Warsaw University of Technology
Politechnika Warszawska | |
 | |
| Latin: Polytechnica Varsoviensis | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | 1826 |
| Affiliations | EUA, EucA, PEGASUS, CESAER, BEST |
| Rector | Krzysztof Zaremba[1] |
| Faculty | 2,553[2] |
| Students | 20,953[3] (12.2025) |
| Undergraduates | 15,232[2] |
| Postgraduates | 1,732[2] |
| Location | pl. Politechniki 1, 00-661 , , Poland 52°13′13″N 21°0′38″E / 52.22028°N 21.01056°E |
| Website | www |
 | |
 | |
The Warsaw University of Technology (Polish: Politechnika Warszawska, lit. 'Varsovian Polytechnic', PW) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest Universities in Central Europe. It employs 2,553 teaching faculty, including 262 titular professors.[2] Its 19 faculties (divisions) covering almost all fields of science and technology are located in Warsaw, except for one, which is in Płock.
The origins of Warsaw University of Technology date back to 1826, when engineering education began at the Warsaw Institute of Technology.
The Warsaw University of Technology (often referred to as Warsaw Tech) has 20,953 students (as of 2025), mostly full-time.[3] It has about 5,000 graduates per year.[2]
According to the 2008 Rzeczpospolita newspaper survey, engineers govern Polish companies. Warsaw Tech alumni make up the highest percentage of Polish managers and executives. Every ninth president among the top 500 corporations in Poland is a graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology. It provides a basis for the performance of managers by equipping students with an education at the highest level and preparing them with the tools and information, including knowledge of foreign languages.[4]
In 2026, Times Higher Education ranked the university within the global 1201–1500 band.[5]
History
[edit]Polish technical universities developed differently from modern universities.[6] The Humboldtian model of higher education incorporated institutional autonomy to protect universities from the interference of external stakeholders, especially corporate actors..[6] Technical institutions of various post-secondary status were closer to industry as a consequence of economic growth and industrial development.[6] There was growing demand for highly trained specialists in engineering.[6]
1826–1831
[edit]The origins of Polish universities of technology go back to the 18th century. They were related to either military technology or mining. For example, the extraction of coal requires complex technological processes to exploit deeper seams.
The model school of technology, a university of technology, was designed by the French, who in 1794 founded the Ecole polytechnique in Paris. At the beginning of the 19th century, technical universities were established in Prague (in 1806), Vienna (1815), and Karlsruhe (1824).
In Poland, the first multidisciplinary university of technology was the Preparatory School for the Institute of Technology, which opened on 4 January 1826. The Warsaw University of Technology still cultivates its traditions. The person who played the most important part in creating the school and writing its charter was Stanisław Staszic. Kajetan Garbiński, a mathematician and professor at Warsaw University, became the director. The school was closed in 1831, after the November Insurrection.
1898–1914
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In 1898, the Technological Section of the Warsaw Society for Russian Commerce and Industry, under the direction of engineer Kazimierz Obrębowicz, raised funds to establish the Emperor Nicolas II University of Technology. Classes, with Russian as the language of instruction, started on 5 September in the building at 81 Marszałkowska Street. They were soon moved to new buildings, built especially for the institute. Bronisław Rogóyski and Stefan Szyller designed them.
On the day of its opening, the university had three faculties: Mathematics, Chemistry, as well as Engineering and Construction. In June 1902, the Faculty of Mining was opened. Poles constituted the majority of students until 1905, when their number reached 1,100.
1915–1939
[edit]
After German troops entered Warsaw on 5 August 1915, they sought to gain the sympathy of Poles. They allowed the University of Warsaw and the Warsaw University of Technology to open with Polish as the language of instruction. The grand opening of both universities was held on 15 November 1915. Zygmunt Straszewicz was the first rector of the Warsaw University of Technology. World War I, along with the events surrounding the restoration of the Polish State and the Polish-Bolshevik war, did not aid the school's development. Daily lectures finally started in November 1920. The school included the faculties of Mechanics, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Aquatic Engineering, and Geodesy (Measurment since 1925). The last three faculties were merged under the new Academic Schools Law of 13 March 1933. The Polish Cabinet issued a decree on 25 September 1933 establishing the new Faculty of Engineering.
