Inaugural Address by the Rector of Gdynia Maritime University for the 2025/2026 Academic Year
Inaugural Address of HM The Rector of
Gdynia Maritime University,
Professor Adam Weintrit
Mr Prime Minister, Mr Minister,
Distinguished Guests!
Ladies and Gentlemen!
The inauguration of the academic year is a celebration of the entire academic community. Once again, I thank you for wishing to take part with us in this exceptional event for Gdynia Maritime University. In a special way, I welcome you, dear First-Year Students, because this is, above all, your celebration!
Dear Students!
On 4 October 2025, on this important day for you, as many as four momentous events took place: firstly – the visit of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, secondly – the visit of the Minister of Infrastructure, thirdly – the announcement of the start of the construction of the successor to Dar Młodzieży and the method of financing this investment, and fourthly – the inauguration of the academic year combined with your matriculation. I am convinced that you will remember these historic moments forever, and everything that has happened here today.
Dear Students!
Today, during the solemn oath on the banner of Gdynia Maritime University, you officially joined the academic community of our maritime University; a community with rich traditions, built under the Polish white-and-red flag continuously since 1920.
Dear Students! Ladies and Gentlemen!
For more than 100 years, and precisely for 105 years, Gdynia Maritime University has educated successive generations of people of the sea.
On 10 February 1920, General Józef Haller performed in Puck the symbolic act of Poland’s marriage to the sea. On 8 December of the same year, in Tczew, the white-and-red flag was ceremonially raised on the mast of the former Girls’ Gymnasium building. On that day, at the Maritime School in Tczew, whose activity is continued today by Gdynia Maritime University, students began their education at two Faculties – Navigation and Marine Engineering.
After ten years, in 1930, our University was moved to Gdynia, subsequently continuing its activity during the Second World War in Great Britain, and after its end again in Gdynia, already as the State Maritime School, from 1969 as the Higher Maritime School, the famous “Wu-Es-Emka”, from 2002 as the Maritime Academy, and finally, since 2018, as Gdynia Maritime University, constantly raising its status in Poland and its prestige in the world.
Today, at our University, we educate young people at five Faculties, in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programmes.
In bachelor’s studies, we educate students in 13 fields of study and 30 specialisations, and in second-cycle studies in 10 fields of study and 27 specialisations.
We constantly strive to expand the academic programmes we offer in order to meet the requirements and needs of the labour market. At bachelor’s degree level, we offer 14 fields of study, including two English-language programmes at the Faculty of Navigation and at the Faculty of Management and Quality Science, and 33 specialisations, including one specialisation conducted in English at the Faculty of Marine Engineering. At master’s degree level, we offer 11 fields of study, including one English-language programme conducted at the Faculty of Management and Quality Science, and 34 specialisations.
At present, 4,215 students are enrolled at our University, as at 1 October, and in this academic year 944 students began full-time bachelor’s and master’s studies in the first year, together with 602 students in part-time study programmes. The largest number of students began their studies in the fields of Navigation, Management and Transport.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Poland’s broad access to the sea is connected not only with the economic development of our country, but today also brings with it several challenges related to security, national defence, the energy crisis, the development of technology and, consequently, the emergence and development of entirely new industries. Advancing technological development is shaping the economy, the environment, and the everyday life of society to an ever greater degree. In the face of global challenges – such as climate change, growing demand for energy, the ageing of the population or the need to increase data security – innovations with breakthrough potential are assuming particular importance.
Dear Students! Ladies and Gentlemen!
In responding to these challenges, and with its students in mind, our University is constantly developing. That is why, at each of our Faculties: Navigation, Marine Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Management and Quality Science, you will today find new specialisations connected with the offshore sector. From this academic year, we are beginning education at the Faculty of Computer Science, whose programmes, responding to market demand, include a new field of study – Computer Science with a practical profile, where the curriculum includes such innovations as artificial intelligence, AI, the Internet of Things, IoT, and cloud computing. The programme also includes classes connected with cybersecurity, telematics, geomatics and autonomous vehicles.
