Organisation of various events, campaigns and social actions, provision of support and assistance, representation of issues that concern two groups of the academic community at the University of Warsaw. These initiatives are undertaken by the Students’ Council of the UW and University of Warsaw PhD Students’ Union.
There are more than 36,300 students and 1,700 doctoral candidates at the University of Warsaw, including more than 3,600 from abroad. Important issues for this part of the academic community are represented by the student and doctoral student self-governments.
Students’ Council of the University of Warsaw
The organisation is the voice of students at the University – its representatives sit on the UW Senate and the University Council, and participate in the work of the Senate and University committees and teams, influencing the functioning of the UW. Together with the Vice-Rector for Students and Quality of Teaching, student representatives set the rates of social grants or prices in the halls of residence. They allocate funds to run student organisations. In 2023, the Students’ Council contribution included: the transition of the University of Warsaw Library to a 24-hour mode, the launch of the UW helpline and reduction in the cost of subscription lunches in the university canteen.
The Students’ Council conducts various projects to animate student life – it organises, for example, student trips, the jUWenalia, courses for students and periodic board game meetings – planszUWki.
In 2022, the Students’ Council was also involved in helping the citizens of Ukraine after Russia’s invasion of that country by organising various initiatives and collections. The Students’ Council also ran numerous social campaigns promoting equality and tolerance.
Detailed information on the activities of the Students’ Council is available at https://samorzad.uw.edu.pl/.
University of Warsaw PhD Students’ Union
The affairs of doctoral candidates are represented by the University of Warsaw PhD Students’ Union. Representatives of the Students’ Union sit on the UW Senate, participate in the work of the Senate and rectoral committees and teams. They are also members of doctoral school councils, faculty councils, discipline councils and teaching councils.
In 2023, the UW PhD Students’ Union was involved in activities related to, for example, increasing scholarships for doctoral candidates in Doctoral Schools, providing doctoral candidates with a permanent place in halls of residence and implementing the Initiative for Excellence – University Research (IDUB) Programme for doctoral candidates. The PhD Students’ Union acted to integrate the community by organising a training week, an integration trip to Chęciny and a Welcome Week for first-year doctoral candidates.
In 2022, due to the situation on Poland’s eastern border, the UW PhD Students’ Union organised meetings to integrate the Ukrainian doctoral community at the UW, as well as emergency assistance to doctoral candidates of Ukrainian origin, including collections in-kind and Polish language courses.
Detailed information on the activities of the University of Warsaw PhD Student’s Union is available at https://doktoranci.uw.edu.pl/.