The Nicolaus Copernicus University was founded in 1945. For over 70 years it has gained the position of the 5th university in Poland. The university is composed of 17 faculties. It offers studies in almost all fields of knowledge. In addition to traditional university courses, these are also Medicine, Fine Arts and Technical Sciences. Medical faculties are located in Bydgoszcz, 40 km away from Toruń. Moreover, there are two university hospitals, considered the best in the region. The NCU also has institutions located far beyond the borders of Poland: a Polar Station in Spitsbergen (since 1975), and the Polish Historical Mission at the University of Würzburg in Germany. Since 1973, most of the faculties and units of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, including University Library with rich collections, have been located on a specially built Bielany Campus. The Lower and Upper Academic Secondary School affiliated with the University belongs to the best schools in Poland. Its graduates are successful not only at the NCU, they also study at the best world universities. At present, 24 thousand students study at the Nicolaus Copernicus University, including more and more international students. The University employs a total staff of 4 thousand, half of whom are researchers and academic teachers.
Infrastructure
Life at the Nicolaus Copernicus University concentrates on Campus, where the seats of most faculties, the University Library (one of the largest in Poland), student houses, as well as the University Sports Centre and the Academic Centre for Culture and Art Od Nowa are all located. The NCU has a unique research infrastructure, which includes the Interdisciplinary Centre for Modern Technologies, the Centre of Astronomy with a 32-metre radio telescope, the National Laboratory of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, which houses the Polish Optical Atomic Clock, and the NCU Polar Station in Spitsbergen.
Living and studying facilities on the NCU Campus
The University campus in Toruń Bielany with the Rectorate, NCU Auditorium Aula, and the Library, the University Sports Centre, the seats of nine faculties and six out of eleven student houses constitutes one of the largest university campuses in Poland. Both Polish and foreign students study in modern buildings, where bilingual signs facilitate moving around the Campus.
The University Library, one of the largest in Poland, offers students about 3 million volumes ranging from books and magazines through works of art to special collections, including foreign languages, in analogue and electronic formats.
The University Sports Centre offers a modern swimming pool, gym, sports hall, the climbing wall and the fitness room. There will soon be a full-size football pitch, a tennis court and another sports hall.
Student houses offer over 3 thousand places in single, twin and three-person rooms. There is free Internet access in the eduroam network in all the University buildings on Campus.
People with every type and degree of disability may study at the Nicolaus Copernicus. Not only does the University systematically eliminate architectural barriers, but also provides care, rehabilitation and transport for students with various disabilities.