# uczelnia vs. uniwersytet



## Encolpius

Good morning, what is the difference between uniwersytet and uczelnia in Polish? Thanks. Enco.


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## zaffy

"Uczelnia" is a more general term while "unwersytet" is a specific kind, in contrast to, for example, "politechnika" or "szkoła wyższa". They can all be referred to as "uczelnia".


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## rotan

I read "uczelnia" as a study equivalent for "szkola" in its general meaning
- Gdzie jestes?
1: w szkole (before going to a university)
2: na uczelni (when at a university)

I would use "uniwersytet/politechnika/liceum/szkola podstawowa" etc., whenever a facility or educational stage needs to be specified

If I was asked where do I study, I would always say "na uniwersytecie/politechnice X":
A: Gdzie studiujesz?
B: Na Universytecie XYZ (the exact facility)

Or if two friends had a simple conversation e.g about B's son:
A: Ale ten twoj synek urosl
B: On juz chodzi do szkoly podstawowej (educational stage)


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## jasio

Even though "uczelnia" is often used in a colocation "uczelnia wyższa", by definition as a general term it refers to any academic level school (Uczelnia – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia) - and in any country.
University, on the other hand, is a specific type of academic level school, typically comprising of various colleges, providing education in various areas of science, biology and humanities - and typically focused more on general knowledge rather than on practical applications, although there are exceptions. In other words, every "uniwersytet" is "uczelnia", but not the other way round.

There are some catches though:

nowadays the name "uniwersytet" is a legal name which is applicable only to the schools which fulfill certain requirements - which translate to a number of colleges, professors, etc. And these requirements change from time to time (Uczelnie w Polsce – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia), which leads to renaming some schools accordingly. For example "Akademia Medyczna w Warszawie" founded in early 19th century, under the new law was renamed to Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia.
I've heard that it was within harmonization across EU, but I have not checked it.
schools in other countries are typically named "uniwersytet" in Polish when they have "university" in their name (or an equivalent in the local language), without digging into further details
I'm not quite sure about the popular usage, but I expect that it may be somewhat more conservative then the legal one, ie. I expect that schools which lost their 'uniwersytet" title (if there are any), might still be called that way in an informal context. Sometimes the word may be used as a general term for academic level schools, etc.


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## Ben Jamin

jasio said:


> Even though "uczelnia" is often used in a colocation "uczelnia wyższa", by definition as a general term it refers to any academic level school (Uczelnia – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia) - and in any country.
> University, on the other hand, is a specific type of academic level school, typically comprising of various colleges, providing education in various areas of science, biology and humanities - and typically focused more on general knowledge rather than on practical applications, although there are exceptions. In other words, every "uniwersytet" is "uczelnia", but not the other way round.
> 
> There are some catches though:
> 
> nowadays the name "uniwersytet" is a legal name which is applicable only to the schools which fulfill certain requirements - which translate to a number of colleges, professors, etc. And these requirements change from time to time (Uczelnie w Polsce – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia), which leads to renaming some schools accordingly. For example "Akademia Medyczna w Warszawie" founded in early 19th century, under the new law was renamed to Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia.
> I've heard that it was within harmonization across EU, but I have not checked it.
> schools in other countries are typically named "uniwersytet" in Polish when they have "university" in their name (or an equivalent in the local language), without digging into further details
> I'm not quite sure about the popular usage, but I expect that it may be somewhat more conservative then the legal one, ie. I expect that schools which lost their 'uniwersytet" title (if there are any), might still be called that way in an informal context. Sometimes the word may be used as a general term for academic level schools, etc.


"Medical university" is a breach of the Polish meaning of the name "university" which was reseved for a school comprising many different subjects of study (sciences, humanities, arts, law, theology). There is nothing "universal" about a medical school, that is why it was named "Akademia", not a "university". The change to "university" represents a damage to Polish language, made by bureaucrats. I doubt if this was a requirement of the EU. I suspct it was just the snobbery of "americanizing" everything after 1990 in Poland.


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## jasio

Ben Jamin said:


> "Medical university" is a breach of the Polish meaning of the name "university" which was reseved for a school comprising many different subjects of study (sciences, humanities, arts, law, theology). There is nothing "universal" about a medical school, that is why it was named "Akademia", not a "university". The change to "university" represents a damage to Polish language, made by bureaucrats. I doubt if this was a requirement of the EU. I suspct it was just the snobbery of "americanizing" everything after 1990 in Poland.


