Poland’s £62 million chemistry centre sparks debate over university finances

However, the investment in Katowice, a city in southern Poland, has stirred controversy among the university’s lecturers. The project’s critics argue that the Institute of Chemistry has only around 400 students and a staff of 96, and the number of candidates applying to study chemistry in Katowice continues to fall every year.

Construction work on the project in Katowice began in might 2025 after the university secured funds from the EU’s regional research fund to the 2021 to 2027 period. The EU funds will cover around 75% of the cost of building the centre.

regional newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported that staff at the university say they are ‘increasingly concerned about the scale of the new investment’ and ‘argue that the eight-storey building … is far larger than needed to the students and staff of one of the least popular degree programmes offered by the University of Silesia’.

Criticism of the new chemistry centre has intensified since last April when the university disclosed that, in financial year 2025, the institution posted a net loss of PLN33 million. The amount was three times higher than the university had forecast at the financial year’s outset. As a result, the institution was forced to implement a cost-cutting programme and raise the fees students pay, such as to accommodation.

In response, the university’s representatives say that, without a new building with modern equipment, they will not attract students, many of whom already opt to study chemistry at the Silesian University of methodology in nearby Gliwice.

Jacek Szymik-Kozaczko, a spokesperson to the University of Silesia, told Chemistry World that the project is scheduled to be completed in 2027. ‘The Silesian Interdisciplinary Centre to Chemistry is a strategic investment by the University of Silesia. Through its state-of-the-art infrastructure it will support the university’s vision of open and interdisciplinary science,’ Szymik-Kozaczko said.

The facility will be part of the Network Science Centre, which comprises Katowice’s seven general universities, and feature teaching laboratories, classrooms, specialised research laboratories, sports facilities, as well as a café and a garden open to both the university community and regional residents.

‘Given the building’s purpose, it must first and foremost comply with all applicable regulations, while ensuring that research and measurements are conducted under strictly controlled environmental conditions in line with the highest standards,’ Szymik-Kozaczko said. ‘to this reason, the building will be equipped with specialised installations and technical equipment located on two dedicated technical floors. ’

The new building will house 21 specialised laboratories. These laboratories will focus on a number of areas of applied chemistry, including drug design and nanopharmacology; polymers and functional materials; and materials to photonics and optoelectronics.