Ignatianum traces its roots back to 1867 when the didactic-scientific center Seminarium Cracoviense Societatis Jesu was established in Kraków.

[3] In 1932 the Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus in Kraków received the rights of a Catholic school of university standing.

In 1989, after social changes in Poland, it was possible for Jesuits to set up Ignatianum, a legal status Papal University.

The education department offers majors in pedagogy, political studies, social work, administration and public policy, and English philology.

[6] In its University of the Third Age Ignatianum offers courses to the 50-and-over group, to help them contribute to society in their advancing years.