The current Vice-Rector for Human Resources and Financial Management, Prof. Piotr Jedynak, was chosen by the electoral college to become the new Rector of the Jagiellonian University for the 2024–2028 term from a total of four candidates. The Rector-Elect will take office on 1 September 2024.
In this year's elections at the Jagiellonian University, which took place on 25 April 2024, there were a total of four candidates, all of whom currently hold the position of JU Vice-Rectors: Prof. Armen Edigarian, Prof. Tomasz Grodzicki, Prof. Piotr Jedynak and Prof. Dorota Malec. All of 238 electors entitled to vote took part in the vote. 122 of them cast their ballots for Prof. Jedynak, while Prof. Grodzicki, Prof. Edigarian, and Prof. Malec received 63, 49 and 4 votes, respectively. As a result, Prof. Piotr Jedynak will become the 307th Rector in the history of the Jagiellonian University and will lead it for the next 4 years.
’Congratulations to Prof. Piotr Jedynak, who today was elected Rector of the Jagiellonian University for the 2024–2028 term. I believe that under his leadership, the oldest Polish university will not only be successful in all of its intended research, teaching and organisational endeavours, but will also continue to serve as an example of an authentic academic community to the entire Polish higher education system’, said Prof. Jacek Popiel, the current Rector of the Jagiellonian University, just after the election.
Prof. Piotr Jedynak graduated in Management and Marketing from the AGH University of Science and Technology, and afterwards successfully completed his interfaculty doctoral study programme at the Cracow University of Economics. In 1998, after defending his PhD thesis, he chose to pursue his academic career at the Jagiellonian University by applying for a position at the JU Faculty of Management and Social Communication, where he has worked to this day. During his time at the University, he has held a number of positions, including: Head of the Department of Management Systems, Deputy Director and later Director of the Institute of Economics, Finance and Management, as well as Dean of the Faculty of Management and Social Communication. Since 2020, he has been the JU Vice-Rector for Human Resources and Financial Management.
The Rector-Elect of the Jagiellonian University, as a professor of economical sciences, specialises in such issues as risk management, strategic management and management in higher education. He has managed to successfully hold a position in the administration of the Jagiellonian University while maintaining his responsibilities as an academic, i.e. conducting scientific research, publishing papers and teaching for students. He has stated that working as an academic teacher is a source of great satisfaction and fulfilment to him.
Prof. Piotr Jedynak is the chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Jagiellonian Centre for Innovation and a member of the Committee on Organizational and Management Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was a member of both the Council of the Doctoral School in the Social Sciences and Doctoral School in the Humanities, the Steering Team of the Priority Research Areas of FutureSoc and Antrophocene, as well as the Programme Council of the Excellence Initiative - Research University. He served as the Management Board's proxy for restructuring and management systems at Municipal Thermal Energy Company in Kraków, an organisational advisor in the design, implementation and improvement of management systems, as well as an auditor certifying the management systems of numerous international and domestic enterprises, including Toyota Tsusho Europe, British Telecom, Alfa Laval, Polish Airports, and Krakowski Holding Komunalny (Kraków Municipal Holding).
The newly elected Rector of the Jagiellonian University has authored about 150 research publications, including 12 monographs. He is the academic editor of the publishing series Contemporary Management & Marketing Dilemmas and Comprehensive Management Issues. He is a co-founder of the double degree programme with Reutlingen University ESB Business School. He supervised four PhD theses and about 200 Master's and Bachelor's theses. He was a reviewer in approximately twenty doctoral, habilitation and professorial procedures.
In his election programme, the new Rector of the Jagiellonian University announced that he will strive to create the best possible employment and education conditions, ensuring the financial stability of the University, including by searching for additional sources of funding, in order to improve the financial situation of the University staff and students, as well as maintain and further develop the research and teaching infrastructure and continuously improve the educational process. Prof. Jedynak intends to increase the number of international research projects and intensify cooperation with the best universities in the world in the area of science, R&D and teaching projects. He also wants to put an emphasis on the social responsibility of the Jagiellonian University, in particular by taking actions aimed at combating climate change and ecological crisis, improving accessibility conditions for people with special needs, counteracting exclusion and unequal treatment, and engaging in educational and science communication activities aimed to increase the awareness of the role of science in the modern world.
