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The Collegium Polonicum in
Słubice Słubice is a border town in the Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. Located on the Oder river, it lies directly opposite the city of Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany, which it was a part of as ''Dammvorstadt'' until 1945. As of 2019, the town ha ...
is a joint academic unit of the
Adam Mickiewicz University Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
(Polish: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza) in
Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
and of the
Viadrina European University European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (german: Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)) is a university located at Frankfurt (Oder) in Brandenburg, Germany. It is also known as the University of Frankfurt (Oder). The city is on the ...
(German: Europa-Universität Viadrina) in
Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
. Its focus is on
interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...
scientific research and teaching on German-Polish, European, intercultural and cross-border issues. Collegium Polonicum is also a branch (Polish: ''filia'') of the Adam Mickiewicz University in
Słubice Słubice is a border town in the Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. Located on the Oder river, it lies directly opposite the city of Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany, which it was a part of as ''Dammvorstadt'' until 1945. As of 2019, the town ha ...
, in whose building this joint unit is physically based. This building had been erected in the years 1992-2001 by the Adam Mickiewicz University for the purpose of joint research and teaching activities with the Viadrina European University. As branch of Adam Mickiewicz University, Collegium Polonicum is one of four such units located outside Poznań and notably housing the ''Academic Secondary School for General Education in Słubice'' (Polish: ''Uniwersyteckie Liceum Ogólnokształcące w Słubicach'').


Founding History

The European dimension in the re-establishment of the
Viadrina University European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (german: Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)) is a university located at Frankfurt (Oder) in Brandenburg, Germany. It is also known as the University of Frankfurt (Oder). The city is on the ...
in
Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
in 1989, as enshrined in this university's founding mission, is to “fulfil distinctive tasks concerning the German-Polish foreign policy relations and culturally with a view to Europe” (German:„…außenpolitisch im deutsch-polnischen Verhältnis und kulturell mit Blick auf Europa besondere Aufgaben zu erfüllen“). In order to secure the claim of close scientific networking with
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and a targeted allocation of one third of the student places to Polish applicants, cooperation with four Polish universities – one of them
Adam Mickiewicz University Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
– took place during the founding phase. First ideas came up to create university infrastructure – initially only residences for Polish Viadrina students – also in Słubice, i.e. in the twin city of Frankfurt (Oder). Yet the Cooperation Agreement between the Minister for National Education of the Republic of Poland and the Minister for Science and Culture of the Federal State of Brandenburg signed on the day of the ceremonial opening of the Viadrina European University (i.e. 6 September 1991), manifests the intention to create in Słubice student residences as well as an institution for research and teaching, including library and laboratory facilities. The 25th anniversary celebrations of Collegium Polonicum in 2016 referred to this date. At Adam Mickiewicz University, the idea of a "Collegium Polonicum" was subsequently developed as an institution for joint teaching and research activities with the European University Viadrina. After having received political assent on the Polish and the German side, a joint commission of the Adam Mickiewicz University and the European University Viadrina developed a concept for the Collegium Polonicum. This concept was approved by the Senate of the European University Viadrina on 19 December 1992 and by the Senate of the Adam Mickiewicz University on 22 December 1992. This was preceded by a symbolic laying of the foundation stone on 16 October 1992 as the founding act for the Collegium Polonicum. Since 1994, first lectures for students of the European University Viadrina took place in rented rooms in Słubice. In 1995, the Collegium Polonicum library was opened, also in rented rooms. The opening of the first building part of the Collegium Polonicum took place on 10 June 1998, and of the entire building with the library on 1 February 2001. With its opening, the Collegium Polonicum received the status of a branch (Polish: ''ośrodek zamiejscowy'' respectively ''filia'') of Adam Mickiewicz University, to which also belongs the library. On 2 October 2002, the Collegium Polonicum was put on a bi-national legal basis with the signing of the “Treaty between the Minister for National Education and Sport of the Republic of Poland and the Ministry for Science, Research and Culture of the Federal State of Brandenburg on the Collegium Polonicum in Słubice”. This treaty, as already the 1992 concept of both universities, enshrines the agreed basic consensus that the Polish side finances the construction and maintenance of the built infrastructure, while the German side covers the expenses for the establishment and operation of five professorial chairs.


