Slovakia’s second-largest city with over 240,000 inhabitants, Kosice has been the country’s traditional center of education and innovation. With origins going back to the establishment of the Universitas Cassoviensis more than 350 years ago, the Pavol Jozef Safarik University (UPJS) in Kosice exemplifies excellent higher education and pioneering research in the country.
Composed of five faculties (medicine, science, law, public administration and the arts), UPJS also embodies the multiculturalism that Slovakia values deeply. Of its 7,000 students, around 20 percent are from more than 50 countries across the globe, including Japan.
Among the benefits of studying at UPJS is the possibility of obtaining a double degree with some of UPJS’s more than 200 partner universities around the world. This extensive network of partners has helped raise the global profile of the university, which is ranked among the country’s top three.
UPJS also takes pride in the strength of its interdisciplinary research and transfer of technology that results from that research, apart from the intellectual property protection in which its Faculty of Law excels.
In collaboration with private industries, the university set up science parks for biomedical research (MediPark), information technology (Technicom), the Research Centre for Advanced Materials and Technologies (Promatech) and the Technology and Innovation Park. It is also one of the founding members of Kosice IT Valley.
The university also has an established support system for startup and spin-off companies, thanks to the rapid growth of those sectors in Kosice and the surrounding region. Among its partners in this endeavor are U.S. Steel, T-Systems, Global Logic, Deloitte, Ness Slovakia, AT&T, ESET and IBM, among many others.
It was also a sought-after partner of international networks and consortiums such as EuroBioImagine (for imaging methods), XFEL (extremely intense X-ray flashes), ECRIN/SLOVACRIN (for research in biomedicine and clinical trials), and the European Battery Alliance.
Because of the various achievements and contributions of UPJS, Kosice has consolidated its status as a one of Europe’s emerging centers of education, science, technology, culture and sport.