Information in English

Invitation

Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy Leszek Ksiazek, Ph.D., Prof. URK cordially invites you to the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy of the Hugo Kołłątaj Agricultural University in Cracow on 11-12 September 2025.
The event will include a national conference entitled. “History, present, future - scientific and didactic achievements” combined with the XVIII Great Lesson of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy entitled. “Sustainable Development of Cities and Suburbs”.

History of the Faculty

In 2025, it will be seventy years since the establishment of the Faculty of Land Reclamation at the Agricultural College (WSR) in Kraków on 23 July 1955. In 1960, the Faculty was expanded to include the Division of Geodesy of Agricultural Equipment and continued to operate within the structure of the Agricultural College, later the Academy of Agriculture, until 1992.

The socio-political changes that took place in Poland in 1989 initiated transformations in agriculture and rural areas of the country. Consequently, in January 1992, the Faculty became the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy of the Hugo Kołłątaj Academy of Agriculture in Kraków, renamed the Hugo Kołłątaj University of Agriculture in Kraków in 2008.

Organisational structure

Professor Franciszek Hendzel was the promoter and the first Dean of the Faculty of Land Reclamation during the term 1955/56–1957/58. In the newly established Faculty, the Department of Agricultural Land Reclamation was created, which was renamed after a year to the Department of Agricultural and Forestry Land Reclamation, headed by Professor Hendzel. The Faculty also included the Department of Meteorology and Climatology, led by Associate Professor Kazimierz Kuźniar. In the academic year 1957/58, all the departments employed twenty-six research and teaching staff and two technical staff.

In 1960, the Division of Geodesy of Agricultural Equipment was established, and its organisation was entrusted to Associate Professor Ignacy Rabczuk. In the same year, three new departments were created: Geodesy for Agricultural Equipment, Higher Geodesy, and Department of Photogrammetry. In 1963, the Department of Geodesy for Agricultural Equipment began its activities, followed by the Department of Higher Geodesy in 1964, and the Department of Photogrammetry in 1965. Additionally, in 1964, another unit was established – the Department of Planning and Organization of Agricultural Areas.

In the academic year 1965/66, the Faculty operated fifteen departments and two laboratories. In addition to those already mentioned, the following departments were established: Rural Engineering (1961), Descriptive Geometry (1962), Peat Bog Science (1965), and Plant Ecology (1967). The latter was since renamed the Department of Natural Basis of Land Reclamation, and the Laboratory of Water and Wastewater Management was created as a unit thereof. Additionally, a Land Reclamation Works Laboratory was launched at the Department of Agricultural and Forestry Land Reclamation. In the academic year 1970/71, the Faculty changed its organisational structure, which remained in place until 1981 when the following units were established: the Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Land Reclamation, the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Earth Structures, the Institute of Geodesy, as well as the Department of Agricultural Engineering, and the Department of Planning and Management of Rural Areas. Further significant changes in the structure of the Faculty units took place in 1992, 2005 and 2009.

At present, nine departments make up the structure of the Faculty: Rural Building; Ecology, Climatology and Air Protection; Geodesy; Agricultural Surveying, Cadastre and Photogrammetry; Spatial Planning and Landscape Architecture; Sanitary Engineering and Water Management; Hydraulic Engineering and Geotechnics; Land Reclamation and Environmental Management; and Applied Mathematics.

In 2018, a new classification of scientific fields and disciplines was introduced. Faculty staff conduct research in the field of engineering and technology – in the following disciplines: environmental engineering, mining and energy, civil engineering, geodesy and transport; architecture and urban planning; in the field of natural sciences – in the discipline of mathematics; and in the field of social sciences – in the disciplines of social and economic geography and spatial management, management and quality studies.

Currently, in its Jubilee year, the Faculty employs one hundred and fifty-six staff, of whom there are one hundred twenty-three academic teachers and thirty-three persons in technical and administrative positions, including six employees of the Dean’s Office.

