New academic year begins!

– The new academic year will bring new challenges and opportunities that we want to take advantage of. The most important thing will be our efforts to participate again in the Initiative of Excellence – Research University programme, said His Magnificence Prof. dr habil. Andrzej Tretyn, Rector of the Nicolaus Copernicus University during the ceremonial inauguration of the 2025/2026 academic year.

The inauguration of the academic year took place, as is traditional, in the University Auditorium. Earlier, in Toruń's Old Town Square, members of the Nicolaus Copernicus University Senate laid flowers at the monument of Nicolaus Copernicus, patron of the University.

In his inaugural speech, the rector summarised the year of three anniversaries, during which the University celebrated its 80th anniversary, the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Medical Academy in Bydgoszcz, and the 20th anniversary of its merger with the Nicolaus Copernicus University and the establishment of the Collegium Medicum. – I would like to thank all the organisers and participants of the anniversary events, of which there were over thirty this year – recalled Prof. Andrzej Tretyn. – One of the final highlights of the celebrations was yesterday's ceremony of naming the auditorium in which we find ourselves after Professor Witold Łukasiewicz, rector of the Nicolaus Copernicus University from 1965 to 1975, who managed to implement the University's development programme, including the construction of the campus in Bielany, during politically and economically difficult times.

The Rector also outlined the challenges facing the University in the coming year:

The most important will be efforts to participate again in the Excellence Initiative – Research University programme – said Prof. Andrzej Tretyn. – We have successfully taken advantage of the opportunities offered by our status as a research university. We have received over PLN 220 million from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for the implementation of this project, which is coming to an end, and another PLN 36 million will be allocated to support scientific activities in the coming years. Thanks to these funds, among other things, we have significantly strengthened our potential and become a reliable and valued partner in international projects.

The Rector listed recent scientific achievements, such as establishing cooperation within the SKA Observatory consortium, participation in one of six so-called artificial intelligence factories selected by the European Commission, and the implementation of a project devoted to the analysis of pandemics in pre-industrial Europe, financed by a prestigious grant from the European Research Council – ERC Synergy.

One of the most important areas of development for the University is its broad openness to international cooperation in research and education – added Prof. Andrzej Tretyn. – A year ago, I announced specific measures to promote this openness, and today I am pleased to say that they have yielded significant results. The number of our University's foreign partners has increased significantly. During the last academic year, we signed as many as 26 agreements with universities from around the world. We particularly value the signing of an agreement with our long-standing partner, the University of Würzburg.

An important part of the inauguration ceremony was immatriculation, i.e. the symbolic introduction of first-year students into the academic community. Our community was also joined by students starting their education at the University High School.

The beginning of the academic year was also an opportunity to award the titles of 'Best Graduate', 'Best Student', 'Best Student Athlete' and 'Best UHS Student'.

The best graduate of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in the past academic year was Karol Gostomczyk, a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the Nicolaus Copernicus University Collegium Medicum. The winner has many impressive scientific achievements to his credit, including authorship and co-authorship of 17 scientific publications and conference reports with a total IF of 36.0 and a total number of points awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of 815.

The Senate recognised Paulina Błaszczyk, a fourth-year law student, as the best student at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in the past year. She achieved many academic successes in the 2024/2025 academic year and also boasts a grade point average of 4.96.

The title of 'Best Student Athlete' for the 2024/2025 academic year went to Zuzanna Błażejczak, a canoeist (trained at KST Włókniarz Chełmża), a student of tourism and recreation at the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management at the Nicolaus Copernicus University, and a participant in the Dual Career Program.

The Nicolaus Copernicus University Senate also decided to award a distinction for promoting the University internationally. It was awarded to a team from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science consisting of Paweł Aniszewski, Paweł Czarkowski, Alicja Kluczek, Łukasz Skabowski, Mateusz Sobkowiak and Mikołaj Juda, who in the 2024/2025 academic year achieved a very good result in the prestigious, multi-stage team programming competition ICPC Central European Regional Contest CERC 2024.

During the ceremony, the cup was also presented to the winners of the Inter-Faculty Olympics – Copernicada. The trophy went to the team representing the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences.

The title of 'Best Student of the University High School' was awarded to Artur Ziółkowski, a nearly 17-year-old fourth-year student specialising in mathematics, IT and physics, who achieved an average grade of 5.17.

The keynote lecture entitled 'The Black Death – a selective killer? Different scenarios of the greatest plague pandemic in Europe' was given by Prof. dr habil. Adam Izdebski from the Interdisciplinary Centre for Modern Technologies. It is worth noting that the start of the academic year marks the launch of an international research project entitled 'Re-understanding the role of pandemics (1300-1800): history, natural sciences and machine learning', funded by the prestigious ERC Synergy grant. Prof. Izdebski is the leader of the project.

At 3 p.m., the Fine Arts Section of the Academic Relaxation Zone at the University Library hosted the opening of the exhibition 'Dialog z Knappem' (Dialogue with Knapp) by dr habil. Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo, NCU Prof. at the Faculty of Fine Arts. The exhibition consisted of drawings, puzzles and spatial forms, some of which allowed for interaction with viewers. The series was born out of the artist's fascination with Knapp and is a conscious dialogue with his works, as well as a confrontation with personal memories of when the artist, as a little girl, was enchanted with a colourful composition on the facade of the Nicolaus Copernicus University Auditorium, which contrasted with the grey reality of communist Poland.