Building

For the Collegium Polonicum building, the design of the Poznań architect Tomasz Durniewicz was selected in a limited competition organised by Adam Mickiewicz University. Construction works started in 1995. The opening of the first building part of the Collegium Polonicum took place on 10 June 1998, and of the entire building on 1 February 2001. The Collegium Polonicum has a total floor space of 20,546 m2. Of this, 14,579 m2 are allotted to the main building with approx. 32 seminar and laboratory rooms, two conference halls and the large assembly hall with about 1,000 seats, a canteen and the offices for scientific as well as technical and administrative staff. 5,967 m2 are allotted to the library section connected to the main building by a bridge. The construction costs were approximately PLN 170 million. Apart from the Collegium Polonicum building itself, the Adam Mickiewicz University has built several student residences in Słubice. In October 1993, the first Polish Viadrina students could move into an inner city student dormitory called ''Amicus'', which constituted the completion of the abandoned shell of a nurses' home. From 1994 onwards, a student residences campus was constructed on a post-military site according to a design by the Warsaw architectural office ''Pracownia Architektoniczna BNS Warszawa''. In addition to seven residential buildings, the campus includes areas for a student club, amenities and sports activities. The first rooms were ready for occupancy in 1998, and the overall project was completed in 2003 with the handover of a residence for doctoral students and university staff. In total over 1,100 dormitory places were created, mainly in single and double rooms, plus 40 two- and three-room apartments for university members and about 40 temporary overnight accommodation places in single and double rooms. The construction of the Collegium Polonicum and the student campus was financed to 65% from the budget of the
Republic of Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, to 20% from European funds under the PHARE programme and to 15% from the ''Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation''. In accordance to the joint concept of 1992 and the interministerial agreement of 2002, it is the Adam Mickiewicz University only that is the owner of the properties and obliged to cover maintenance and operational costs (see Article 6 of the Treaty). In 2013, Adam Mickiewicz University began to reduce its real estate and building stock in Słubice. Apart from several undeveloped plots of land that had been set aside for extensions to the dormitory capacity and sports infrastructure, Adam Mickiewicz University sold the student residence ''Amicus'' to the municipality of Słubice, which set up 50 communal housing units there. Since 2017, the building constructed as a residence for doctoral students (''Dom Doktoranta'') is offered for sale by the Adam Mickiewicz University as a residential building with a floor space of 1,951.4 m2, land area 3,530 m2.


Management and Cooperation Structure

In accordance to the 1992 concept for the Collegium Polonicum, in 1993 both universities appointed a management board for the Collegium Polonicum consisting of one Scientific Director and one Administrative Director. These two directors also participated in all meetings of the ''Mixed Commission'' (German: ''Gemischte Kommission'', Polish: ''Komisja Mieszana''), consisting of the rectors, deputy rectors (from 1999 on the side of the European University Viadrina the president and vice-presidents) and chancellors of both universities. On those regular meetings, all aspects of cooperation between Adam Mickiewicz University and European University Viadrina were discussed. Following the resignation of the Scientific Director in 1997, no new appointment was made. Since then, the management board of the Collegium Polonicum consists of the Administrative Director and the Deputy Rector or Vice-President responsible for the Collegium Polonicum on behalf of Adam Mickiewicz University and of Europa-Universität Viadrina respectively. This has also remained unchanged by the 2002 Treaty, by which the former ''Mixed Commission'' has been replaced by a ''Permanent Commission'' responsible explicitly for Collegium Polonicum (German: ''Ständige Kommission'', Polish: ''Komisja Stała''). It consists of the President and Rector of each university, the chancellors and the management board of Collegium Polonicum. Management of Collegium Polonicum ''Administrative Director'' * 1993- Dr Krzysztof Wojciechowski Scientific Director * 1993-1997 Professor Waldemar Pfeiffer ''Viadrina European University Vice President with responsibility for Collegium Polonicum'' * 1997-2002 Professor Jan C. Joerden (until 1999 as Deputy Rector) * 2002-2015 Ms. Janine Nuyken * 2015-17 Professor Ines Härtel * 2017- Ms. Janine Nuyken ''Adam Mickiewicz University Deputy Rector with responsibility for Collegium Polonicum'' * 1997-2002 Professor Stanisław Lorenc * 2002-2008 Professor Janusz Wiśniewski * 2008-2016 Professor Krzysztof Krasowski * 2016-2018 Professor Beata Mikołajczyk * 2018- Professor Tadeusz Wallas The statute of Adam Mickiewicz University provides for a branch of the University, such as the Collegium Polonicum, to be headed by a branch director (Polish: "Dyrektor filii"). Such a position is not filled at Collegium Polonicum.