The main areas of scientific research and development work conducted at the Faculty of Computer Science will include, among others: machine learning, computational intelligence, autonomous systems, software engineering, and systems interoperability.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Students!
I spoke of the historic dimension of today’s event – today, for the first time in the history of our University, during the inauguration of the academic year, we are joined by computer scientists, students of our youngest Faculty, whom I wish to warmly welcome from this place.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
I would also like to inform you that we are currently working intensively on the internationalisation of the University and on launching new fields and specialisations of study, including in cooperation with our external partners, that is AGH University of Krakow, the Fire University in Warsaw and the Polish Naval Academy.
Dear First-Year Students!
You may be proud that today you have officially become part of the maritime academic community. From now on, you are not only creating the history of our University, but in a few years’ time, as graduates of Gdynia Maritime University, you will join, as is my sincere wish, the elite group of people responsible for the development of the maritime sector not only in our country but also in Europe and in the world, and such a prospect carries obligations.
Dear Students!
Before you lies a time of intensive study, but also an opportunity for development. I hope you will remain open and inquisitive throughout your studies. Please be courageous and insatiable in reaching for knowledge, acquiring new competencies, and gaining valuable experience.
Dear Students!
Draw upon the experience and wisdom of your professors and lecturers. Reach boldly for everything the University offers you, and demand that which, in your opinion, it does not yet offer you, but should. We, the academic staff of Gdynia Maritime University, remain at your disposal.
Dear Students!
At Gdynia Maritime University, in our education, we place emphasis not only on theory but also on practical solutions. With us, you will acquire a specific and at the same time prestigious profession, as well as the skills necessary to perform it. During numerous placements, including sea training, you will have the opportunity to test the knowledge you have gained. Workshops, laboratories, specialist rooms and simulators operating at all our Faculties will be of help in this. In addition, students of maritime programmes will undertake sea training on our training ships.
On Dar Młodzieży, on which for more than 43 years we have trained future seafarers, teaching them teamwork and respect for the sea. Unfortunately, due to its age, the tightening of international regulations and, above all, its deteriorating technical condition from year to year, we are making intensive efforts for the ship soon to be replaced by a new sailing ship, another White Frigate, the fourth in succession after the Lwów, Dar Pomorza and Dar Młodzieży – I trust that the new vessel, following in the footsteps of its great predecessors, will, in as short a time as is possible, become the best-known Polish ambassador.
At this point, I would also like to inform you that we have decided that next year the University will take part in Sail 250, in the regatta marking the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States, on the route Norfolk, Baltimore, New York, Boston, and on the return journey to Europe it will take part in a regatta on the route from Halifax to one of the European ports, probably Portsmouth, Solent, Isle of Wight. It is our plan that in a year’s time, on 4 July, Dar Młodzieży will be moored at the quay in New York, adding splendour to the celebrations of the Independence Day of the United States. Preparations for this voyage are already underway.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our students also undertake training on Horzyzont II, a training and research vessel which, in addition to its training and research functions, also performs a supply function, enabling the replacement of crews at the Polish Academy of Sciences research station in the Arctic, on Spitsbergen, during its voyages.
Our University has its own research vessel Imor – a maritime laboratory equipped with the latest-generation devices, on which experts from the GMU Maritime Institute conduct specialist environmental research, preparing future spectacular investments mainly in the Polish exclusive economic zone.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
A moment ago, the Prime Minister, in his address, referred to information concerning the financing of the construction of the successor to Dar Młodzieży. Let me recall that a few days ago, precisely on 30 September 2025, a historic decision for Gdynia Maritime University and for the Polish blue economy was made on the financing of the construction of the successor to Dar Młodzieży, for which we had been striving for several years. The allocation of funds for the construction of the successor to Dar Młodzieży was announced personally by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, Donald Tusk, for which, on behalf of our entire academic community, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to him.
The resolution adopted by the Council of Ministers, establishing the multiannual programme prepared by the Ministry of Infrastructure, ‘Construction of Ships for the Maritime Universities in the Years 2025–2029”, will allow the start of construction of the new training ship of Gdynia Maritime University and the replacement of the current vessel – Dar Młodzieży, on which, since 1982, more than 25,000 cadets, future officers of the merchant fleet, have been trained.
