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About the Medical College

The Medical College of the University of Rzeszów was established on January 1, 2025 as a result of the reorganization and modernization of the structure of the University of Rzeszów. It was established as a result of the transformation of the College of Medical Sciences , which had been operating since October 1, 2019.

Medical College conducts research and teaching activities within four faculties:

• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Health Sciences and Psychology
• Faculty of Physical Culture Sciences
• Faculty of Biotechnology

Medical College UR not only educates future specialists in the field of medicine and health sciences, but also conducts intensive scientific activities and cooperates with numerous research centers and medical units in the country and abroad.

HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF THE COLLEGE

In Rzeszów and the Podkarpackie region, there have been tendencies and even attempts to launch medical studies since the middle of the last century. This was related, on the one hand, to the shortage of doctors in the Podkarpackie region at that time, and on the other hand, to problems that appeared in the recruitment for medical studies at the Medical Academy in Krakow, Lublin and other academic cities in Poland. Educating young people in distant centers, very often even several hundred kilometers from their place of residence, also generated high costs, which were often an insurmountable barrier for the most talented young people from the region, who often came from low-income families, to undertake medical studies.

In 1970, thanks to the efforts of Associate Professor Lesław Grzegorczyk and with the favorable decisions of the Senate of the Medical Academy in Krakow, the Clinical Education Team was established. Initially, student training took place in several larger cities in the region, i.e. in Rzeszów, Przemyśl, Krosno and Sanok, but in all these places there was a lack of accommodation and related problems with the organization of the teaching process in different places and lack of sufficient teaching supervision. Therefore, at the request of the head of the Clinical Education Team - Associate Professor Lesław Grzegorczyk, the Medical Academy in Krakow established in the academic year 1975-1976 in the Provincial Hospital Complex on Szopena Street in Rzeszów Full-time Medical Studies for students of the fourth, and then fifth and sixth year of studies. This resulted in the employment of several independent academic staff in Rzeszów – doctors, who conducted and managed didactic classes in a very professional manner in the 1980s. They were professors Andrzej Bentkowski, Emil Bryk, Radosław Cebulski, Władysława Garska, and then Marek Grzywa, Stanisław Hady, Ryszard Korczowski, Roman Kurzbauer, Andrzej Skręt, Jacek Spławiński, Zbigniew Szmigiel, Kazimierz Ulewicz, Tadeusz Żaczek. It was therefore a team of experienced professors, previously working in other academic centres. At that time, 150 students were educated in Rzeszów in the fourth, fifth and sixth year of studies. These students were transferred from their alma mater – the Medical Academy in Krakow to continue their studies in the region where they lived. Professor Tadeusz Popiela – the then rector of the Medical Academy in Krakow supported the activities of the authorities of the Institute of Clinical Medicine, which resulted in its further dynamic development. This was demonstrated at a conference held in Rzeszów in 1985 with the participation of the Deputy Minister of Health, Lesław Kryst, the Rector of the Medical Academy in Kraków, Prof. Marek Sych, and the provincial authorities. A joint declaration was adopted that the Second Faculty of Medicine (external) of the Medical Academy in Kraków would be established in Rzeszów. In order to implement such an ambitious plan, attempts were made to organize other organizational units and theoretical departments, which would allow the education process to include students from the first year of studies. It was then decided that in 1995, i.e. after 10 years, students who would complete the entire didactic process in Rzeszów would leave the walls of the Rzeszów university as the first doctors educated entirely in Rzeszów.

The changes taking place in the country as a result of the systemic transformation in 1989, however, influenced the decision of the Medical Academy in Kraków to establish an independent Faculty of Medicine in Rzeszów (currently: College of Medical Sciences), and even a decision was made to liquidate the Institute of Clinical Education, which took place in 1991. This was inconsistent because in previous years, precisely in 1989, the new Provincial Hospital No. 2 in Rzeszów, which had been under construction for a dozen or so years, was finally opened, which was to be a modern teaching and scientific base for the Faculty of Medicine. In this way, Rzeszów lost, seemingly irretrievably, the chance to obtain the right to medical studies or other studies related to medicine.