Infrastructure

Initially (until 1964), the Departments of Agricultural and Forestry Land Reclamation, Hydraulic Engineering, Mathematics, Meteorology and Climatology, and Geodesy were located in a building at św. Marka street, while the departments of Building Mechanics and Structures, and Ground properties and Earth Structures were located at Łobzowska street. In 1964, the Faculty moved to a new building at number 24/28 at Aleja Mickiewicza, where its main headquarters is still located. The Department of Agricultural Equipment Geodesy (now Geodesy and Cartography) was first located at św. Marka street, then in the “Jubilee“ building and at Plac Inwalidów, then in the building belonging to the Faculty of Forestry, at 29 Listopada street and at Królewska street.

In the academic year 1999/2000, some of the Geodesy and Cartography departments were relocated to the building at number 253 in Balicka street in Mydlniki. Construction of the new teaching facility at 253, Balicka street was completed in June 2009. In 2019, the renovated premises of the “Spichlerz” farm complex were designated for the needs of the Faculty.

The Faculty has computer laboratories and the following specialised laboratories: Hydrotechnical, Geotechnical, Geodetic Metrology, Materials Science and Concrete Technology, Soil Science, Water and Wastewater Quality Assessment as well as a Spatial Information and Cultural Heritage laboratories. The Faculty owns a GPS observation platform and a weather station as well as a range of surveying instruments. It runs an Experimental Station in Garlica Murowana. The “Spichlerz” building houses a Gallery, which allows for the organisation of exhibitions and reviews.

Education

Since the establishment of the Department of Land Reclamation (1955) and the Division of Geodesy of Agricultural Equipment (1960), unified five-year studies were conducted in these units. Study plans and programmes were developed at the Ministry of Higher Education.

In the academic year 1966/67, full-time double-degree studies were introduced: an engineering degree and a master’s degree, which ran until 1974. In 1964, an extramural master’s degree studies in the field of land reclamation was launched. In the academic year 1966/67, a four-year part-time engineering degree course in land reclamation was launched, soon followed by a course in the field of agricultural equipment surveying in the academic year 1969/70.

In 1974, the Faculty and the Division began implementing a new study programme approved by the Ministry of Science, Higher Education and Technology. It reinstated the uniform Master’s degree programme in full-time studies and shortened the study cycle from 10 to 9 semesters. In addition to the existing forms of engineering education, since 1975, the Faculty of Melioration, and since 1977, the Division of Geodesy have offered supplementary part-time master’s studies. As a result of the reorganisation of the Faculty in 1992, two fields of study were established: Environmental Engineering, and Geodesy and Cartography.

Following a visit to the Faculty by the European Community Commission in 1993, the Environmental Engineering and the Geodesy and Cartography courses were included in the list of the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (Fédération Européenne d’Associations Nationales d’Ingénieurs, FEANI).

Since the academic year 2001/02, the Faculty has enabled its students to acquire knowledge within the framework of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). On October 1, 2006, following Poland’s accession to the European Union two years earlier, the Faculty introduced a two-cycle study programme in both full-time and part-time formats in accordance with the Bologna Convention. The curriculum for the double-degree studies was developed based on the draft standards proposed by the Ministry of National Education.

Since the academic year 2008/09, education has begun in the new course of study: Spatial Management. In that same year, the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy and the Faculty of Horticulture established inter-faculty course of study in Landscape Architecture. The next step in expanding the teaching offer of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy was the launch of a new major - Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management - in the academic year 2012/13. In the academic year 2024/25, two new study courses were introduced: Geoinformatics and Construction.

This means that the Faculty currently educates students in seven courses of study:

• Environmental Engineering,
• Geodesy and Cartography,
• Spatial Management,
• Landscape Architecture,
• Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management,
• Geoinformatics,
• Construction.

Studies at the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy are interdisciplinary. Both full-time and part-time studies consist of two stages and include: the first degree – engineering, and the second degree – master’s. The first-degree studies, both in full-time and part-time modes, last 3.5 years (7 semesters). The second-degree studies in both cases last 1.5 years (3 semesters). After completing the master’s studies, it is possible to start studies at the Doctoral School (third degree) and obtain a doctoral degree.

In addition to the faculty members and students, the External Stakeholders Council (RIZ) plays an invaluable role in creating study programmes. The opinion-forming role of RIZ members, some of whom are the Faculty graduates, is visible in the modification of educational programmes, the implementation of student internships, and the transfer of research results to practice.

