Poznan University of Technology (PUT) is one of the leading technical universities in Poland. With its 21 thousand students and 12 hundred academic staff it has become one of the most recognized landmarks of Western Poland, where education is perfectly combined with industry.
PUT grew out of the Higher State School of Mechanical Engineering which was established in 1919. In the first few decades, it was oriented toward mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering. After the long-lasting efforts to establish polytechnics in Poznan, the school was transformed into Poznan University of Technology in 1955. Currently, ten PUT's faculties offer study programs conducted both in Polish and English in 27 fields ranging from architectural design through computer science, telecommunications, and transportation to technical physics and chemical technology. The university's mission is to provide personnel highly qualified in wider understanding of engineering, closely related to research, technology development and innovation in partnership with the economy and society.
PUT has been given a very high position in the national university rankings with some of its faculties playing the leading roles in Europe in their respective fields. Over the years, the university has successfully developed relationships with all aspects of business, management, and new technology communities. Our industrial partners include world-wide known companies, such as Volkswagen, MAN, Samsung, Microsoft, GlaxoSmithKline, Santander, and Skanska, as well as leading Polish firms, such as Solaris, Budimex, and Amica. Their encouragement supported by the advice of more than a thousand SMEs help us to adjust our educational programs. In this way, PUT's graduates can meet the high requirements of the international markets. Our motto “Technology in a Positive Climate” gives an idea of the university’s great concern for its students.
PUT has established extensive links with the international educational institutions and research centers. In the field of education, PUT works with approximately 160 European universities, while its researchers cooperate with about 100 universities located mainly in the USA, Western Europe, Brazil, China, Japan, and Russia. In 1995, PUT became the first Polish member of the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (CESAER), an organization comprising the best technical universities in Europe. The university is also a member of the Socrates-Erasmus program for student exchange from all over Europe, promoting advanced engineering and a European dimension.
The major university buildings are concentrated within the Warta (Piotrowo) Campus which is beautifully located on the riverside, next to a recreational area of Malta lake, and within a close and easy reach of the city centre. The symbols of the campus are two modernist buildings from the 70s accommodating the Faculties of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Nevertheless, thanks to the European funds, in the recent 10 years, the campus has been vastly developed with an outstanding sport center and four modern buildings. These include the Lecture Centre and Technical Library, being the main venue of EURO 2016, which has been constructed in such a way that from its three passages you can see the historical symbols of Poznan: City Hall, Cathedral, and Bernardine Church.
Although PUT has world-class achievements in chemical technologies, mechatronics, engineering, and production systems, it is most known for its Operations Research and Management Science group. The group was set up around 40 years ago, and is currently established within the Faculty of Computing. It consists of about 60 researchers with its three pillars - EURO Gold Medal winners: Jacek Blazewicz, Roman Slowinski, and Jan Weglarz. The main interests of the group members is best shown by the focus of the EURO Working Groups (EWGs) they are most actively involved. These include EWGs on Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding, Combinatorial Optimization, Transportation and Project Management and Scheduling. To large extent, the world-renowned success of the Poznan OR/MS group has been possible due to the renowned pragmatism and reliability of the people of Poznan.