In this situation, the director of the Institute of Clinical Education, Professor Lesław Grzegorczyk, moved to work at the Higher School of Pedagogy in Rzeszów in 1992, where he joined the education at the master's level in the field of physical education. In the same year, the team was joined by Professors Ryszard Cieślik, Władysława Garska, Stanisław Hady and Jan Przybyłowski, as well as independent researchers from related fields, Professors Stanisław Krawczyk, Zygmunt Wnuk and Jerzy Piórecki. Professor Dr. Hab. n. med. Lesław Grzegorczyk became the first director of the Institute of Physical Education and Health, because this name was adopted for the institute due to the participation in the education of several professors - physicians, and also due to the attempt to maintain continuity with the Institute of Clinical Education. In 1994, Dr. Hab. became the director of the institute. Kazimierz Obodyński, and the institute became part of the Faculty of Pedagogy of the Higher School of Pedagogy in Rzeszów.

In 1996, Dr. Hab. n. med. Andrzej Kwolek, a specialist in neurology and rehabilitation, was accepted to the institute, which enabled the creation of a rehabilitation specialization within the physical education field of study. This specialization was treated as a transitional stage to the creation of an independent field of study: movement rehabilitation, and after the name change made by the Ministry of Health in 1997 to the field of physiotherapy, as a medical field. Due to the increasing number of independent academic staff coming from medical circles, they attempted to create a separate medical faculty or medical college at the Higher School of Pedagogy.

A concrete manifestation of these activities was the establishment of the Association of Medical Professors in Rzeszów, which was registered in the register of associations by the decision of the District Court in Rzeszów on May 20, 1999. The Association adopted as its main statutory goal "organizing independent scientists in the field of medicine or those with a doctorate in medical sciences and combining their efforts to establish the Institute of Clinical Teaching in the medical faculty of the future university in Rzeszów". The founding members of the Association were professors and habilitated doctors: Andrzej Bętkowski, Ryszard Cieślik, Lesław Grzegorczyk, Marek Grzywa, Stanisław Hady, Ryszard Korczowski, Andrzej Kwolek, Andrzej Skręt, Andrzej Skwarcz and doctors: Stanisław Bajcar, Jarosław Janeczko, Wojciech Kądziołka, Zbigniew Kozdronkiewicz, Sławomir Łukasik, Piotr Małek, Andrzej Pogorzelski, Wrzesław Romańczuk and Józef Rusin. Dr. hab. n. med. prof. nadzw. of WSP Andrzej Kwolek was elected Chairman of the Association, and prof. dr hab. n. med. Marek Grzywa was elected deputy chairman. Representatives of the Association Board with the Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy of WSP prof. Ryszard Cieślik, at a meeting with the then governor Zbigniew Sieczkoś, presented the existing possibilities and at the same time the necessity of establishing the Medical College (currently: College of Medical Sciences) in the realistic shape of the University of Rzeszów, which was already emerging at that time. Thus, at the time of establishing the University of Rzeszów in 2001, the medical community of Podkarpacie was already largely prepared for further work on establishing the faculty.

