UAK

Genesis of the Faculty

The origins of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying of the University of Agriculture in Krakow date back to the 19th century. In 1890, Agricultural College was established at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University. One of the seven units of the College was the Department of Agricultural Engineering.

The organiser and first Head of the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the Agricultural College was Prof. Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, who managed the Department until 1899. He was followed by Prof. Tadeusz Sikorski, who held the position of Department Head until 1924. In the years 1914–1920, Prof. T. Sikorski was also Director of the College. After the Agricultural College was transformed into the Faculty of Agriculture of the Jagiellonian University (1923), Prof. T. Sikorski served the function of Deputy Dean for the Faculty in 1923–1924. The Department of Agricultural Engineering became one of the thirteen units of the new Faculty, and Adam Marian Różański, DSc, was appointed Head of the Department. He had extensive professional and organisational experience and was one of the most eminent specialists in the field of hydraulic engineering and land reclamation in Poland. In 1953, after the Academy of Agriculture in Krakow was founded, Prof. Dr. Eng. Franciszek Hendzel became Head of the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the Faculty of Agriculture therein.

In 1955, the Department provided a basis for creating the Faculty of Land Reclamation – the third of this kind in Poland and third in the Academy of Agriculture in Krakow. It was later transformed into the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying that we know today. Prof. Franciszek Hendzel, who was the first Dean of the Faculty of Land Reclamation, held this position until 1958.

History of the Faculty

In 2015, sixty years have passed since the establishment of the Faculty of Land Reclamation, which in 1960 was expanded by forming the Division of Land Surveying for Agricultural Management and operated in the structure of the Agricultural College, and from 1972 to 1992 – of the Academy of Agriculture. In 1992, the Faculty of Land Reclamation with the Division of Land Surveying for Agricultural Management changed its name to the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying of the Hugo Kołłątaj Academy of Agriculture in Krakow, and since 2008 – of the University of Agriculture in Krakow.

Prof. Dr. Eng. Franciszek Hendzel was the first Dean of the Faculty of Land Reclamation, and Associate Prof. Eng. Ignacy Rabczuk was the organiser of the Division of Land Surveying for Agricultural Management. At that time, there were forty-six people employed at the Faculty, working in fifteen Departments and two laboratories. In the academic year 1970/71, three Institutes and two Departments were formed out of fifteen Departments. In 1981, the departmental structure was restored. As a result of these changes, three new Departments and twelve Units were established.

Between 1992, when the Faculty was renamed, and 2005, fourteen Departments and Units functioned within its structures. Over the last decade, the organisational structure of the Faculty underwent further changes. Currently, the Faculty consists of nine Departments, with a total of 129 academic teachers, including 14 professors, 23 associate professors, 91 doctors, and 1 master engineer. The Faculty infrastructure, initially very modest, improved radically after 1964, when the Faculty moved into a new building at Aleje Mickiewicza, where it still has its headquarters today. The infrastructural needs of the Faculty were fully met in 2009, with the construction of new educational facilities at Balicka street. Since the establishment of the Faculty and the Division, five-year uniform studies have been offered. In the academic year 1966/67, two-stage studies were introduced: engineering and master’s degree courses, which continued until 1974. In 1964, extramural master studies in land improvement were launched. In the academic year 1966/67, four-year vocational engineering part-time studies in land reclamation were added, followed by courses in land surveying for agricultural management in 1969/1970. Organisational changes were accompanied by the changes in curricula. In 1974, the Faculty and Division reintroduced the uniform master’s degree full-time courses with adequate programmes. Supplementary part-time studies were launched in 1975 at the Faculty, and in 1977 at the Division. In 1992, two fields of study were established: Environmental Engineering, and Land Surveying and Cartography, with new curricula implemented for both. Since the academic year 2001/02, studies continue in the ECTS system. In 2006, according to the Bologna Convention, a two-degree system of full-time and extramural studies was introduced. In two consecutive years, 2007 and 2008, the Faculty Board established further study majors: Spatial Management, and, together with the Faculty of Horticulture, interfaculty studies in Landscape Architecture. The scope of the educational offer was further extended to include full-time studies in Engineering and Water Management, launched in the academic year 2012/13. Since July 2014, the studies in Landscape Architecture have been offered solely by the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying. Currently, the Faculty educates students in five fields of study according to the curricula based on educational standards and the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). After completing the studies in the fields of Environmental Engineering, Engineering and Water Management, as well as Land Surveying and Cartography, there is a possibility to undertake doctoral studies and obtain a PhD degree.