The successor to Dar Młodzieży will enable practical training for 120 cadets at the same time. The new vessel will combine tradition with modernity, allowing the high level of student education to be maintained. The ship will be equipped with the latest technologies while meeting international safety standards. At the same time, as part of the training required by the STCW Convention, students on a training voyage aboard the University’s new training ship will undergo traditional training at sea, during which discipline and the ability to cooperate in a team are of exceptional importance, because it is precisely these qualities that are essential to the profession of seafarer and often determine safety on board during a voyage.
We hope that the new training vessel can be built and equipped within the next three years, so that it may serve successive generations of future officers of the merchant fleet. The course of the work will be supervised by the Team for the Construction of the Successor to the Training Ship Dar Młodzieży, which I appointed last year and which consists of experts, including master mariners and former commanders of the sailing ship, responsible for the actions undertaken so far for the construction of Gdynia Maritime University’s new training ship.
From this place, I wish to express my sincere thanks to all parties involved in this undertaking, so important for our University and for the Polish blue economy: the members of the Team I have mentioned, the Ministry of Infrastructure, members of parliament and senators, journalists, and the entire maritime industry, which stood firmly behind our initiative. Thank you, Friends!
Ladies and Gentlemen! Dear Students!
Another distinctive feature of our University is the Ship Handling Centre in Iława, unique on a global scale, where we conduct specialist courses and training for captains and maritime pilots from almost all over the world.
I also encourage you, dear students, to take advantage of the opportunities created for you by our Sailing and Water Sports Centre, which has sailing and motor yachts as well as RIB boats. Your sailing adventure can begin now, together with the start of your studies at our University.
Dear Students!
As many as 10 sports clubs are operating at our University, and classes are conducted in the modern sports hall of the multifunctional GMU Sports and Recreation Centre, opened last year, a facility honoured in February this year with the ‘Czas Gdyni’ award in the Architecture category during the ceremonial session of the City Council on the occasion of the 99th anniversary of Gdynia being granted city status.
Ladies and Gentlemen! Dear Students!
In April this year, we received additional funds from the Ministry of Infrastructure for investments at the University, part of which will be allocated, among other things, to the renovation of student residences and teaching rooms. Our ambition continues to be the completion of investments on the main University campus – we have plans to build a new student residence on Morska Street and a Computer Science Centre, the construction of which will begin next year.
Dear Students!
A moment ago, I encouraged you to develop your sporting passions. No less enthusiastically, I would like to encourage you to deepen your existing academic interests, and perhaps even to discover new ones.
At each of our Faculties there are academic circles. In total, we have as many as 18 of them at the University. Members of our student scientific societies actively participate in scientific research, integration trips, promotional activities, as well as conferences, workshops and training. We know that this activity is later recognised and valued by potential employers.
Ladies and Gentlemen! Dear Students!
The elite showpiece of the University is our Guard of Honour. The tasks of the Guard include the organisation, security and ceremonial setting of events organised by the University, as well as participation in other events of an official character. The Guard of Honour is a formation which, in a special way, cultivates maritime customs and ceremonial traditions, which are the pride and showpiece of our maritime University.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
A showpiece of Gdynia Maritime University is also our Academic Choir, performing under the baton of Dr Karol Hilla, under whose direction the ensemble has won numerous laurels at festivals and competitions both in Poland and abroad. Our University’s academic choir received an invitation to take part in the most important economic and cultural event in the world, EXPO 2025 in Osaka. It represented our country a few days ago as part of the event, on 1 October, during the opening ceremony of Poland’s National Day, attended by representatives of the Government, where it performed the national anthems of Poland and Japan. I am sure you will have noticed the recent concerts in Poland by Andrea Bocelli, currently the world’s most famous tenor, who has performed many times on the largest stages in our country. What not everyone knows is that during these performances, he was accompanied by the Academic Choir of Gdynia Maritime University, of which we were, and remain, extremely proud.
Dear Students!