A very important element of the development of students’ scientific interests is supporting the activities of scientific circles and sections. This is reflected in publications as well as in numerous awards received at national and international student conferences. Students have the opportunity for additional development by participating in various educational programmes and following an individual path of study.

In 2015, the Faculty was visited by the National Accreditation Commission (PKA), which carried out an institutional assessment. In 2021, the PKA programme evaluation included the major of Environmental Engineering. Therefore, the educational quality criteria for the higher education institutions are met for the evaluated courses.

In the seventy-year history of the Faculty, a total of 19,290 people have completed master’s and engineering studies across all programmes. The course of Environmental Engineering (formerly Land Reclamation) had a total of 8,746 graduates. 8,267 students graduated in Geodesy and Cartography (formerly Geodesy of Agricultural Equipment). The course of Spatial Management was completed by 1,213 people. Landscape Architecture, and Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management have had, to date, 763 and 301 graduates respectively.

Currently, in the academic year 2024/25, the Faculty is educating 875 students, of whom 601 are full-time students and 274 are part-time students.

Staff development

In 1970, the Faculty was granted the right to confer doctoral degrees in the field of technical sciences, in the disciplines of land reclamation, and geodesy and cartography, which contributed to a notable development of the academic staff, but it was only in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s that the number of academic teachers increased significantly.

In 1992, a fundamental change took place in the field of agricultural sciences. Namely, a new scientific discipline was created: environmental management, which replaced the previous discipline of land reclamation. From that moment on, the Faculty had full academic rights, i.e. the right to confer doctoral and post-doctoral (habilitated doctor) degrees in agricultural sciences in the discipline of environmental management, as well as the right to apply for the title of professor in the field of agricultural sciences. The right to confer the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences in the discipline of geodesy and cartography was granted in 2012.

Starting from the academic year 2019/20, doctoral education has been conducted at the Doctoral School, including in the field of engineering and technology sciences within the scientific disciplines of civil engineering, geodesy and transport, as well as environmental engineering, mining, and energy. Currently, the Doctoral School at the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy is educating fourteen doctoral candidates, four of whom are pursuing a practice-oriented doctorate.

The new division into fields and disciplines introduced in 2018 resulted in the establishment of Discipline Councils at the University, which have the authority to undertake resolutions on conferring academic degrees: PhD (dr) and postdoctoral degree (dr hab.). The Discipline Councils established at the University include those relating to: environmental engineering, mining and energy, and civil engineering, geodesy and transport.

The scientific activity at the Faculty is of a very broad, interdisciplinary nature – covering sciences ranging from natural, to agricultural, social, and  technical ones. As a result, the Faculty’s staff collaborate with researchers from numerous scientific institutions in Poland and abroad, and carry out dissemination activities in cooperation with the state administration units and contracting companies.

Prospects

The past seventy years have seen robust development and significant transformations of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, which has laid a solid foundation for further successful activities. The Faculty faces serious challenges concerning scientific research as well as providing future graduates with modern knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge in practice, while developing social communication skills and creativity in thinking.

The Faculty wishes to maintain the status of a major scientific centre state-wide, and in the region of Southern Poland in particular, aspiring for the latter to be perceived as a leader in transferring research results to the national economy. By effectively using intellectual and material resources, the Faculty desires to continue fulfilling an important educational and research mission. The implementation of these ambitious plans is manifesting, among other things, via two international scientific journals published by the Faculty: “Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Series Formatio Circumiectus” and “Geomatics, Land Management and Landscape.”

The outlined history of the Faculty does not fully reflect the enormous effort put in the development of the institution since 1955 by a group of academic teachers, as well as scientific-technical and technical staff. The Faculty’s success springs from the sum total of the endeavors of both staff and students.

Today, looking back at the seventy years’ long operation of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy in Kraków, deep appreciation must be expressed to the people who brought the Faculty to life, who created and developed it for the benefit of us all.

Deans of the Faculty
(1955–2025)

Contact details

Hugo Kołłątaj University of Agriculture in Kraków
al. Mickiewicza 21, 31-120 Kraków

e-mail: promocja.wisig@urk.edu.pl 

contact phone: +48 12 662 45 74 - Dr. Joanna Kopcińska (from 10.00 to 14.00)