Academic Staff at Collegium Polonicum


Academic Staff of the Viadrina European University at the Professorial Chairs financed by the Federal State of Brandenburg for the Collegium Polonicum

In the 1992 concept for the Collegium Polonicum, jointly developed by the Adam Mickiewicz University and the Viadrina European University, it was agreed that the Viadrina would cover the costs of five professorial chairs at the Collegium Polonicum, while Adam Mickiewicz University would finance the construction, maintenance and operation of the Collegium Polonicum building and the student residences. In article 4 (No. 1 and 2) of the interministerial agreement for the Collegium Polonicum of 2002, the Federal State of Brandenburg accordingly committed itself to bear 'the staff costs for five professor and seven research assistant positions', including the related annual operative and administrative costs. Staff on these positions is to be employed in accordance to employment and salary regulations of the Federal State of Brandenburg. In accordance with the concept adopted by Adam Mickiewicz University and European University Viadrina in December 1992, interdisciplinary academic activity at the Collegium Polonicum was to be committed to three overarching goals: * complementation of research and lecture activities of the Viadrina European University, especially in the field of Polish history, language and culture (hence the name Collegium Polonicum), * support of the idea of a united Europe * and development and support of cross-border, regional and trans-regional cooperation. In 2002, the inter-ministerial Treaty provided the substantive framework for the Collegium Polonicum as an interdisciplinary institution valid until today. The name Collegium Polonicum was retained, but the emphasis of this institution was shifted away from Polish language, history and culture. According to this, the spectrum for teaching and research covers all the scientific disciplines represented at Adam Mickiewicz University and at the European University Viadrina, however "with special consideration of * problems of the European Integration, * border regions * and comparative research in an international and intercultural dimension” The budget provided by the Federal State of Brandenburg for five professor and seven research assistant positions is divided into eight professorial chairs, i.e.: * Entangled History of Ukraine, * Comparative Central European Studies, * Polish-German Literary and Cultural Relations and Gender Studies, * Heritage Protection, * Multicultural Communication (Slavonic and English Linguistics and Language Use), * Polish and European Private Law and Comparative Law, * Polish Public Law, including European and Commercial Law, * Polish Criminal Law. The holders of these chairs hold a full professor position in two cases and a half-time professor position in six cases. Three of them also hold a further professor position at a Polish university, in one case at the Adam Mickiewicz University. The financed seven research assistant positions are shared between 12 researchers mostly on half-time or one-third-time leases, of which six hold a PhD. In addition, there are PhD students and student workers on temporary leases or grants.


