The University of Gdansk was founded in 1970 by combining higher schools: the Higher School of Economics in Sopot and the Higher Pedagogical School in Gdansk; later the Higher School was also included. The first of the precursors of the University of Gdansk was the Higher School of Marine Trade in Sopot, which was established in 1945. The University of Gdansk is the largest institution of higher education in the Pomeranian region. It offers the possibility of studying in almost thirty different fields with over a hundred specialisations. There are almost thirty-three thousand students in the nine faculties and the Foreign Language Teacher Training College, which employ one thousand seven hundred academic staff members. Such fields as Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Psychology and Pedagogy are among the best in the country. In the field of European programmes, such as Socrates/Erasmus, the students have the opportunity to broaden their knowledge abroad and to gain new experiences. University of Gdansk students also participate in the MOST programme, which enables them to study for one semester at any of Poland’s eighteen universities. The UG Careers Office, which is the leader among vocational counsellors in the Pomorskie Voivodeship, helps graduates to find employment and to undertake decisions concerning vocational development. The numerous foreign placements experienced by the academic staff of the University help in the increasingly more modern and open education of students.