SGH Warsaw School of Economics


SGH Warsaw School of Economics is the oldest business school in Poland.
SGH Warsaw School of Economics was founded in 1906 as a private school under the name August Zieliński Private Trade Courses for Men. On 30 July 1919 it became a separate legal entity and was granted the status of an institution of higher education. The school was renamed Szkoła Główna Handlowa in 1933. Following World War II SGH was nationalized and its name changed to Szkoła Główna Planowania i Statystyki with an abbreviation of SGPiS. The school regained its pre-war name after the fall of communism in 1991.
SGH Warsaw School of Economics offers courses leading to bachelor's or master's degrees to both full-time and extramural students. It also offers programs for doctoral and postgraduate degrees. Its Finance and Accounting program was ranked among the Top 40 European Masters in Management by the Financial Times, 2008.
SGH Warsaw School of Economics cooperates with around 200 higher education institutions around the world within student and staff exchange areas. It is also a member of the CEMS, the LLP Erasmus, the Partnership in International Management network and the European University Association EUA.
It is located at the northern edge of the Mokotów district of Warsaw. Bus and tram stops as well as the Pole Mokotowskie metro station are nearby.

Organizational structure

SGH Warsaw School of Economics abandoned the traditional departmental structure segregating students on the basis of their major.
Professors as well as research and teaching programmes are grouped in five Colleges as well as a number of extra-collegial units, such as the foreign language teaching center.

Courses offered

SGH is a university with no departments. Within full-time and part-time studies, they are conducted in two levels. Bachelor studies, which last for six semesters, lead to a Bachelor's professional title. Holders of such a title may apply for a place and begin Master studies which last for four semesters. To obtain a diploma it is necessary to gather the required minimum points. Individual subjects are divided into mandatory sections for particular fields, optional for those subjects, additional items which help develop the knowledge unrelated to specific subjects, and objects of education common to all economists. Different subjects can have different minimum points for each of these types of items.
SGH full-time students are offered the following fields of study in Polish:
From 2006/2007 Academic Year SGH Studies are divided into:
All SGH students study basic macro- and micro- economics, mathematics, statistics, philosophy, social science, law, history, geography, and languages during the first three semesters. After having passed the required examinations for the first three semesters, they then must register for one out of the six offered areas of studies. The BA degree is granted after completing a required number of credits and the MA degree is granted after completing about eight to ten semesters which is the maximum period of tuition free study at SGH. It is worth mentioning that students do not have to get the BA before applying for the master's degree, and the time span required for the degree in the given specialisation depends mostly on students themselves, due to the free choice of courses, professors, and the maximum work load per semester.

International cooperation

SGH is currently working with over 250 foreign universities, as well as with many international organizations. Main partners are universities from the European Union, North America and Asia. Every year, an international students' exchange involves about 500 students of SGH Warsaw School of Economics and the university hosts over 300 students from foreign universities.
Among important international cooperation programs are: LLP Erasmus, CEMS, Polish-German Academic Forum at SGH, Partnership in International Management, double diploma programmes, bilateral agreements and others.

Student organizations

The Student Union, elective body representing all SGH students in the School's Senate and participating in setting all study regulations, provides students with housing and financial aid as well as organizes a wide range of cultural events.

Collegia

The Library of SGH Warsaw School of Economics is the largest economics library in Poland with its 786 334 volumes of monographs; 216 778 volumes of serials; 983 titles of subscribed periodicals – Polish and foreign, and ca. 30 000 titles of foreign journals in electronic form.
The SGH Library holdings are organized in several collections. Each collection is available in different departments, on precisely defined conditions: by free access, by library order slips, or by borrowing. Students are allowed to borrow books exclusively from the Students’ Lending Library.

''Journal of Public Policy Studies''

The Journal of Public Policy Studies was founded in 2014 at the Collegium of Socio-Economics of the SGH Warsaw School of Economics. It is published quarterly and is focused on public policy science issues.

Sports centre

There are two gyms, a fitness room, a swimming pool and a sauna available for students on the SGH campus. One may sign up for either Physical Education class or varsity team activities, neither of which is compulsory. PE classes include: soccer, basketball, volleyball, callanetics, aerobics, swimming and dancing. Varsity team activities offered are: karate, skiing, aerobics, rock climbing, tennis, table tennis, track and field sports, sailing, soccer, swimming, volleyball and basketball.

Notable alumni and faculty

Faculty

The majority of Ministers of Finance in the governments of the III Republic of Poland were SGH alumni, including all from 1988 to 1997.