Further Academic Staff of the Viadrina European University

The Chair of Culture and History of Central and Eastern Europe, which derived from a grant by the Zeit Foundation, is the only chair of the European University Viadrina located in the Collegium Polonicum however not financed by the funds of the State of Brandenburg intended for the Collegium Polonicum. Various chairs of the European University Viadrina, such as for example the professorial chair at the core of the ''Centre for Interdisciplinary Polish Studies'', give the postal address of the Collegium Polonicum as their address in Poland, but are not spatially and structurally present there. In that they take advantage of an internal postal connection established between the administrations of the Viadrina and the Collegium Polonicum, which ensures that correspondence from Poland addressed to the European University Viadrina and from Germany addressed to the Collegium Polonicum can be sent as domestic mail. Likewise, Collegium Polonicum and Europa-Universität Viadrina can be reached as a domestic call from the respective other country by means of a microwave transmission between the telephone systems of both institutions. In August 2019, the Europa-Universität Viadrina was granted funding of in total €4.16 million for 2019-23 by the Federal State of Brandenburg for four professorships and material resources within the project ''European New School of Digital Studies''. These chairs will be based in the Collegium Polonicum, which will also be the venue for the likewise financed study course of ''Master of Digital Entrepreneurship''. This exceptional financial support granted by the Federal State of Brandenburg for a discipline field so far not represented neither at the Viadrina European University nor at the Collegium Polonicum has been justified by the fact that the ''European New School of Digital Studies'' is "initially to be established as an academic unit of the Viadrina, and in perspective to be further developed into an international faculty with the participation of foreign universities". Yet, the Adam Mickiewicz University's involvement in this venture taking place at the Collegium Polonicum is minimal.


Academic Staff of the Adam Mickiewicz University

The number of academic staff of the Adam Mickiewicz University working at the Collegium Polonicum at the time of its formal opening in 2001 was officially given as 65, including 25 professors. However, the vast majority of these were employees who had their workplaces at faculties of the Adam Mickiewicz University situated in Poznań. During the lecture period, these employees commuted to the Collegium Polonicum to conduct courses mainly in the initially extensive range of study courses offered there by Adam Mickiewicz University. Only about two to four lecturers per study course offered by the Adam Mickiewicz University at the Collegium Polonicum had their actual workplace there, none of them a professor. In that, the Collegium Polonicum was no different from the other branches of Adam Mickiewicz University at that time. In 2012, the Adam Mickiewicz University established ten post-doc researcher positions, including five professorial positions, in the course of the creation of the Polish-German Research Institute at Collegium Polonicum. This institute was created jointly with the Viadrina European University in order to contribute to sharpen the interdisciplinary academic profile of the Collegium Polonicum. Therefore, its research activities, as defined in its regulations (§ 3 no. 2) adopted by both universities in 2012, were identical with those defined in the 2002 Treaty for the Collegium Polonicum, i.e. activities "with special consideration of problems of the European Integration, border regions, and comparative research in an international and intercultural dimension”. The Polish-German Research Institute was in particular meant to become the core of a German-Polish Faculty. As a result of the closure of the Polish-German Research Institute in 2018, and of the continuous decrease in the number of study courses offered at the Collegium Polonicum, the academic staff of Adam Mickiewicz University there is reduced to six post-doc lecturers, who are teaching students of "Polish Philology as a Foreign Language", and pupils of the Academic Secondary School for General Education. Single lecture activities by Adam Mickiewicz University lecturers in the ''Master of Digital Entrepreneurship'' study course offered by the Viadrina European University are not connected to the creation of Adam Mickiewicz University lecturer positions at the Collegium Polonicum. Yet the immediate need to create capacities for new staff resources for a Digital Institute had been the officially given reason for the 2018 rapid closure of the joint Polish-German Research Institute with its 10 post-doc researchers employed by the Adam Mickiewicz University.


Europa-Fellows

The opening of the Collegium Polonicum is connected to the creation of the "International Programme for the Promotion of Young Academics in European Research – ''Europa-Fellows''". This PhD programme, financed by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research with €0.8 million annually, provided 78 post-graduates (48 in the programme's first edition 2000–2003, 30 in its second edition 2003-2005) with individual PhD student grants. The recipients of these German grants could complete their PhD studies at a faculty either of the Viadrina European University, or (as in most cases) of the Adam Mickiewicz University. Head of the graduate project until 2002 was Jan C. Joerden, followed by Janine Nuyken. The interdisciplinary PhD research was carried out in the subject areas represented at the time by lecture chairs or study courses at the Collegium Polonicum, i.e.: * EU Enlargement, * Urban Development and Management, * European Heritage Protection, * Management and Marketing in Central and Eastern Europe, * Cross-border Environmental Policies, * European Legal Harmonisation and Comparison of European Legal Systems, * Cross-border Economic and Cultural Cooperation (Central European Studies in Comparative Perspective).


