John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (Polish: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, Latin: Universitas Catholica Lublinensis Ioannis Pauli II, abbreviation KUL) is a university established in 1918. It is the only private college in Poland with the status of a university.

John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II
Latin: Universitas Catholica Lublinensis Ioannis Pauli II
TypePrivate Catholic university
Established27 July 1918
Religious affiliation
Catholic Church
RectorMiroslaw Kalinowski
Students19 000
Address
Al. Racławickie 14, 20–950
, ,
AffiliationsEUA
Socrates-Erasmus
Websitekul.lublin.pl

History

Father Idzi Benedykt Radziszewski founded the university in 1918. Lenin allowed the priest to take the library and equipment of the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy to Poland to launch the university just as Poland regained its independence.[1]

The aim of the university was to be a modern place of higher education that would conduct research in the spirit of harmony between science and faith. The university sought to produce a new Catholic intelligentsia that would play a leading role in Poland. The number of students increased from 399 in 1918–19, to 1440 in 1937–38. This growth was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War and Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland. Of all the universities located in the German-occupied territory, the University of Lublin was the only one to resume work in October 1939. On 23 November 1939, the Nazis executed a number of academic workers, including, among others, professors Michał Niechaj and Czesław Martyniak.[2]

The university was ordered shut down and its buildings were converted into a military hospital.[3] Nevertheless, the university carried on its teaching activities in secret. After the invasion of Lublin in July 1944 by the Red Army, the university reopened on 21 August 1944. Since then the university has functioned without interruption. The university stayed open during the years Poland was under Communist control between 1944 and 1989, though some of its faculties did not. The faculties of law, social science and education were shut down between 1953 and 1956.[1] It was the only independent, Catholic university in existence in the entire Soviet bloc. Given that the Communist governments all insisted on having a total monopoly of control over educational institutions, the preservation of its independence was a great achievement.[4]

The university was often harassed in various ways by the Communist authorities, especially in the 1950s and the 1960s. The university faculty were under frequent surveillance by the secret police. Periodically some faculties were denied by the state the right to grant graduate degrees. The employment prospects of its graduates were limited.

Despite the difficulties, the university's independence was maintained and it never adopted Marxist dogmas taught at all the other state universities. It served as a haven for students who were expelled from state universities for political reasons.[4]

After the fall of Communism in Poland in 1989, the university has flourished, quadrupling its student population and greatly expanding its campus. In 2010 the university was involved in a scandal concerning the granting of PhDs by departments that were not allowed to grant them, due to not having a sufficient number of academic staff.[5]

University Library

Rankings

The university has had a steady advance in university rankings. In 2011, it was placed 8th among all Polish universities.[6] Also in 2011, Wprost magazine ranked it 15th[7] among humanity universities. Before that, in 2006 Newsweek Polska ranked the university 54th[8] among all Polish universities.

In 2011–12, the university's philosophy program was ranked first in Poland by the Polish Accreditation Agency, distinguished twice, receiving 9 million PLN total in grants that year as a result.

Notable alumni and professors

See also

Notes

  1. Weigel, George (2001). Witness of Hope – The Biography of Pope John Paul II. HarperCollins.
  2. Adam Redzik. "Polish Universities During the Second World War". Encuentros de Historia Comparada Hispano-Polaca Conference. 2004.
  3. R. Sikorski, L. Kowieski. "Reception and Assimilation of Innovative Medical Ideas in Poland in the 19th and early 20th Centuries". Clinical Teaching, Past and Present. Vol. 21. No. 1/4. 1987–88, pg. 101.
  4. Kotkin, Stephen, Gross, Jan T. (2009). Uncivil Society: 1989 and the implosion of the communist establishment. Modern Library. ISBN 978-0679642763.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. "Czy wydział KUL umie liczyć do dziesięciu?", Wiadomosci.gazeta.pl; retrieved 12 October 2011.(in Polish)
  6. "Ranking Szkół Wyższych – edycja 2011", Szkoly.wprost.pl; retrieved 12 October 2011.(in Polish)
  7. "Studia w Polsce B, Potęga statystyk" Archived 3 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Gazetastudencka.pl; retrieved 12 October 2011.(in Polish)
  8. "Ranking uczelni wg Newsweeka (Polish)". Student.lublin.pl. Retrieved on 12 October 2011.
  9. Doctrina de fide apud S. Ioannem a Cruce, vatican.va; accessed 6 October 2012.
  10. Luxmoore, Jonathan (8 October 2020). "Polish student of John Paul II resigns in row over LGBT rights". The Tablet. Retrieved 17 October 2020.

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