The University of Poznań

The University of Poznań was established in 1919. Poznań finally got its own university, which the city fought for for a long time. The young University had to find good staff and work hard to earn recognition in the academic world. However, finding the faculty was not easy. Paradoxically, this situation opened up opportunities for women – female researchers.

From the very beginning, the University admitted women, which is why over time a generation of women-graduates emerged. They continued their careers at the University and received academic degrees and positions, paving the way for other female researchers.

It is quite symbolic that the first honoris causa doctorate was conferred by the University of Poznań on a woman – Maria Skłodowska-Curie (1922).

Since its establishment the University of Poznań was admitting women, and then also employing them. However, it took several years for the first generation of women holding degrees from this University to emerge. Over time more and more women received PhD degrees. Post-doctoral degrees, however, were still perceived an exceptional achievement. Only few women had the status of a senior academic staff member.

The University of Poznań was quite open in terms of employing women and conferring academic degrees on them. However, this was not due to its exceptional liberalism in comparison with other Polish universities. The University of Poznań was a young school and struggled with finding the faculty. Its creators were actively searching for co-workers at other academic institutions. The University’s officials often made peculiar arrangements with potential lecturers, offering them an opportunity to receive further academic degrees at the young University. However, the lecturers-to-be were required to conduct classes for students for a specified number of terms. This way the University was able to deal with the problem of being short-staffed.

These circumstances opened up more opportunities for women for professional development. Especially for those with academic achievements from foreign universities.

Photo:

A group of students of the University of Poznań

Photo from the collection of the National Digital Archives

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The University of Poznań

The University of Poznań

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