In the long process of launching the current College of Medical Sciences, the creation of the first "medical" field of study - physiotherapy - proved particularly important. This fact convinced many doctors that it was possible to create fields of study in the field of medical sciences at WSP and that reaching clinical teaching (training doctors) had to take a different (indirect) path than it had been before. Discussions held at the Institute of Physical Education and Health resulted in a motion to the Rector of WSP to create a new field of study - PHYSIOTHERAPY. The Senate of WSP, by resolution of 22 October 1998, created this new field of study. In the following year, on 19 February 1999, the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of National Education approved the resolution of the Senate of WSP and set the start of bachelor's studies to February 2000. On 1 April 1999, the Rector appointed Dr. Hab. Prof. Nadzw. WSP Andrzej Kwolek as the Rector's Proxy for the launch of a new field of study. Following numerous efforts, the President of Rzeszów, Andrzej Szlachta, agreed to lend (lease) the building of the former medical clinic at Hoffmanowa Street free of charge for 3 years to WSP for the purposes of the Institute of Physiotherapy, as of 1 January 2000. However, this lending (not transferring ownership) did not allow for obtaining a subsidy from the ministry for the renovation of the building, as it was not the property of the university. Despite this, the necessary adaptation of the building was carried out very efficiently from the modest funds of WSP and already on 17 February 2000 the ceremonial inauguration of the new field of study – physiotherapy – took place, and on 18 February full-time classes began with the first group of 55 students. Earlier, after appropriate competition procedures, from 1 December 1999, Prof. Dr. Hab. Marek Grzywa and Dr. Hab. Prof. Nadzw. were employed for the purposes of physiotherapy. WSP Andrzej Pluta, the structure of the Institute of Physiotherapy was also developed (in the initial period the Department of Physiotherapy) and a core group of assistants and administrative and economic employees were employed. The Director of the Institute of Physiotherapy was dr hab. prof. nadzw. WSP Andrzej Kwolek, the deputy for scientific affairs was prof. dr hab. n. med. Marek Grzywa, and after his resignation dr hab. prof. nadzw. WSP Sławomir Snela, and the deputy for didactic affairs was dr n. med. Halina Gregorowicz-Cieślik.

On June 7, 2001, the Polish Parliament adopted the Act on the Establishment of the University of Rzeszów. This day is celebrated annually as the University of Rzeszów Day. After an inspection, by the decision of the State Accreditation Committee in 2001, the Institute of Physiotherapy obtained the right to conduct first and second cycle studies (master's studies) in this field. The efforts of the first and second rectors of the University of Rzeszów, professor Tadeusz Lulek and professor Włodzimierz Bonusiak, were realized in 2003, when the University obtained permission to create the field of nursing and midwifery. The rector's proxy for creating this field was dr hab. n. med. prof. UR Sławomir Snela, and after obtaining the degree of habilitated doctor, dr hab. n. med. Wrzesław Romańczuk, who also became the first director of the Institute of Nursing and Midwifery. His merit was inviting outstanding professors of medicine from Warsaw to work at the UR, which allowed for meeting the requirements of the State Accreditation Committee and obtaining accreditation for education in these fields at the level of first-cycle studies. After the death of professor Wiesław Romańczuk, the director of the Institute of Nursing and Midwifery was prof. dr hab. n. med. Paweł Januszewicz, deputy prof. dr hab. n. med. Józef Ryżko and mgr Monika Binkowska-Bury. The head of the Department of Nursing was prof. dr hab. n. med. Józef Ryżko, and the head of the Department of Obstetrics was prof. dr hab. n. med. Andrzej Skręt.

The conditions for the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine (currently: College of Medical Sciences) were met during this period. By the decision of the Senate of UR of 27 May 2004, it was separated from the Faculty of Pedagogy as the Faculty of Health Sciences. The Minister of National Education and Sport, by Order No. 13 of 4 July 2005, established the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Rzeszów. The first dean of the new faculty was elected prof. dr hab. n. med. Ryszard Cieślik, PhD, and vice-deans were dr n. med. Małgorzata Marć and dr n. o cultu. physiz. Teresa Pop. In 2005, the Council of the Faculty of Health Sciences decided to change the name to the Faculty of Medicine. The Senate of UR approved this decision by resolution of 24 November 2005. The new name of the Faculty came into effect on 1 April 2006.