Since 2011, the Faculty has had full academic authority in the field of agricultural sciences in the discipline of environmental protection and development, and since 2012, it has the power to confer doctoral degrees in the field of technical sciences in the discipline of geodesy and cartography. The scientific activity at the Faculty has a very broad interdisciplinary nature. The Faculty staff work together with numerous scientific institutions in Poland and abroad, while disseminating knowledge in collaboration with state administration bodies and construction companies.

Faculty Units

The Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying of the University of Agriculture in Krakow consists of the following units:

• Department of Rural Building 

• Department of Ecology, Climatology and Air Protection

• Department of Sanitary Engineering and Water Management

• Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Geotechnics

• Department of Land Reclamation and Environmental Development

• Department of Applied Mathematics

• Department of Land Surveying

• Department of Agricultural Land Surveying, Cadastre and Photogrammetry

• Department of Land Management and Landscape Architecture.

Fields of research

 Scientific research at the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying of the University of Agriculture in Krakow is focused on the following core subjects:

 •Improvements in rural construction

 Bedload and suspended load transport in river beds and mountain streams

• Discharge from river valleys and the restoration of flow capacity of watercourses

• Silting processes of small reservoirs

• Impact of the exploitation and development of small catchments on the quality of surface waters

• Hydrochemical conditions of the location of small retention reservoirs

• Improved principles of counter-erosion modelling of farmland layout

• Spatial and temporal diversification of meteorological conditions

• Reclamation and development of ecologically degraded areas

• Protection of peat bogs

• Rational development of water and sewage management in rural areas

• Efficiency of rural water supply and sewage systems

• Evaluation of the efficiency of different types of rural sewage plants

• Heavy metal contamination of soils and plants

• Recycling and waste minimisation

• Water and sewage management in agri-food industry plants

• Use of mineral soils and industrial waste for earth-engineering purposes

• Modernisation of land survey measurement technology

• Application of photogrammetry and remote sensing in the management of agricultural areas

• Visualisation of data in spatial planning

• Algebraic properties of the operators in Hilbert complex spaces

• Use of mathematical models in technical sciences.

Education at the Faculty

The Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying of the University of Agriculture in Krakow has the authority to confer doctoral (PhD) and ‘habilitated doctor’ (DSc) degrees in the field of agricultural sciences in the discipline of environmental protection and development; doctoral degrees in the field of technical sciences in the discipline of geodesy and cartography; and also has the power to act for awarding the title of professor in the field of agricultural sciences.

The Faculty offers five courses of study, in the framework of which it educates students in eight specialties:

• Environmental Engineering

– Sanitary Engineering

– Rural Infrastructure

– Environmental Engineering

• Engineering and Water Management

– Water Management

– Drainage Engineering

• Land Surveying and Cartography

– Agricultural Land Surveying and Property Valuation

• Spatial Management

– Regional Development

• Landscape Architecture

The two-degree educational offer is provided as both full-time and part-time extramural studies.

The Faculty is accredited by the National Accreditation Commission (2015). It is also a member of the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI), which means that education at the Faculty has been considered adequate to the standards of engineering studies in force in the countries of the European Union. Thus, the diplomas are internationally recognised, and they entitle the graduates to apply for the title of European Engineer (EUR ING). This allows our graduates to work in engineering professions in Western European states

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