Cooperation of Academic Staff

The key scientific output of the Collegium Polonicum is its interdisciplinary series ''Thematicon'', published by its Management since 1995. The first five volumes were published the Adam Mickiewicz University Press (''Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im Adama Mickiewicza'') in Poznan. Since 2002, the series has been published in the Berlin-based publishing house ''Logos Verlag''. By 2019, 34 volumes have been published, including four edited by the Collegium Polonicum Management itself on the topic of cross-border university cooperation. Of the remaining volumes have been published: * 5 by academic staff of the professorial chairs financed by the Federal State of Brandenburg for the Collegium Polonicum, * 3 within the Europa-Fellows PhD programme financed by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (2000-2005), * 9 by staff of the Polish-German Research Institute (2012-2018) at the Collegium Polonicum and * 13 by other academic staff. Six volumes deal with aspects in the field of legal studies and six more in the field of language and translation studies, seven look at border and cross-border topics from a political science perspective, and eleven are devoted to aspects of interdisciplinarity, interculturality, transnationality and cultural transfer. Beyond that, the Collegium Polonicum does not appear as a recognisable scientific unit with a distinct research profile. E.g. on the Internet sites, research projects or publications are not presented as ventures of the Collegium Polonicum, but can be found on the respective lecture chair sites of the respective university. In addition, no particular cooperation between the lecture chairs at the Collegium Polonicum is communicated that would go beyond the general contacts between lecture chairs at a given university. The venture of a ''European New School of Digital Studies'', which started in the winter semester 2020–21, has its own website, which does not refer to the Collegium Polonicum. It is nowhere explicitly intended to include the eight lecture chairs financed by the State of Brandenburg for the Collegium Polonicum in the project. A persistent practical problem of cooperation between the academic staff of the two universities is, among other things, the still existing wage gap between employees in Germany and Poland. For instance, a BSc graduate working half-time as student assistance (German: Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft - WHK) employed by the Viadrina European University earns a monthly net salary of about 920 EUR. This sum is roughly equivalent to the monthly gross salary of PLN 3,800 for a post-doc employed by the Adam Mickiewicz University as assistant professor (Polish: ''adiunkt'').


Study programmes at the Collegium Polonicum


Study programmes of the Viadrina European University

Due to its location at the Oder Bridge, the Collegium Polonicum is only a short walk away from the inner city lecture buildings of the Viadrina in Frankfurt. Thus, it is used as a venue for some lectures or seminars, mostly with Polish dimension, offered within the Viadrina study programmes. Hence in a strict sense, there are no Viadrina study programmes physically anchored exclusively at the Collegium Polonicum. Accordingly, the figures published for the number of Viadrina students studying at the Collegium Polonicum are interpretative: the numbers given are e.g. 100 students for the academic year of 2004–05, or 250 for 2015–16. Currently, almost all lectures of the part-time, post-graduate study course of Protection of European Cultural Heritage, and most of the lectures of the MSc course of Culture and History of Central and Eastern Europe, are held at the Collegium Polonicum, which is also the seat of the respective managing professorial chair. Also the courses of the temporarily existing MBA programme 'Management for Central and Eastern Europe took place mainly at the Collegium Polonicum. In the winter term 2020–21 on, the Viadrina European University starts its study course ''Master of Digital Entrepreneurship'', offered within the framework of its ''European New School of Digital Studies'' project. The courses are to be mainly held at the Collegium Polonicum, which is also the seat of the four new professorial chairs created for this venture.