At that time, the Faculty of Medicine (currently: College of Medical Sciences) consisted of three medical fields: physiotherapy, nursing and midwifery. The great interest in medical fields and the huge needs in this area supported the further development of the youngest Faculty at the University of Rzeszów. Therefore, on 8 February 2007, the Council of the Faculty of Medicine passed a resolution to launch three new fields of study at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rzeszów from the academic year 2007/2008. These were: emergency medical services – full-time and part-time first-cycle studies, public health – full-time and part-time first-cycle studies, public health with a specialization in electroradiology – full-time first-cycle studies. The existing needs and interest allowed for another decision to be made to launch the dietetics field from the academic year 2011/2012. At that time, the Medical Faculty of the University of Medical Sciences (currently: the College of Medical Sciences) employed 8 full professors, 10 habilitated doctors - associate professors of the University of Medical Sciences, 47 doctors of science, 1 physician and 27 masters. It had its own, mostly renovated, two-story building at Warszawska Street for the physiotherapy course, which was perfectly equipped thanks to winning and implementing a project as part of the Integrated Operational Program for Regional Development, while classes for the nursing and midwifery courses are held in a partially adapted academic canteen transferred to the faculty and both provincial hospitals.

In October 2006, Professor Ryszard Cieślik, MD, PhD, Dean of the then Faculty of Medicine, died. The Rector of the University of Medical Sciences appointed Professor Józef Ryżko, MD, PhD, to serve as Dean. After by-elections in December 2006, Professor Andrzej Kwolek, MD, PhD, PhD, became Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

In October 2007, the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Andrzej Kwolek, obtained the academic title of professor of medical sciences and received the diploma from Professor Lech Kaczyński, President of the Republic of Poland.

During the term of office of the university authorities 2008-2012, the authorities of the then Faculty of Medicine were as follows:

Dean: Prof. Dr. Hab. n. med. Andrzej Kwolek

Prof. Dr. Hab. n. med. Andrzej Skręt – Vice-Dean for Science,

Dr. Małgorzata Marć, M.D. – Vice-Dean for Nursing, Midwifery, Emergency Medical Services, Public Health and Dietetics

Dr. Teresa Pop, Ph.D., Ph.D. – Vice-Dean for Physiotherapy.

At that time, the Medical Faculty of the University of Medical Sciences (currently: the College of Medical Sciences) employed 14 full professors, 12 habilitated doctors – associate professors of the University of Medical Sciences, 168 doctors of science, 3 physicians and 50 masters. 212 teaching staff were employed under a contract for specific work. In 2011, the Medical Faculty obtained the right to award the degree of doctor of health sciences.

During the 2012-2016 term of office of the university authorities, the authorities of the Faculty of Medicine were as follows:

Dean: Dr. Hab. n. med. Artur Mazur, prof. UR

Vice-Dean for Science: Dr. Hab. n. med. Bartosz Korczowski, prof. UR

Vice-Dean: Dr. Hab. N. Ozdr. Monka Binkowska-Bury

Vice-Dean: Dr. Eng. Julian Skrzypiec

At the end of 2015, many years of efforts by various distinguished employees of the University of Rzeszów and representatives of the medical community of Podkarpacie, mentioned above, found their happy ending in the form of launching a medical course in Rzeszów. The first, historic cohort of about 100 students began their studies in the academic year 2015/2016. Shortly after that, at the beginning of the next academic year, the organizational preparation, competences of the academic staff and the infrastructure necessary for educating future medical students were positively assessed by the Polish Accreditation Committee. In the years 2014-2017, the visits of the Polish Accreditation Committee also covered other courses conducted at the Faculty of Medicine (currently: in the College of Medical Sciences), i.e. nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, dietetics. In addition, in 2014, the midwifery course and in 2015 the nursing course were visited by the National Accreditation Council for Schools of Nurses and Midwives. All inspections ended with a positive assessment. Teaching in the medical field is associated with the dynamic development of the College, expanding the number of independent research workers and creating new clinical departments. In 2019, the Faculty obtained the right to award doctorates in the discipline of medical sciences.

During the term of office of the university authorities 2016-2019, the authorities of the then Faculty of Medicine were as follows:

Dean: prof. dr hab. n. med. Artur Mazur

Vice-Dean for Science: Prof. Dr. Hab. n. med. Bartosz Korczowski

Vice-Dean: Dr. Katarzyna Dereń

Vice-Dean: Dr. Justyna Wyszyńska

On October 1, 2019, the College of Medical Sciences was established as a result of the transformation of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rzeszów due to the change in the structure at the University of Rzeszów.

The formerly existing College included the following units: