Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland
Location: Poland
Year founded: 1945
Time required for MD: 6 years
Tuition: 43,000 PLN per year
Student Loans: Stafford Loans and others
About the University
The Medical University of Gdańsk is the largest medical academic institution in northern Poland, educating more than 5,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students across four faculties: the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Pharmacy, and the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, run jointly with the University of Gdańsk. Teaching is carried out by nearly one thousand academic teachers, over one hundred of whom hold a professor’s title. Students can live on a comfortable campus close to the main university buildings and the modern library.
Alongside its educational activity, the University places strong emphasis on scientific research, reflected in its top rankings from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and in numerous awards earned by its researchers, including the prestigious Foundation for Polish Science award received by Professor Roman Kaliszan in 2003 and Professor Janusz Limon in 2004.
The University continually modernizes its clinical and teaching facilities. In 2007, modernization began on its main teaching hospital, the Academic Clinical Centre, an investment co-financed by the state budget with a subsidy of 480 million Polish zlotys (approximately 140 million EUR).
The University maintains international cooperation with more than 50 universities and scientific centers, running an extensive exchange of students and teachers through the Lifelong Learning Programme, and is an active member of numerous European organizations and institutions, including two regional bodies: ScanBalt and the Baltic Sea Region University Network.
History
The Akademia Lekarska in Gdańsk was founded on October 8, 1945. Its history connects to the centuries-old tradition of medical practice among surgeons associated with the Surgeons Guild (active since 1454), as well as to teaching and medical and scientific research carried out at the Gdańskie Gimnazjum Akademickie (Atheneum Gedanense), established in 1558. That institution set up a Department of Science and Medicine (physices et medicinae), overseen by eminent scholars. Among its most famous lecturers were Joachim Oelhafius, a native of Gdańsk who in 1613 was the first to perform a public autopsy of a newborn child in northern Europe, and Dr. Jan Adam Kulmus, author of the anatomical atlas “Tabulae anatomicae,” published in 1732. The work went through numerous editions and was translated into many languages. The Gimnazjum Akademickie maintained a high academic standard, and its graduates were accepted into the third year of medical studies at universities in Western Europe. After the Gimnazjum Akademickie closed in the early 19th century, it was not until the early 20th century that another academic school was established.
The tradition of pharmaceutical sciences in Gdańsk dates back to Johannes Placotomus, author of notable books and founder of the first pharmacy in Gdańsk in 1527, and Johannes Schmiedt, known as Fabritius, co-author of the oldest Polish pharmacopoeia, published in 1665.
In 1935, the Gdańsk Senate, by then represented mostly by German nationalists, established the Akademia Medycyny Praktycznej (Die Staatliche Akademie für Praktische Medizin zu Danzig) on the basis of a municipal hospital built between 1907 and 1911. Teaching at the newly opened college initially involved clinical courses; in 1940, following the introduction of pre-clinical courses, the college was renamed Medizinische Akademie in Danzig, becoming a full 5-year medical program.
After World War II, the Akademia Lekarska was founded in Gdańsk. In 1950 it was renamed Akademia Medyczna, known today as the Medical University of Gdańsk. Among the professors of the newly established college were eminent Polish scholars from Stefan Batory University in Vilnius, who relocated to Gdańsk after Vilnius was incorporated into the Soviet Union, along with scholars from other pre-war Polish academic centers. Initially, Akademia Lekarska offered studies in two fields: medical and pharmaceutical. The Faculty of Stomatology was created in May 1947, later renamed the Subfaculty of Dentistry at the Faculty of Medicine in January 1950. In 1975, the Medical University of Gdańsk (MUG) opened a branch in Bydgoszcz, which became an independent college in 1984. In 1993, the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology was founded as a joint unit of the Medical University of Gdańsk and the University of Gdańsk. In the 2005/2006 academic year, the Medical University launched the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Since its founding, the Medical University of Gdańsk has paid close attention to developing its teaching and clinical framework. New research institutes and clinics have been established, equipment modernized, new facilities built, and campus buildings equipped with computers and networking. MUG now offers education across nearly all medical professions, with classes also available in English.
Faculty of Medicine (with Subfaculty of Dentistry)
The Faculty of Medicine was established in 1945. Its mission is closely tied to the centuries-old tradition of medical and natural science practice in Gdańsk, particularly at the Gimnazjum Gdańskie (Gymnasium Gedanense), founded in 1558 and later elevated to Gymnasium Academicum sive Illustre (Atheneum Gedanense).
Eminent doctors led the department of medicine and anatomy created within the Gimnazjum Gdańskie. Its most recognized lecturer was Joachim Oelhafius, renowned for performing the first public autopsy in northern Europe. Equally notable was anatomist Jan Kulmus, whose extensive anatomical atlas “Tabulae anatomicae” was published in Gdańsk in 1732, released in numerous editions and translated into several languages.