Study programmes of the Adam Mickiewicz University

In the 1990s, the existing state universities in Poland were faced with a constantly increasing demand for study places that by far exceeded the capacities in their ageing building stock. As a result, a large number of private universities were founded, and state as well as private universities offered a broad range of distance learning study courses (Polish: ''studia zaoczne'') with compulsory attendance only at weekends. In addition, many state universities began to offer some of their study courses in parallel also in so-called university branches located in the respective university's city region. In most cases, these branches were installed in premises temporarily rented from the respective local municipality. Yet in some cases, universities engaged in investment activities. The Adam Mickiewicz University had, apart from the Collegium Polonicum, at times seven other branches in the Poznań metropolitan region. Four of them were in rented municipal buildings in the cities of
Kościan Kościan (german: Kosten) is a town on the Obra canal in west-central Poland, with a population of 23 952 inhabitants as of June 2014. Situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Leszno Voivodeship (1975–1998), it i ...
,
Ostrów Wielkopolski Ostrów Wielkopolski () (often abbreviated ''Ostrów Wlkp.'', formerly called simply ''Ostrów'', german: Ostrowo, Latin: ''Ostrovia'') is a city in west-central Poland with 70,982 inhabitants (2021), situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship; ...
,
Śrem Śrem (german: Schrimm) is a town on the Warta river in central Poland. It has been in the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999. From 1975 to 1998 it was part of the Poznań Voivodeship. As of 1995, the population of Śrem was 29,800. Śrem i ...
, and
Wągrowiec (german: Wongrowitz) is a town in west-central Poland, from both Poznań and Bydgoszcz. Since the 18th century it has been the a seat of a powiat. Administratively it is attached to the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The town is situated in the m ...
, and three in erected by the university for this purpose buildings in the cities of
Gniezno Gniezno (; german: Gnesen; la, Gnesna) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. One of the Piast dynasty's chief cities, ...
,
Piła Piła (german: Schneidemühl) is a city in northwestern Poland and the capital of Piła County, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Its population as of 2021 was 71,846, making it the third-largest city in the voivodeship after Poznań ...
and
Kalisz (The oldest city of Poland) , image_skyline = , image_caption = ''Top:'' Town Hall, Former "Calisia" Piano Factory''Middle:'' Courthouse, "Gołębnik" tenement''Bottom:'' Aerial view of the Kalisz Old Town , image_flag = POL Kalisz flag.svg ...
. For instance, in the academic year 2008–09, a total of 5,461 students were studying at these branches. At the Collegium Polonicum, the Adam Mickiewicz University offered seven study programmes which were also offered in Poznań (in some cases with a different specialisation): * ''Applied Computer Science'' (Faculty of Physics), * ''Environmental protection'' (Faculty of Biology), * ''Spatial Management'' (Faculty of Geology and Geography), * ''Philology (German Studies)'' (Faculty of Modern Philology), * ''Polish Philology'' (Faculty of Modern Philology), * ''Political Science'' (Faculty of Political Science and Journalism), * ''National Security'' (Faculty of Political Science and Journalism). Some of these study courses had been offered at times both as presence and distance learning. Following the decrease in the number of students in Poland (from 1.93 million in the academic year 2008–09 to 1.23 million in 2018-19) and the massive expansion of the building stock and personnel capacities at the universities’ main seats (in the case of the Adam Mickiewicz University, particularly on the new Morasko Campus in the north of Poznań), the demand for study courses offered in branches rapidly decreased. With the 2011 reform of the Polish higher education legislation, the further offer of study courses at branches was made dependent on the permanent presence of lecture staff there, and the formation of corresponding academic units. This made a simple parallel offer of a study course already conducted at a university's main seat impossible. As a result, university branches in Poland were in numerous cases closed, or in some cases converted into units (so-called basic unit, Polish ''Jednostka podstawowa'') sufficiently staffed and corresponding to the academic profile of unique study courses offered by them. This did however not happen in the case of the Collegium Polonicum, which, as a university branch operated in cooperation with a foreign university, was never threatened with closure. The only permanent study programme offer of the Adam Mickiewicz University at the Collegium Polonicum is the BSc course of ''Polish Philology as a Foreign Language'' managed by the Faculty of Modern Philology. To this add temporary offers of post-graduate, extra-occupational study courses (e.g. of ''International Relations – Regional and transborder cooperation'', offered by the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism). The number of students on study courses offered by the Adam Mickiewicz University at the Collegium Polonicum peaked at 1,150 in the academic year 2004–05, and has been declining steadily ever since (200 in 2015-16).