Good studying is supported by integration. During breaks between classes, please make use of the Student Zones, which you will find both in the University’s main building and at the Faculties of Marine Engineering and Navigation, as well as in the Karol Olgierd Borchardt Main Library.
I hope that an excellent meeting place for you will also be the already iconic Bukszpryt student pub and club, thoroughly renovated during the holiday period, where numerous cultural and entertainment events take place.
Dear Students!
I also encourage you to become involved in the work of the student self-government. Representatives of the Student Parliament represent you in the GMU Senate. The Parliament deals with the organisation of annual student events, such as the Student Ball, as well as student juwenalia, known in Gdynia as Delfinalia, and more.
Dear Students!
We too wish to get to know you better, which is why we organise several integration events. The organisation of Sports Day has become something of a tradition at the University, a sports and recreational event during which individual teams – teams composed of University employees and our students – compete with one another in sporting contests held both on water and on land.
At individual Faculties, events are also held to support integration within the Faculties. I have in mind here Mechanical Engineer’s Day, Electrical Engineer’s Day and Navigator’s Day. These are events in which the entire communities of the individual Faculties actively participate – students, lecturers, administrative staff and guests – companies cooperating with the Faculties, as well as representatives of the University’s other Faculties. These events generate a great deal of excitement, especially as they include a wide range of competitive tasks.
During these events, we become one large maritime family. I would also like to mention that the opening of the modern GMU Sports and Recreation Centre made it possible to organise a Christmas and New Year meeting with the participation of staff and students. Last year’s success of this event has meant that we are already thinking of repeating this form of integration this year and in the years to come.
Dear Doctoral Candidates!
I am pleased that such a numerous representation of doctoral candidates stands before me today, and that our Doctoral School is, in your opinion, a place where you wish to develop your scientific interests and with which you wish to associate your further scientific career.
Before you undoubtedly lies a period of intensive scientific work, at times paid for with sacrifices. Do not, however, be discouraged by temporary difficulties. Please remember that your work will bring results in the form of a scientific dissertation and the attainment of an academic degree, which will be for each of you and for your families not only a reason for pride, but will also certainly have a positive influence on your future, regardless of whether you decide to remain at the University, strengthening our teaching and scientific staff, or whether you have other plans. Remember, an academic degree also opens many professional opportunities and is proof of your determination and commitment to developing your academic and professional career.
Dear Doctoral Candidates!
In a moment, you will begin your education at the Doctoral School of Gdynia Maritime University, which provides education in four disciplines:
- automation, electronics, electrical engineering and space technologies,
- civil engineering, geodesy and transport,
- Earth and environmental sciences,
- management and quality sciences.
Please accept already now my most sincere wishes of success. Before you lies a wonderful time, very intensive, but at the same time very fruitful, of which I am convinced.
Dear Students!
Please draw inspiration from the successes of your older colleagues, whose achievements fill our entire academic community with pride.
In April this year, we were extremely pleased to receive the news of the City of Gdynia Scholarship for outstanding scientific achievements in the 2023/2024 academic year, awarded to a student of our University from the Faculty of Navigation – Wiktoria Dumińska.
In turn, a month later, the efforts of our students from the HMI Academic Circle were recognised during the international SpaceShield Hack powered by Space4Talents Hackathon, where our students received two special awards.
Dear Students! Dear Doctoral Candidates!
Our academic staff, our lecturers, are outstanding experts who will always gladly offer you their support. I hope their lectures will be a great inspiration for you.
Dear Students! Ladies and Gentlemen!
Our efforts are appreciated in Poland and abroad. In November 2024, we received information about the success of Professor Paweł Górecki, who received the Award of the Prime Minister.
At the end of 2024, our University was included for the first time in the prestigious group of universities listed in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025.
Our lecturers are awarded, distinguished and decorated with the highest honours and state and ministerial decorations, which is a reason for pride for our academic community.
I also consider it a great success that our employees have once again appeared in the prestigious Stanford University World’s Top 2% Scientists 2024 ranking, and on as many as two lists: the first taking into account the entire achievements of a scientific career, and the second taking into account only scientific achievements in 2024.