The number of students at the Warsaw University of Technology over the twenty years between the wars grew from 2,540 in the 1918/1919 academic year to 4,673 just before the outbreak of World War II. In the same period, the school granted more than 6,200 diplomas, including 320 for women. The Warsaw University of Technology became the most important engineering research center in Poland and gained international prestige. At that time, 66 graduates earned Doctor of Philosophy degrees, degrees, and 50 qualified for assistant professor positions. The university was a centre of scientific research for people whose achievements were fundamental to world science and technology, including Karol Adamiecki, Stefan Bryła, Jan Czochralski, Tytus Maksymilian Huber, Janusz Groszkowski, Mieczysław Wolfke, and others.
1939–1945
[edit]During World War II, despite enormous material losses and repressive measures, the Warsaw University of Technology continued to operate underground. Teaching continued in clandestine and open courses, in vocational schools, and from 1942, in a two-year State Higher Technical School. Approximately 3,000 students participated in the clandestine courses, and 198 earned engineering diplomas. Scientific research was conducted, as 20 PhD and 14 assistant-professorship qualifying theses were written. Considerable work was devoted to the reconstruction of Poland after the war and constitutes the foundation for the development of science. Students and professors secretly worked on projects. Professors Janusz Groszkowski, Marceli Struszyński, and Józef Zawadzki conducted a detailed analysis of the radio and steering devices of the German V-2 rockets at the request of Polish Home Army Intelligence.
1945–present
[edit]
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Global – Overall | |
| ARWU World[7] | 901–1000 (2026) |
| CWTS World[8] | 584 (2025) |
| QS World[9] | =487 (2026) |
| THE World[5] | 1201–1500 (2026) |
| Regional – Overall | |
| QS Emerging Europe and Central Asia[10] | 14 (2022) |
After German troops were dislodged from Warsaw, classes started in improvised conditions on 22 January 1945. By the end of the year, all the pre-war faculties were reopened. Old, war-damaged buildings were quickly rebuilt; new ones were erected. In 1951, the Warsaw University of Technology incorporated the Wawelberg and Rotwand School of Engineering.
The Academic and Research Centre in Płock was created in 1967.
In 1945, there were 2,148 students in six faculties (divisions). By 1999, there were 22,000 students enrolled in 16 faculties. The Warsaw University of Technology awarded over 104,000 Bachelor of Science and Master of Science engineer degrees between the years 1945 and 1998.
The university serves as an important scientific center, educating academic staff for its own purposes and for other Polish schools of technology. Between 1945 and 1998, 5,500 PhD theses were written. Almost 1,100 qualified for assistant professorships. The number of academic staff grew significantly. In 1938, the university had 98 tenured professors and associate professors, as well as 307 assistant professors and teaching assistants; in 1948, there were 87 tenured professors and 471 associate professors, as well as 307 assistant professors and teaching assistants; while in 1999, there were 371 professors, 1,028 tutors, 512 lecturers, and 341 teaching assistants.
Faculties
[edit]
- Faculty of Administration and Social Science[11]
- Faculty of Architecture
- Faculty of Automotive and Construction Machinery Engineering
- Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Faculty of Civil Engineering
- Faculty of Electrical Engineering
- Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology
- Faculty of Environmental Engineering[12]
- Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography
- Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science
- Faculty of Management
- Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering
- Faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering[12]
- Faculty of Mechatronics
- Faculty of Physics
- Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering
- Faculty of Transport
- WUT Business School[13]
Płock Campus:
- Faculty of Civil Engineering, Mechanics and Petrochemistry
- College of Economics and Social Sciences
Transport
[edit]The transport faculty is engaged in research into the development of railway variable gauge axles which help overcome breaks of gauge, such as the SUW 2000 system and INTERGAUGE.