Joint Study programmes of the Viadrina and the Adam Mickiewicz University

There are three study programmes with a double degree by the Viadrina European University and the Adam Mickiewicz University offered at the Collegium Polonicum. * Polish-German Law Studies, * Master of Intercultural Communication, * Intercultural German Studies. In these three cases, both the lecturers from the Adam Mickiewicz University commuting from Poznań, and the staff of the professorial chairs financed by the State of Brandenburg for the Collegium Polonicum, hold their lectures and seminars at the Collegium Polonicum; additional Viadrina European University lectures are to be attended in Frankfurt. Particularly the Polish-German Law Studies offered since 1992 are regarded as a role model of how Polish and German students inter-actively get to know together their own as well as the respective other legal system, and thus acquire the knowledge and the soft skills to professionally work on the Polish as well as on the German site. The number of students in these double degree programmes is relatively constant and varies between 430 (academic year 2004-05) and 310 (2015–16).


Academic Secondary School for General Education in Słubice

With the beginning of the 2018–19 school year, the ''Academic Secondary School for General Education in Słubice'' (Polish: ''Uniwersyteckie Liceum Ogólnokształcące w Słubicach ULO''), was opened in the Collegium Polonicum building. This is a private school run by the Adam Mickiewicz University. According to its statute, the school is mainly financed by school fees and other charges as well as permanent contributions from the District of Słubice (Polish: Powiat Słubicki); there is no financial input by the Adam Mickiewicz University. In the Polish school system, a lyceum is the school of secondary education attended by pupils of the 9th to the 12th class and leading to the higher education entrance qualification. When fully operating as a secondary school offering three tracks, it will occupy around half of the 32 lecture and laboratory rooms of the Collegium Polonicum building.


