SWPS University is a private non-profit

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in Poland established in 1996 by three

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

professors, Andrzej Eliasz, Zbigniew Pietrasiński and

Janusz Reykowski Janusz is a masculine Polish given name. It is also the shortened form of January and Januarius. People * Janusz Akermann (born 1957), Polish painter * Janusz Bardach, Polish gulag survivor and physician * Janusz Bielański, Roman Catholic pr ...

. SWPS University is one of the largest private universities in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

which had, as of 2024, over 16,000 undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level students, including over 1,100 international students from more than 80 countries. The university has six campuses, located in major Polish cities, including

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Sopot Sopot (; or ) is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania Province and has the City with powiat ri ...

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

and

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. The institution was formerly known as the Warsaw School of Social Psychology (''Szkoła Wyższa Psychologii Społecznej, SWPS''). It was granted university status under Polish law in 2015.

Administration

In 2008, the position of SWPS University founder was transferred to the Institute for the Development of Education (''Instytut Rozwoju Edukacji'') and its president, Polish businessman and philanthropist Piotr Voelkel. Before 2018, SWPS University was administered by a privately appointed board of trustees. Trustees served four-year terms and met annually. Andrzej Eliasz was chairman of the board of trustees. Other members included

Jan Strelau Jan Strelau (born 30 May 1931 in Gdańsk; died 4 August 2020 in Warsaw) was a Polish people, Polish psychologist best known for his studies on temperament. He was professor of psychology at Warsaw University from 1968 to 2001 and was since 2001 p ...

(former chairman of the board of trustees), Michał Jan Boni (Member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

), Magdalena Dziewguć (Google for Work), Robert Firmhofer (director of

Copernicus Science Centre Copernicus Science Centre () is a science museum standing on the bank of the Vistula River in Warsaw, Poland. It contains over 450 interactive exhibits that enable visitors to single-handedly carry out experiments and discover the laws of sci ...

), Aleksander Kutela ( Onet.pl S.A.), Przemysław Schmidt, Ewa Voelkel-Krokowicz. As of 2018, in compliance with the new higher education law in Poland, the governing body of SWPS University consists of rector and director general.

Rectors

# Andrzej Eliasz (from 1996 to 2016) #

Roman Cieślak Roman Sławomir Cieślak is a Polish psychologist who is the Rector of SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Cieślak earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the Warsaw University. Subsequently, he obtained his doctoral degr ...

(since 2016)

Academics

SWPS University offers 18 undergraduate and graduate programs taught entirely in English and over 30 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral study programs, with over 70 specializations, in Polish. The main study areas are Psychology, Law, Languages, Literature and Culture Studies, Media and Communication, Management, and Design. The University has been ranked by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as the leading higher education institution offering

Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

program in Poland.

Faculties

Twelve faculties of SWPS University have the authority to grant doctoral degrees in the following disciplines: cultural studies, literature studies, law, and sociology (in

) as well as

(in Warsaw, Wrocław, and Sopot). The university also has the authority to grant post-doctoral degrees (''habilitacja'') in cultural studies (Warsaw) and psychology (Warsaw and Wrocław). Poznan-Wyz Szk Nauk Hum i Dzienn

Notable staff

doctor honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

Shevah Weiss Shevah Weiss (; 5 July 1935 – 3 February 2023) was an Israeli politician who served as Knesset Speaker under Yitzhak Rabin. He was Israel's ambassador to Poland and chairman of Yad Vashem. Biography Shevah Weiss was born in Borysław, Po ...

, doctor honoris causa *

Robert Cialdini Robert Beno Cialdini (born April 27, 1945) is an American psychologist and author. He is the Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University and was a visiting professor of marketing, business and psychology ...

, doctor honoris causa *

Philip Zimbardo Philip George Zimbardo (; March 23, 1933 – October 14, 2024) was an American psychologist and a professor at Stanford University. He was an internationally known educator, researcher, author and media personality in psychology who authored mo ...

, doctor honoris causa * Małgorzata Kossut, head of the Department of Psychophysiology of Cognitive Processes *

Jerzy Adam Kowalski Jerzy Adam Kowalski (born 1958) is a Polish researcher and popular science author in the field of human sexuality. Biography He is a graduate of the Warsaw University, where from 1977 to 1984 he studied political science, journalism and psychology ...

