The Jagiellonian University in Kraków is the oldest higher education institution in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe. It was founded on 12 May 1364 by the Polish king, Casimir the Great.

The Institute of the Middle and Far East (IBiDW UJ) was established on October 1, 2000 as the Independent Chair of the Middle and Far East, transformed into Institute in 2010.

It offers studies on the MENA Region, India and South Asia, as well as on the Far East: China, Japan, and Korea. The interdisciplinary study programme (Asian Studies) connects features of both social studies and humanities, and includes learning of at least one regional language, such as: Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Hindi. Urdu, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Turkish are also taught.

The Institute operates the first and the largest in Poland Model Confucius Institute; it also participates in the European Erasmus program. It maintains wide international contacts with universities in China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Israel, Syria, Algeria and Kuwait. Research conducted at the Institute is of interdisciplinary and regional character, combining methods used in sociology, anthropology, ethnology, political science, and economics.