The University of Wrocław is a public research university located in Wrocław, Poland. Founded in 1702, it is one of the oldest collegiate-level institutions of higher education in Central Europe with around 30,000 students (2012). Throughout its history, it remained a great learning center of German-speaking countries until territorial changes of Germany after World War II. Following the territorial changes of Poland after World War II academics primarily from Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów restored the university building heavily damaged and split as a result of the Battle of Breslau (1945). The first lectures were conducted in the halls with broken windows.
The University is currently the largest in Lower Silesian Voivodeship with over 100,000 graduates since 1945 including some 1,900 researchers among whom many received the highest awards for their contribution to the development of scientific scholarship.