The Faculty of Medicine educates students across three programs: medicine (a uniform 6-year MSc program), medical stomatology (a uniform 5-year MSc program), and dental techniques (a 3-year first-degree BSc program). Its academic standard has been confirmed through 5-year accreditations for both MSc programs, granted by the Accreditation Committee for Medical Universities at the Conference of Presidents of Medical Universities and by the State Accreditation Committee. Classes in the medical program have also been taught in English since 2002.
The Faculty of Medicine and its Subfaculty of Dentistry together educate 2,363 students, including 434 foreign students who attend the English-language medical program, coming from European Union member states, the United States, Canada, India, and Nigeria.
Graduates can continue their education at the Faculty of Medicine through a 4-year PhD program, in which several dozen doctoral candidates participate. Over its 62 years of activity, the Faculty has educated 13,474 doctors, 4,520 dentists, and 91 Bachelors of Science.
The Faculty comprises 69 departments, institutes, and clinics, with core teaching carried out by 662 university teachers, including 98 independent research staff, 40 of whom hold a professor’s degree. Its research output includes 1,831 PhD programs, 290 postdoctoral programs, and more than 160 professorships awarded.
Teaching facilities include the Theory Departments building, spanning 62,300 cubic meters and in use since 1975, with three amphitheatre-style lecture halls housing 12 departments and institutes, alongside the Atheneum Gedanese Novum educational facility on Aleja Zwycięstwa and the fully equipped Auditorium Primum lecture hall.
Practical clinical classes take place at the Academic Clinical Centre (Akademickie Centrum Kliniczne) and at several healthcare institutions across Gdańsk. The Academic Clinical Centre is the largest hospital in northern Poland, spanning several dozen buildings along Dębinki, Smoluchowskiego, and Kliniczna streets, most built between 1908 and 1927. Teaching and healthcare activities currently run across 58 clinics and institutes with more than 1,200 hospital beds.
Hospital facilities are regularly modernized, with clinics and institutes supplied with up-to-date diagnostic and therapeutic equipment. In 2007, construction began on a new clinical hospital, the Centre for Invasive Medicine, which will house surgical units, modern lecture halls, and a recreational complex.
Beyond organizing practical classes to prepare students for professional practice and postgraduate study, the clinics provide highly specialized diagnostic and therapeutic services, not only for the Tri-City area and surrounding towns but for the whole of northern and central Poland. Both basic and clinical research continue to expand; in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education’s ranking of 61 medical faculties and institutes, the Faculty of Medicine at MUG was awarded first place among medical research units.
Since 1998, the Faculty of Medicine has taken part in the SOCRATES/Erasmus Programme, and currently the Lifelong Learning Programme, both of which coordinate student exchanges with partner universities across the European Union and allow lecturers to teach abroad. The Faculty has also adopted the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).
Science & Research
The Medical University of Gdańsk places great importance on supporting scientific activity. When the Ministry of Science and Higher Education’s ranking system (previously the Research Committee) was established, MUG introduced, and continues to refine, an internal system for parametric assessment of individual research units. Today, three of MUG’s faculties, Medicine, Pharmacy, and the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, hold top positions in that ranking, as does the unique Interdepartmental Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine. The Faculty of Health Sciences, founded in 2006, is preparing for its own parametric assessment and has applied for the right to award PhD degrees.
Research funding comes from several sources: statutory activity (118 research topics), commissioned projects, development projects, independent projects, promoter projects, and postdoctoral projects (109 projects combined), independent research (345 research topics), and research support activity (37 projects). Academic staff also carry out contracted research for external partners, primarily pharmaceutical companies (19 service and research projects), along with projects funded through EU framework programmes, community initiatives, and structural funds, including the Sector Operational Programme for Increased Enterprise Competitiveness.
Advanced scientific research requires modern equipment, and the following items have recently been acquired with financial support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education:
- FACS Aria cell sorter
- Chip electrophoreser (Experion Electrophoresis System)
- Micromatrix analysis scanner
- PCR Chromo4Four apparatus (Color Real Time PCR System)
- System for registering and analyzing animal behavior in an open area
- System for animal fear conditioning
A key part of MUG’s science infrastructure is its recently opened Tri-City Academic Animal Experimental Centre, available to other Pomeranian research units as well.
The high level of research and the strong qualifications of the academic teaching staff are reflected in individual honors, including the Foundation for Polish Science award (often called Poland’s Nobel Prize), received by Professor Roman Kaliszan in 2003 and Professor Janusz Limon in 2004. In a recent academic year, the Prime Minister recognized Professor Jacek Jassem for scientific activity, and postdoctoral researcher Michał Markuszewski received the prestigious scholarship of the Minister of Science and Higher Education, awarded to outstanding young scientists advancing scientific development.
Want to Know More?
Considering medical school in the Tri-City region of northern Poland? Visit our forum to hear from current and former Medical University of Gdańsk students about the English-taught program, clinical training at the Academic Clinical Centre, and life on the Baltic coast.