Notable alumni
[edit]- Jadwiga Roguska (born 1941) – art historian, architect
- Tomasz Bagiński (born 1976) – illustrator, animator and director
- Ryszard Bartel (1897–1982) – engineer
- Jerzy Barycki (born 1949) – engineer
- Mieczysław G. Bekker (1905–1989) – engineer and scientist
- Antoni Bohdziewicz (1906–1970) – screenplay writer and director
- Joanna Chmielewska (1932–2013) – novelist and screenwriter
- Zofia Garlińska-Hansen (1924–2013) – architect
- Patricia Kazadi (born 1988) – actress, singer, dancer, and television personality
- Antoni Kocjan (1902–1944) – glider constructor and Home Army soldier during World War II
- Vadim Komkov (1919–2008) – mathematician
- Alfred Korzybski (1879–1950) – engineer, mathematician and philosopher
- Bohdan Kulakowski (1942–2006) – mechanical engineer, professor at Pennsylvania State University
- Stefan Kurylowicz (1949–2011) – architect and professor of architecture[14]
- Jan Lenica (1928–2001) – graphic designer and cartoonist
- Henryk Magnuski (1909–1978) – telecommunications engineer
- Myron Mathisson (1897–1940) – theoretical physicist
- Zbigniew Michalewicz – computer scientist, entrepreneur
- Zenon Mróz (born 1930) – materials science engineer
- Witold Nazarewicz (born 1954) – nuclear physicist
- Henryk Orfinger (born 1951) – entrepreneur
- Waldemar Pawlak (born 1959) – politician, former Prime Minister of Poland
- Przemysław Prusinkiewicz – computer scientist
- Andrzej Piotr Ruszczyński (born 1951) – applied mathematician
- Mohamed Omar Salihi (1952-2021) – marine scientist
- Maciej Matthew Szymanski (1926–2015) – architect in Canada
- Jan Holnicki-Szulc (born 1945) – structural engineer
- Andrew Targowski (born 1937) – Polish-American computer scientist
- Andrzej Tomaszewski (1934–2010) – historian of art and culture
- Andrzej Trautman (born 1933) – mathematical physicist
- Władysław Turowicz (1908–1980) – Polish-Pakistani aviator, military scientist and aeronautical engineer
- Michał Vituška (1907–1945) – Belarusian leader of the Black Cats
- Marian Walentynowicz (1896–1967) – architect, graphic designer and comic book pioneer
- Stanisław Wigura (1903–1933) – aircraft designer and aviator
- Tomasz Wiktorowski (born 1981) – tennis coach[15]
- Zbigniew Zapasiewicz (1934–2009) – actor, theatre director and pedagogue
- Józef Zawadzki (1886–1951) – physical chemist[16]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Professor Krzysztof Zaremba elected the Rector of Warsaw University of Technology". Warsaw University of Technology. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Sprawozdanie Rektora z działalności Politechniki Warszawskiej za rok 2024". Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej Politechniki Warszawskiej (in Polish). 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Szkolnictwo wyższe w roku akademickim 2025/2026". Główny Urząd Statystyczny. 15 June 2026. Retrieved 8 September 2026.
- ↑ Błaszczak, Anita; Grochola, Anita; Cieślak-Wróblewska, Anna (28 May 2008). "Techniczne kuźnie prezesów". Rzeczpospolita (in Polish). Retrieved 30 May 2008.
- 1 2 "World University Rankings 2026". Times Higher Education. 2026. Retrieved 8 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Antonowicz, Dominik (2020). "Understanding the Development of Technical Universities in Poland". In Geschwind, Lars; Broström, Anders; Larsen, Katarina (eds.). Technical Universities. Higher Education Dynamics. Vol. 56. Springer. pp. 61–77. ISBN 9783030505547.
- ↑ "ARWU World University Rankings 2026 | Academic Ranking of World Universities 2026 | Top 1000 universities | Shanghai Ranking - 2026".
- ↑ "CWTS Leiden Ranking 2025". leidenranking.com. Retrieved 8 September 2026.
- ↑ "QS World University Rankings". 19 June 2025.
- ↑ "QS World University Rankings-Emerging Europe & Central Asia". Retrieved 15 January 2023.
- ↑ "Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences / Faculties / Academics / Home - Warsaw University of Technology". Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
- 1 2 "Faculties". Warsaw University of Technology. 8 September 2026. Retrieved 8 September 2026.
- ↑ "Warsaw University of Technology Business School". Retrieved 26 May 2022.
- ↑ Scislowska, Monika (7 June 2011). "Leading Polish architect dies in plane crash". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Associated Press. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ↑ "Nasz absolwent Tomasz Wiktorowski Trenerem Roku 2022 w Polsce" (in Polish). Warsaw University of Technology. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ↑ Sauer, T.; Trautman, A. (2008). "Myron Mathisson: What little we know of his life". arXiv:0802.2971 [physics.hist-ph].
External links
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