1998 in the Socrates-Erasmus programme, thanks to which we have worked with a further 30 university centres. These are colleges in most of the European states, but also in the USA, South America, Australia, Asia and Africa. As part of this cooperation, each year almost 320 students and about 45 academic and teaching staff travel abroad. This year 67 students and 10 academic teachers have already taken part in the scheme. Thanks to the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System), which ensures compatibility between teaching programmes in colleges in various countries, students of the Polonia University can study for a semester or a whole year in the best foreign colleges. We also provide the opportunity to achieve something of particular value these days: a double diploma. For example, in our American Studies apart from a diploma of the Polonia University, one can also get a diploma from Western Michigan University, or even a French, German or Spanish college. Students may also sit for exams at the University’s Examination Centre leading to certificates awarded by the chambers of commerce of London, Paris, Germany, Spain and Italy.
The PU educates students in a dozen or so disciplines in the humanities, economics, law and administration, nursing and others. The college also runs Interactive Internet Study Courses in economics and language studies. We are also preparing to launch courses in biotechnology, philosophy and studies for leaders of social and cultural projects.

What attracts students to the Polonia University?
An undoubted key attribute of the PU is the wide range of academic learning available coupled with the opportunity of gaining qualifications during the course of one’s study which are valued in the employment market. Apart from achieving a diploma or a master’s degree, every student can also gain a professional language qualification in English, German, French or Spanish, backed up by a recognised certificate. Students in every direction of study are obliged to undertake a period of work experience and to gain a certificate in computer skills, which ensures that they are well-prepared for work within the European Union. Our college provides an opportunity for students to meet the best Polish and foreign lecturers. Since 1999, the PU has been a beneficiary of the Jean Monnet Project – an educational programme of the European Commission. Its aim is to encourage academic centres to include and run educational programmes with European themes. As part of this programme, the PU runs permanent courses as well as specific European modules, which cover themes to do with the history of the process of European integration, European economic and political integration as well as European Communities Law.
An undoubted key asset of the college is the well-stocked and modern library. Students are attracted also by the opportunity of studying abroad – as mentioned earlier, we have well-developed cooperation with universities from all over the world.
The European Translators’ School, a key part of the structure of the PU, prepares students for work in simultaneous and consecutive conference interpreting. The Polonia Diplomatic School, founded by a group of prominent diplomats, is also very popular. It educates future diplomats, foreign ministry employees, foreign trade economists, politicians and employees of international firms and organisations in an interdisciplinary and international way. Courses at the college are run in Polish as well as in English. All the courses have achieved accreditation by the State Accreditation Committee.
In the near future our college’s Techno-Polonia Innovation Centre intends to set up the Satellite Studies Institute. We hope to sign agreements with other university cooperation centres which are involved with building satellites, to be sent into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. We are proud of the modern Biotechnology Centre, which is doing much important work. It is also worth mentioning that a dozen or so weeks ago, I inaugurated the Centre for Polish Culture in Bogota, which is now also the address of the PU’s representation for Latin America.

A Worldwide Association for the Polonia’s Cultural Heritage has its base at the PU. What does it do?
The concept behind the Worldwide Association for the Polonia’s Cultural Heritage (SDKP) is best expressed by promoting the academic and cultural achievements of the Polonia. The Association concentrates its activities on supporting national traditions, nurturing Polish culture and developing national awareness. An important initiative of the Worldwide Association for the Polonia’s Cultural Heritage is the International Congress on Polonia Foundations – perspectives on cooperation with cultural and technical organisations, planned for the 18th and 19th September 2006. The coordinator of this initiative is the Prorector of the PU, Rev. Professor Eustachy Rakoczy, secretary general of the SDKP and Prof. Dr Zbigniew Piasek, foreign correspondent for Poland and interim congress coordinator. Representatives of Polonia foundations in Poland and abroad have been invited to attend. Guests are expected from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Italy and France. It is worth noting that there will also be delegates from the East: mainly Ukraine and Lithuania. The SDKP together with the PU and the Poland-Europe-Polonia Foundation are also the organisers of the Polonia Multimedia Festival “Polish Fatherlands”, which happens to coincide with the Congress. The festival is a continuation of the 1st International Film Festival, organised by the PU in 2004 and the 1st and 2nd Polonia Multimedia Reviews of 2004 and 2005. It is an open festival and is addressed to the prime movers who concern themselves with the subjects of the Polonia and of Poles living abroad. The aims of the festival are, amongst others, to popularise the historic achievements of the emigration – especially those initiatives of the Polonia which maintain the national identity, propagate the language of one’s family, it’s culture and traditions.

The name “Polonia University” invokes associations with the Polish political and economic emigrations. Can we still use the term “Emigration”? Or is it better these days to describe Poles living abroad as “Polonia”?
I believe that the proper term is “Polonia”, because the word “Emigration” relates in Poland to a specific historical context. In today’s globalising world, when information can be passed instantaneously and barriers are coming down, it is difficult to talk of emigration from Poland. Living away from the motherland has become an option and an opportunity to gain new perspectives, but is no longer a necessity. Our college, as the Polonia University, particularly welcomes young people from around the world, especially those of Polish origin, who wish to get to know Poland better. The desire to widen and deepen the knowledge of one’s own roots – the history and culture of one’s ancestors – is particularly important, which is why our college is engaged in nurturing such a stance.