Jagiellonian University

Founded in 1364 as Krakow Academy by King Casimir the Great, Jagiellonian University is Poland’s oldest school of higher education. At that time, it was the second university in Central and Eastern Europe after Prague. Towards the end of 1300s the Academy somewhat declined but in 1400 was renewed by Polish Queen Jadwiga, who made an endowment to it in the shape of all her jewels. Since then, the Academy was a full medieval University, which later adopted the name of Jagiellonian after a dynasty ruling in Poland.

The most famous graduates in the University’s history are Copernicus and Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II.

Currently, Jagiellonian University is one of Poland’s largest, with over 52 thousand students. The University offers 36 fields of study and 42 specializations. The academic staff comprises 3.252 academic teachers, including 455 professors, 451 professors with the extraordinarius title, 1392 University professors as well as 954 full lecturers, adjunct lecturers, teachers and librarians.

Service

Since 1999, the Jagiellonian University of Krakow has had its Student Disability Support Service, whose main tasks include:

-         Initiating actions aimed at making schools of higher education more accessible with due regard for the needs of disabled persons, in particular as regards Assistive Technologies,

-         Advisory services for future students and those already pursuing university study,

-         Co-operation with other university units and authorities as regards adjusting internal regulations so as to take into account the needs of disabled students; and

-         Co-operation with other Polish and international universities in implementing the policy of equal opportunities in access to education.

The university has a facility where materials for students are prepared in alternative formats. In the main university library, there is a reading room equipped with sight-supporting facilities and equipment for blind users.

The services provided by the Office are used by persons holding a valid certificate certifying the degree of disability but also those suffering from chronic illnesses which may cause difficulties in the course of university study.

Detailed information concerning health status are treated as confidential. Disabled people planning to pursue study at Jagiellonian University may count on support aimed at ensuring equal opportunities in access to education.

Jagiellonian University systematically eliminates architectonic barriers, although it is a major challenge for Poland’s oldest university which has many buildings of historical value.

Projects

Jagiellonian University attaches much importance to international co-operation as regards accessibility and quality of education provided for disabled persons, as modern knowledge-based societies generate huge opportunities for a fuller inclusion of the disabled community into public life, executed mainly through education and employment on the open labor market.

Therefore, the Student Disability Support Service runs various international projects aimed at making the university more accessible or having an impact on national and European systems of support for disabled students. One of them is project Qatrain.

Contact with Disability Support Service:

bsn@adm.uj.edu.pl