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Collegium Invisibile Association was founded in 1995 by Prof Wojciech Gasparski and other Polish scholars as a part of an entire web of "invisible colleges" based in Central and Eastern Europe. Its creators wished to provide assistance to exceptionally talented students and, at the same time, counteract some negative effects of "mass production" in higher education.
Since its inception, CI has undergone several major changes, all serving the purpose of realizing the ideal of a self-governing association of professors and students. To this end, in 1999, Collegium became an independent association.
For the last ten years, Collegium Invisibile has admitted students for tutorials in almost all academic disciplines, from biology, philosophy, history and social sciences to formal logic.
Since its foundation, the heart of its academic activity has been periodic seminars during which students and their tutors have the opportunity to present the effects of their cooperation to the public. Consequently, their findings are discussed by the CI members. This practice has proved to be an excellent stimulus to encourage academic excellence and to ensure a high quality of academic work produced by the CI students. Topics of particular seminars vary immensely according to the scientific interests of its participants. Another form of the Association’s activities are public debates which address current social issues. Their aim is to promote civic culture and responsibility.
In 2004 Collegium was one of the organizers of the "Central European Seminar", which was held in Budapest. Its participants were doctoral students from the Visegrad Group countries. In Warsaw in 2005, the Association hosted the international conference "Tocqueville: On Democracy in Europe". Among visiting professors were Irena Grudzinska-Gross, Raymond Boudon and Michael Hereth. Moreover, in 2005 and 2006 CI prepared and carried out Study Tours for students from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
Collegium Invisibile also cooperates with the Polish Children’s Fund. The most visible effect of this cooperation is the perennial summer schools for senior high school students, who participate in workshops led by CI members, as well as present their own papers.
The newest educational project of the Collegium is the "First Tutor" program. Through this program, CI students offer academic support and supervision to a high school students. The outcome of this cooperation is a paper, produced by the students, and later published on the CI website.
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