I live a block from WUM, so I was specifically interested in the topic, because to me it was always "Akademia".
I learned that at the time the reason was to raise profile of the school because according to the state regulations of the period "akademia" was of much lower grade then "uniwersytet" and the name applied to schools which could have granted doctor titles in only two+ fields, rather than in ten+. Considering the abundance of the fields available at WUM (Kierunki studiów | Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny), it could have made sense. Although it's a win of the bureaucracy over the language, indeed.


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## Włoskipolak 72

Encolpius said:


> Good morning, what is the difference between uniwersytet and uczelnia in Polish? Thanks. Enco.



Uczelnia = (również *szkoła wyższa*) – szkoła prowadząca studia wyższe. (school providing higher studies , university studies)


Określenia "*uniwersytet*", "*politechnika*" i
"*akademia*" zdefiniowali posłowie sejmowej komisji edukacji..

The terms "university", "polytechnic" and
"academy" were defined by members of the parliamentary education committee..


A university can be called any college which can award doctoral degrees in at least 12 disciplines.
A technical university is a school with the authority to award doctoral degrees in 12 disciplines (of which at least 8 are of a technical nature). The term "university" supplemented by another adjective (e.g. pedagogical university) may be used to refer to a university that awards doctoral degrees in 6 fields (including at least 4 in the sciences covered by the university's profile).

MEPs decided that a polytechnic would be called a school which has the authority to award doctorates in at least 6 disciplines (including at least four in the technical sciences).
An academy is a university with the right to confer doctorates in at least 2 disciplines.


Czym się różni "uniwersytet" od "akademii"?


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## Ben Jamin

Włoskipolak 72 said:


> Uczelnia = (również *szkoła wyższa*) – szkoła prowadząca studia wyższe. (school providing higher studies , university studies)
> 
> 
> Określenia "*uniwersytet*", "*politechnika*" i
> "*akademia*" zdefiniowali posłowie sejmowej komisji edukacji..
> 
> The terms "university", "polytechnic" and
> "academy" were defined by members of the parliamentary education committee..
> 
> 
> A university can be called any college which can award doctoral degrees in at least 12 disciplines.
> A technical university is a school with the authority to award doctoral degrees in 12 disciplines (of which at least 8 are of a technical nature). The term "university" supplemented by another adjective (e.g. pedagogical university) may be used to refer to a university that awards doctoral degrees in 6 fields (including at least 4 in the sciences covered by the university's profile).
> 
> MEPs decided that a polytechnic would be called a school which has the authority to award doctorates in at least 6 disciplines (including at least four in the technical sciences).
> An academy is a university with the right to confer doctorates in at least 2 disciplines.
> 
> 
> Czym się różni "uniwersytet" od "akademii"?


"An academy is a university ..."
Calling a school with only 2 study areas a university is an oxymoron. But the beaueaucrats don't know what oxymoron is.


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## jasio

Włoskipolak 72 said:


> Określenia "*uniwersytet*", "*politechnika*" i
> "*akademia*" zdefiniowali posłowie sejmowej komisji edukacji.


Nie tyle "zdefiniowali", co "nadali im nowe znaczenie". 
Te terminy funkcjonują w polszczyźnie od dawna, natomiast Sejm w ustawie powiązał możliwość stosowania tych terminów w odniesieniu do konkretnej szkoły z jej "kategorią" czy też z jej możliwościami edukacyjnymi.


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## Ben Jamin

jasio said:


> Nie tyle "zdefiniowali", co "nadali im nowe znaczenie".
> Te terminy funkcjonują w polszczyźnie od dawna, natomiast Sejm w ustawie powiązał możliwość stosowania tych terminów w odniesieniu do konkretnej szkoły z jej "kategorią" czy też z jej możliwościami edukacyjnymi.


Nazywanie uczelni z dwoma kierunkami studiów "uniwersytetem" to oxymoron. Sejmowi brakuje wykształcenia i znajomości kultury. Zresztą oni robią dużo głupsze rzeczy i bardziej szkodliwe. Ciekawe jednak, że środowisko naukowe nie zareagowało na tę nazwę.


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## Lapidarek

Ben Jamin said:


> Nazywanie uczelni z dwoma kierunkami studiów "uniwersytetem" to o*KS*ymoron. Sejmowi brakuje wykształcenia i znajomości kultury.


Oksymoron, mając w naturze przeciwstawienie, chyba nie może być pojedynczym rzeczownikiem.


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## Ben Jamin

Lapidarek said:


> Oksymoron, mając w naturze przeciwstawienie, chyba nie może być pojedynczym rzeczownikiem.


Bo i nie jest pojedynczym rzeczownikiem, reszta jest w zdaniu. Ale "Uniwersytet z dwoma kierunkami studiów" chyba cię zadowoli?


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