Our employees once again also became members of the Scientific Committees of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and several of us had the honour of leading individual sections within the Scientific Committees of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
In June, we were delighted to receive information about the success of Dr Mateusz Gil, Assistant Professor in the Department of Navigation of the Faculty of Navigation, who was among the 54 best young scientists from Poland and among the three with the highest funding, amounting to PLN 1.8 million, for an original research and implementation project under the LIDER XV Programme.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Our University cooperates closely with entities from the economic environment, where we not only prepare opinions and expert reports in the field of the blue economy and act as an advisory voice, but together with our business partners successfully implement research and scientific projects.
In June this year, in recognition of merits and achievements in the field of hydrographic measurements, the Gdynia Maritime University Maritime Institute and MEWO were awarded the ‘Hydrographer’s Laurel’ 2025 for their exceptional contribution to the bathymetric recognition of Polish maritime areas as part of the project entitled ‘Mapping benthic habitats of Polish maritime areas using sonar mosaicking of the seabed in the years 2021-2023’. This project was carried out at the request of the Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection.
Also in June, as many as three medals for innovative solutions, two gold and one silver, were awarded to teams of researchers from Gdynia Maritime University during the 18th International Fair of Inventions and Innovations INTARG 2025, held at the International Congress Centre in Katowice.
Dear Students! Ladies and Gentlemen!
As a maritime university, we are also aware of the challenges connected with the energy crisis, and therefore, we are particularly involved in the development of the offshore wind energy sector. That is why the study programmes we offer at each Faculty include fields connected with the offshore industry.
Let me also remind you that the University’s academic offer includes postgraduate programmes connected with the offshore sector: ‘Risk Management in the Offshore Extraction and Offshore Wind Industries’ and ‘Cybersecurity in the Maritime Industry’.
We also have behind us two cohorts of the MBA – Executive Offshore Wind programme, delivered in English in cooperation with Hochschule Bremerhaven in Germany and Business Academy South West in Denmark.
Dear Students! Ladies and Gentlemen!
Gdynia Maritime University has, for years, cooperated with foreign centres. International contacts support not only the exchange of good practices and mutual inspiration, but above all, they serve both sides, deepening their development in the fields of science, education and teaching.
For many years, our employees have actively participated as experts in the work of committees, subcommittees and working groups of the International Maritime Organisation, a UN agency. We were particularly active in the first half of this year, when Poland held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, focusing on security and international cooperation.
In the previous academic year, we celebrated two anniversaries of cooperation with foreign centres important to our University. In August, a delegation of the Senate of Gdynia Maritime University took part in the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Hochschule Bremerhaven – University of Applied Sciences – a partner university of our University, with which GMU cooperates on the basis of a bilateral agreement concluded in 1978 concerning joint scientific, research and teaching activities.
In turn, at the beginning of December, we had the opportunity to celebrate the 40th anniversary of cooperation with the Chinese university Shanghai Maritime University, which, like our University, has for years been among the leading maritime universities in the world rankings. During the meeting, attended by representatives of the authorities of both universities, an agreement was signed between the universities to deepen existing cooperation even further, among other things, by undertaking joint research work and sharing experience in laboratory equipment and the organisation of professional training.
In July this year, in the Polish Pavilion at Osaka Expo 2025, we signed a cooperation agreement with the Faculty of Maritime Sciences of Kobe University. This partnership will make it possible to strengthen international cooperation in the area of scientific research and education in the field of maritime sciences. The agreement also provides for the exchange of students and academic staff.
This year was also an opportunity to summarise the cooperation of Gdynia Maritime University with maritime universities within the International Association of Maritime Universities – IAMU, of which our University is a member and which, in the years 2023-2025, I had the honour to chair. At the beginning of March this year, I handed over the insignia of office to the new Chair of the Association, Professor SHAN Hongjun, Rector of Dalian Maritime University in China, elected by the members of the Association during a meeting of the International Executive Board at the IAMU headquarters in Tokyo.
During my term as Chair of the Association in the years 2023-2025, eight new members were admitted to IAMU. These were maritime universities from Slovenia, Turkey, Montenegro, Portugal, India, Finland, Kazakhstan and Belgium.
