International Exchange
The Tischner European University is exchanging students and staff with many universities abroad. The geographical area covered and the number of our partner institutions is growing every year. Today we collaborate with 34 institutions from 17 countries, including USA.
Since 2004 Tischner European University has been a proud holder of an Erasmus University Charter, entitling it to participation in the EU-founded Erasmus programme, which supports Higher Education Institutions and since 2007 constitutes an element of the Lifelong Learning Program developed on the European level. Every year we successfully apply for Erasmus grants, which give significant administrative and financial support to those students who wish to study for a semester or complete an internship abroad. Every year we also host students from our partner institutions, or individuals coming as "visiting students".
Besides spending one or two semester abroad on Erasmus programme, TEU students have possibility to participate in many short-term programmes, which is a great chance to meet new friends, taste other cultures and take part in serious, multinational debates. International students willing to learn more about Poland and Central Europe in a short period of time, come to TEU for a few weeks to participate in summer schools, or to take part in projects organized by student associations, some co-funded by the EU programme "Youth in Action".
Exchanges, study trips and intensive programs involving local and international students, are complemented by lectures offered by professors from abroad, open meetings with distinguished guests and conferences gathering speakers from all over the world.
Jose Maria Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain; Rocco Butigilione, Italian Minister of European Politics; Prof. Clyde Wilcox from the Georgetown University (USA); Prof. Anjoo Sharan Upadhyaya from the Banaras Hindu University in India; Gyaliong Tsetrin, former political prisoner from Tibet - these are just a few of those who have visited us up till now.
Historical Buildings
Krakow is a city full of wonderful old buildings. Each of these buildings has its own story, not infrequently stemming from the 13th century. Most of the buildings of interest worth seeing are located within the ring of the Planty Park which surrounds the oldest part of the city, and also in Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter of Krakow. The complex of 19th century fortifications, known as the “Fortress of Krakow”, however, is spread around the city at a distance of several kilometres from the Main Market Square.
A place that has to be visited is Wawel Castle, the seat of the Polish kings (a gothic cathedral, a castle in the renaissance style, numerous remains of Romanesque architecture), the Main Market Square - Rynek (the largest in Central Europe) with the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) and the Town Hall Tower (Wieża Ratuszowa), St. Mary’s Church (Kościół Mariacki) with an elaborate gothic altar by Veit Stoss, fragments of the old city walls with St. Florian’s Gate (Brama Floriańska), the oldest university building – Collegium Maius from the 14th century, synagogues and the old Jewish cemetery in the Kazimierz quarter, more than a dozen gothic and baroque churches (among the numerous historical churches in Krakow). Most of the old town houses were rebuilt in the period between the 16th and 17th century in the renaissance and baroque style. The original cellars of these buildings, still in their original gothic style, host a vibrant cultural and social life.
Very different in its style but also worth seeing, especially for those who are really keen on Central European history, is the Nowa Huta quarter (literally: New Steelworks). Nowa Huta was a socialist development and the realisation of a working-class model for Stalin’s “brave new world”. However, Polish architects planned it in the Renaissance manner with a solar pattern where streets radiate from a central square (Plac Centralny) and a continuous belt of greenery between buildings. Nowa Huta turned against its benefactor, Stalin, and soon became something of a bastion of the Solidarity movement. Nowa Huta’s long, and ultimately successful, battle for a church has since passed into legend. The quarter is full of contrasts still. Here, the Arka Pana church (Lord’s Ark) and the Cistercian Monastery border a tremendous steelworks Mittal Steel Poland (former Huta im. Tadeusza Sendzimira). Here, the Łaźnia Nowa Theatre (the New Baths) is placed in the middle of grey concrete residential blocks.
On the border between Małopolska and the region of Silesia there are numerous medieval castles and ruins, among which a must-see is the renovated royal castle of Pieskowa Skała. In Tyniec there is a thousand-year-old Benedictine Abbey, and in the nearby forest of Niepołomice one can spot the European bison.