, Institute of Culture Science *

Tomasz Witkowski Tomasz Witkowski (; born 1963) is a Polish psychologist, scientific skepticism, skeptic and science writer. He is known for his unconventional campaigns against pseudoscience. He specializes in debunking pseudoscience, particularly in the fields ...

, founder of the

Klub Sceptyków Polskich Klub Sceptyków Polskich or KSP (English: ''Polish Skeptics Club'' or ''Polish Sceptics Club'') is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation actively engaged in the promotion of critical thinking, scientific skepticism and scientific methods. It ...

* Roman Laskowski, professor of the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

and

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

* Piotr Waglowski, researcher of communication processes in the paradigm of social constructionism * Andrzej Nowak, director and founder of the Institut of Social Psychology of Internet and Communication *

Jerzy Szacki Jerzy Ryszard Szacki (6 February 1929 – 25 October 2016) was a Polish sociology, sociologist and History of ideas, historian of ideas.Jerzy Szacki, Liberalism after communism, Central European University Press, 1995, back cover/ref>Nauka Polsk ...

, one of the most prominent representatives of the Warsaw School of the History of Ideas *

Dariusz Doliński Dariusz Antoni Doliński (born 1959) is a Polish psychologist. He specialises in the psychology of social behaviour, including social influence, emotional psychology, and motivation. He is a lecturer at Szkoła Wyższa Psychologii Społecznej (S ...

, president of the Psychological Sciences Committee in the Polish Science Academy * Bogdan Wojciszke * Klaus Bachmann, associate professor at the Institute of Political Science.

Notable alumni

* Daria Abramowicz, sports psychologist * Ania, singer *

Agnieszka Brustman Agnieszka Brustman (born 31 July 1962) is a Polish chess player holding the title of woman grandmaster. She has been the Polish women's champion four times and competed in the Candidates' tournament for the Women's World Championship twice. Biog ...

, chess master *

Tomasz Kamusella Tomasz Kamusella (born 24 December 1967) is a Polish scholar pursuing interdisciplinary research in language politics, nationalism, and ethnicity. Education Kamusella was educated at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Philolog ...

, historian *

Żanna Słoniowska Żanna Słoniowska (; born 1978) is a Polish novelist and journalist. She was the first winner of the Znak (publisher), Znak literary prize for her novel ''The House with the Stained-Glass Window'' and a Conrad Prize winner. Biography Słoniowska ...

, novelist and journalist

Social engagement

SWPS University collaborates with various local and national organizations nurturing the idea of social engagement of its faculty and students. SWPS has a Legal Clinic which offers free legal advice for low-income individuals. The University also supports local craftsmen running their small businesses in the Praga District of Warsaw where the University main campus is located. Much of the research output is devoted to social, business and political issues such as neuroscience, behavioral insights for economy and public policy, health and nutrition, ageing, youth adaptation, or facing EU challenges from

Horizon Europe Horizon Europe is a seven-year European Union scientific research initiative to help develop a sustainable and livable society in Europe. It is the ninth of the Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development (FP9), and the succe ...

(e.g. migrations, human & technology relations in the digital world). SWPS cooperates with various NGOs and institutions devoted to social causes, are the first European campus with the

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

Journey to Changemaking Certificate, and are member of newly-established Engaged Universities Forum, grouping 7 Polish Universities around the UN

SDGs The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

Rankings

* SWPS University is ranked the second best private higher education institution in Poland according to Perspektywy 2019 Polish University ranking. * SWPS University is ranked 1201+ in the 2025 World University Rankings by ''Times Higher Education (THE)'', with place 401+ in Psychology and 501+ in Social Sciences by subject. * SWPS University was ranked second in Poland in the Psychology category in the Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects. * Silver Medal for SWPS University's Researchers at Euroinvent 2023.

References

External links

*
The SWPS Students Association

Website of The Warsaw Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:SWPS, University Educational institutions established in 1996 Universities and colleges in Poland Universities and colleges in Wrocław Universities and colleges in Katowice Universities and colleges in Poznań SWPS University 1996 establishments in Poland