During this period, I also had the honour of chairing twice the IAMU Annual General Assemblies, in 2023 in Helsinki and in 2024 in Massachusetts in the United States, as well as the preceding meetings of the International Executive Board.
In just a week, five of our employees and two students will take part in the next Annual General Assembly of the International Association of Maritime Universities, IAMU AGA 2025, in Chennai, India, formerly Madras.
At this point, I would also like to inform you that last week the GMU Senate adopted a resolution awarding Dr Yohei Sasakawa, Honorary Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, the honorary title of doctor honoris causa, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to activities for peace, public health and international cooperation, as well as supporting intercultural dialogue and commitment to building bridges between nations, and above all to shaping maritime policy and safety at sea. You will be informed of the date of the ceremony at which this distinction will be presented.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
In June this year, Gdynia Maritime University hosted the 16th edition of the international TransNav conference, co-organised by the GMU Faculty of Navigation and the prestigious Nautical Institute. This event is a response to contemporary challenges connected with maritime transport, navigation and shipping, as well as the mobility of people and goods, in the context of energy, infrastructure, environmental protection, but also safety at sea and economic issues, and each time it brings together several hundred experts from all over the world. We have organised this conference every two years since 1995, and since 2007, we have published the quarterly journal in English, ‘TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation’, indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. This quarterly is a modern industry journal with a strong position in the market, which has gained worldwide renown in the maritime community.
Dear Students! Ladies and Gentlemen!
The presence of our University and our employees in international organisations and associations connected with the maritime industry allows us not only to participate actively in the global exchange of knowledge but also to respond to challenges. This translates into the high quality of education at our University, which, as we observe, is recognised not only in Poland, but also in the world, and our graduates constitute a significant percentage of the crews of merchant and passenger ships present on all the world’s waters.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Almost 15 minutes ago, we officially began the new academic year. I wish to address words of thanks to the people responsible for the solemn setting of this ceremony. From this place, I sincerely thank:
His Excellency Bishop Wiesław Szlachetka and Father Edward Pracz, chaplain of the Stella Maris Seafarers’ Ministry Centre, who today celebrated the solemn Holy Mass for the intention of our entire academic community.
I also thank the Academic Choir, whose performance added splendour to today’s ceremony.
Dear First-Year Students!
I trust that before you lies one of the most beautiful periods of life, the time of study, when you will gladly reach for the knowledge that interests you most.
I wish you success on the path you have chosen. Certainly, some subjects will come easily to you, while others will require a little more effort. Do not, however, be discouraged by this. Appreciate every moment. Remember that you have already achieved considerable success: you have been admitted to the studies of your dreams.
Do not waste this opportunity. The door to a great career is now opening for you. Boldly, proudly, with your heads held high, take this important step forward.
You have just joined the elite group of students of Gdynia Maritime University. May this be for you a time rich in further development and numerous successes. I wish you that, at the end of this road, your dream profession or the opportunity for further scientific work will await you. May both bring you fulfilment.
Perhaps, by way of encouragement, I will conclude with a few quotations from the classics:
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”
(Winston Churchill)
“Success is doing what you want to do, when you want, where you want, with whom you want, for as long as you want.”
(Anthony Robbins)
“Success is the result of the right decision.”
(Euripides)
Ladies and Gentlemen!
It is my sincere hope that our academic community that the academic year 2025-2026, beginning today, will be conducive to the fulfilment of your plans, both in the professional, scientific and private spheres, and that it will bring all of us a sense of satisfaction, fulfilment and contentment.
And to all those gathered here today, I wish, above all, good health and strength for everything that each of us has planned for the coming months.
I hope that the geopolitical situation in the world, and above all, the prolonged war in Ukraine, will not force us to change these plans. I wish us all peace and an economic climate favourable to world shipping. Let us remember that at least 80% of world transport takes place by sea.
May the academic year 2025-2026 bring our entire academic community many successes and reasons for pride.
Vivat Academia,
vivant Professores,
vivat membrum quodlibet,
vivant membra quaelibet,
semper sint in flore!