Be a student in Poland

It seems that foreign students like to study in Poland. For the time being, there are more than 57 thousand students from 157 countries which amount to 4,1% of all students. What’s more, 83% of foreigners come from Europe (mostly Ukraine, Belarus, Norway, Spain, and Sweden).

What are the top reasons for studying in Poland? First of all, the tradition that dates back to 1364 (the year that Jagiellonian University was founded, one of the oldest in the world). Secondly, we do have a lot of universities and a lot of students (nearly 2 million, resulting in a 4th place in the EU). And the icing on the cake – living in Poland is simply cheap (with no fees on public unis).

That’s why Ministry of Science and Higher Education decided to set up The National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) which will come into existence by January 2018. The main task of the agency will be to support universities in their internationalization to attract more foreign students and contribute to increasing cooperation between science and economy. The agency, aiming at luring prominent scientists to Poland to conduct research and teach, will provide administration competence to handle foreign students and help with international promotion of universities. One of the points of its agenda will be a scholarship scheme for polish students going abroad and foreigner students coming to Poland. Its actions will focus also on a grant program supporting the return of Polish scientist to the country that emigrated mainly because of the lack of development prospects in the past.  

However, it’s not all so bright. The main problem is the education quality. I personally know a lot of foreign students at Warsaw School of Economics (my university) from Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary or Germany. And I’m not talking about Erasmus students but regular ones. They are really smart, intelligent, often with much better grades than polish students.

But, on the other hand, I also met students from private schools. The truth is, private universities do not enjoy a good reputation and so does their students. Many of them decide to study in Polish while being able to say only a couple of words in our language. I can’t even imagine how can they write assignments or pass exams.

It’s no doubt that studying in Poland has a lot of advantages, but only if you choose the right school. Check also the top reasons to visit Poland wich I described here. 

(Fist photo – University of Warsaw, second – Jagiellonian University)