In the early 1990s – Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice were separated by a bridge with strict border controls and long queues – it was a bold and unprecedented idea: the establishment of a joint cross-border German-Polish teaching and research institution. Some three decades later, Dr Krzysztof Wojciechowski, long-standing director and architect of the Collegium Polonicum, looks back on the ‘dream of a border university’.
On Wednesday, 15 July 2026, at 6.00 pm, Krzysztof Wojciechowski will present his new book *The Dream of a Border University: Texts and Commentaries from Three Decades on the History of the Collegium Polonicum* at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). Anyone interested is warmly invited to the reading and discussion in the Senate Hall in the main building of the Viadrina, Große Scharrnstraße 59, Room 109.
The event can also be watched online via livestream at the following link:
https://europa-uni.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=7d5699a7-b7fc-4f62-8f0c-b47c0091c0e1
35 Years of Viadrina – Three Decades of the Collegium Polonicum
The day of the reading marks the 35th anniversary of the founding of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) by statutory act. The Brandenburg State Government had officially established the university on 15 July 1991. In October of the following year, 1992, 460 students enrolled in the first two faculties: Law and Economics. The Faculty of Cultural Studies was added for the 1993/1994 academic year – a total of 1,100 students were already enrolled on the Oder just one year after teaching began in October 1993.
The idea of a joint teaching and research institution between the European University Viadrina and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań dates back to the early days of Viadrina: as early as October 1992, Prof. Dr Jerzy Fedorowski, Rector of Adam Mickiewicz University, and Prof. Dr Knut Ipsen, Founding Rector of the European University Viadrina, laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Collegium Polonicum in Słubice. In December, the Founding Senate of Viadrina approved the founding concept for this first cross-border German-Polish academic institution. Construction began in 1995, the official opening took place in June 1998, and the first academic year commenced in October 1998.
About the author and presenter
Dr Krzysztof Wojciechowski, born in Warsaw in 1956, is regarded as a proven expert on and shaper of German-Polish relations. He played a key role in the founding of the Collegium Polonicum, which he headed as director from 1993 to 2022. Wojciechowski is the author of numerous publications on German-Polish relations, including the collection of essays *Meine lieben Deutschen* (*My Dear Germans*), and has also published on intercultural communication in academic collaboration.
Dr Anja Hennig is a political scientist at the Chair of European Studies at the European University Viadrina. For around two decades, she has been conducting research and publishing from comparative perspectives on the sociopolitical developments in Poland, carries out research and teaching projects in the European twin city, and is regarded as a recognised expert on Polish politics and German-Polish relations.