Trivia

In 2014, following an initiative of the Collegium Polonicum's administrative director Krzysztof Wojciechowski, the municipality of
Słubice Słubice is a border town in the Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. Located on the Oder river, it lies directly opposite the city of Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany, which it was a part of as ''Dammvorstadt'' until 1945. As of 2019, the town ha ...
erected a Monument to Wikipedia on Frankfurt Square (Plac Frankfurcki) situated just a few steps away from the Collegium Polonicum. As reason for the promotion of a Wikipedia Monument in this place, Krzysztof Wojciechowski stated that he sees "explicitly in Słubice and Frankfurt the same motive, the same spark as with the Wikipedians": "May this monument remind us that thanks to determination, the desire for knowledge and the overcoming of one's own borders, a better future for the border area, Europe and the entire human race is conceivable." In the period of the Collegium Polonicum's establishment and its first years of operation (i.e. from 1996 to 2006), it constituted a popular venue for meetings and speeches of Polish, German and European politicians, who exploited its aura of an emerging exceptional place for Polish-German reconciliation and
European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...
. This was to be observed again between 2010 and 2013 in the course of an initiative launched at that time by the then Viadrina President Günter Pleuger and his Poznań counterpart to raise the academic profile of the Collegium Polonicum. In total, the Collegium Polonicum has been visited by two
Presidents of the European Parliament President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
(
Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament from Poland. He has served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001, since being elected to the European Parliament in 2004, he served as Pre ...
,
Josep Borrell Josep Borrell Fontelles (; born 24 April 1947) is a Spanish politician serving as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy since 1 December 2019. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), he served ...
), two
Presidents of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Polan ...
(
Aleksander Kwaśniewski Aleksander Kwaśniewski (; born 15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule, he was active in the Socialist Union of Poli ...
,
Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercised ...
) and two Federal Presidents of Germany (
Richard von Weizsäcker Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician ( CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, who were part of the German nobilit ...
,
Joachim Gauck Joachim Wilhelm Gauck (; born 24 January 1940) is a German politician and civil rights activist who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in E ...
), one
Marshal of the Sejm The Marshal of the Sejm , also known as Sejm Marshal, Chairman of the Sejm or Speaker of the Sejm ( pl, Marszałek Sejmu, ) is the Speaker (politics), speaker (chairperson, chair) of the Sejm, the lower house of the Parliament of Poland, Polish ...
(
Józef Oleksy Józef Oleksy (; 22 June 1946 – 9 January 2015) was a Polish left-wing politician, former chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (''Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej'', SLD). Early life and education In his youth he lived in Nowy Sącz, and wa ...
) and one
President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag (german: Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages or ) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker in other countries. In the German order ...
(
Wolfgang Thierse Wolfgang Thierse (; born 22 October 1943) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as the 11th President of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2005. Early life and career Thierse was born in Breslau (Wrocław in present ...
), four
Prime Ministers of Poland The President of the Council of Ministers ( pl, Prezes Rady Ministrów, lit=Chairman of the Council of Ministers), colloquially referred to as the prime minister (), is the head of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The responsibi ...
(
Tadeusz Mazowiecki Tadeusz Mazowiecki (; 18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime min ...
,
Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (, born 13 September 1950) is a Polish left-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland for a year from 7 February 1996 to 31 October 1997, after being defeated in the Parliamentary elections by the Solidarity ...
,
Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament from Poland. He has served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001, since being elected to the European Parliament in 2004, he served as Pre ...
,
Marek Belka Marek Marian Belka (; born 9 January 1952 in Lódź) is a Polish professor of economics and politician who has served as Prime Minister of Poland and Finance Minister of Poland in two governments. He is a former Director of the International Mo ...
) and one
Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...
(
Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
), three
European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...
s (
Günter Verheugen Günter Verheugen (born 28 April 1944) is a German politician who served as European Commissioner for Enlargement from 1999 to 2004, and then as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry from 2004 to 2010. He was also one of five vice ...
,
Michel Barnier Michel Barnier (born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who served as the European Commission's Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom (UK Task Force/UKTF) from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as Chief Negotiator, Task ...
,
Corina Crețu Corina Crețu (born June 24, 1967 in Bucharest) is a Romanian politician and a former European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms. Crețu is a member of the Romanian PRO Romania and Member of the European Parliament (sitting with the Progre ...
), as well as five Polish Ministers (
Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (, born 13 September 1950) is a Polish left-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland for a year from 7 February 1996 to 31 October 1997, after being defeated in the Parliamentary elections by the Solidarity ...
, Mirosław Handke, Waldemar Dąbrowski, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski,
Radosław Sikorski Radosław Tomasz "Radek" Sikorski (; born 23 February 1963) is a Polish politician and journalist who is a Member of the European Parliament. He was Marshal of the Sejm from 2014 to 2015 and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Donald Tusk's cabinet b ...
) and four German Federal Ministers (
Claudia Nolte Claudia Crawford ('' né'' Wiesemüller, formerly and still commonly known as Claudia Nolte; born 7 February 1966) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who became the youngest cabinet minister in German history whils ...
,
Hans-Dietrich Genscher Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...
,
Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German retired politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice-chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Fis ...
,
Guido Westerwelle Guido Westerwelle (; 27 December 1961 – 18 March 2016) was a German politician who served as Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011, being the first openly gay person ...
). However, the President of Poland
Andrzej Duda Andrzej Sebastian Duda (; born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as president of Poland since 6 August 2015. Before becoming president, Andrzej Duda was a member of Polish Lower House (Sejm) from 2011 to 2014 and the ...
chose the Municipal Library Building for his public speech during his visit to Słubice in 2019.


References

{{Authority control
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań The Adam Mickiewicz University ( pl, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu; Latin: ''Universitas Studiorum Mickiewicziana Posnaniensis'') is a research university in Poznań, Poland. It traces its origins to 1611, when under the Royal Ch ...
Buildings and structures in Lubusz Voivodeship