Poland

Why Study In Poland

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• Polish university education system has a history of 650 years of educating high profile professionals.
• Today, the Polish higher education system is developing rapidly. Poland holds fourth place in Europe (after the United Kingdom, Germany and France) in terms of the number of people enrolled in higher education.
• The quality of the education provided is monitored and regularly evaluated. The main Polish institutions in charge of quality assurance in higher education are: the Polish Accreditation Committee, the General Council for Science and Higher Education and the Conference of Rectors of the Academic Schools in Poland.
• There are over 5000 courses available in Poland and each of them requires the Polish Accreditation Committee's approval. Among them there are a number of fields of study that have received “Excellent” Grade.
• Poland has more than 450 HEIs (Higher Education institutions). Three best from these are recognised as regional academic centres. There are also highly specialised universities which enable the formation of outstanding experts from a wide spectrum of fields.
• Polish specialists from all fields are highly appreciated by the recruiters worldwide. This global recognition makes Poland one of the ost sought after education destination in Europe.
• Eleven universities in Poland were nominated for international student satisfaction awards. Two Polish universities received average scores of 9.5 out of 10 and were awarded the Certificate for Outstanding International Student Satisfaction. They are Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan and the University of Economics in Katowice. Students also rated three more universities in Poland as "excellent": Gdansk School of Banking, the University of Warsaw and Wroclaw University of Technology. A further six Polish higher education institutions were rated "very good".

Poland Education System

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There are about 310 privately owned universities and colleges and 138 state schools of higher learning. This has resulted in a high level of competition that has given Poland lower prices for studying than in many other European countries. The higher education system is one of high quality and all leading universities offer programs taught in English for medicine, engineering, humanities, business and finance. Poland has taken active part in the Bologna Process. The ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) allows students to be geographically mobile and continue their education in other countries.

There is no central administration for admission. Instead, each institute is responsible for their own admission process. However, each applicant must generally hold a "maturity certificate" to qualify for admission in Poland.

• Bachelor degree (BA) : obtained following the completion of 3 – 3.5 years of vocational/technical college studies.
• Bachelor degree (BSc) : obtained following the completion of 3.5 – 4 years of college studies in technical sciences, agriculture or economy.
• Master degree (MA, MSc) and equivalent degrees : Granted following the completion of 5-6 years long continuous university studies. The MSc may also be obtained following the completion of 2 – 2.5 years of supplementary master degree studies which may be taken by persons with a college diploma.
• Doctor degree (PhD, doktor) : A degree awarded to those who pass doctoral exam and successfully submit dissertation. To qualify for the academic degree of doctor, student must hold a master or an equivalent degree.

Medical Studies in Poland :

• In a lot of countries you need high grades to take up medical studies. Poland provides the alternative to those unable to get into medical colleges locally.
• The medicine program runs for 7 years. You study 6 years in Poland at the university and thereafter is the pre-registration period as Intern. You can choose to do your pre-registration period as Intern in your native country.
• The Medical Universities in Poland are adapted to the common European program, in keeping with the European admission standards for medical education. Within Europe, a Polish degree is considered as a local degree. If you are from a country outside Europe, contact a medical school in your native country and ask how it works.

Life In Poland

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• Living in Poland is like living anywhere else in Europe. I think the Poles tend to be more connected to nature as manifest by the large percentage of people in Poland who have farms or gardens. Even in Krakow, there are a number of garden houses.
• I would say six months you stay inside because of winter. Three months are 50-50 and three months are ideal. Summer all business basically slow down to a snail's pace.
• Try to get something done in the summer. You will notice the whole country is on vacation. Krakow, the Baltic coast Warsaw even is left for the tourists.
• People are not smiling as much in Poland, I think mostly because of the weather. It is a micro climate where moisture from the Atlanta meets cold weather from the north and it is mostly damp, cloudy and cool.
• Going on a decade of living here and do not need a car. Does that say something. Every small town as a good bus or rail connection and every city has trams and buses. It is very easy to get around Europe without a car. Will never have a problem. Polish people complain about Polish roads but there is less traffic here. In Krakow you can get from one end of the city to another in 1/2 hour. Try doing that in Boston, maybe you can on a Sunday, but not Monday morning rush hour.
• People are not as into sports as in the USA. except for soccer every one is pretty much just walking for fitness. There are gyms of course, but people ride bikes and walk and look very thin, not as meaty as American guys for example, more intellectual. But Americans are very smart people, just more like the ancient Romans and the European like the ancient Greeks. People play chess a lot like in all Eastern European post communist countries.
• Polish lifestyle and culture is close to that of other European nations, which makes it easy to build relationships and make friends.
• In Polish cities you can find a vibrant range of urban life - exhibitions, concerts, talks, slow food events, film and music festivals, and so forth. Museums and galleries are plentiful.
• Summer in Poland is all about being outside and there are lots of great things to do outdoors such as windsurfing, kayaking, hiking in the mountains, camping, going to the seaside and bike riding
• Extraordinary hospitality is deeply rooted in Polish culture. You can expect every casual invitation for a dinner or a supper to end up as a three-course feast. Polish grandmas will always give you seconds even if you beg her not to. Poles won't hesitate to offer you their flat for a night or two if you have problems with arranging accommodation and they always care to make your stay in Poland comfortable and interesting. As history is an important part of Polish identity almost every Pole will tell you breath-taking stories about their hometown, instantly becoming a free and attractive tour guide.
• Polish cuisine is mostly known for its comforting and fulfilling dishes like pierogi and kielbasa.
• For the health conscious, it is also good to know that Poland is at the forefront of non-GMO, bio, and organic food trends. The culture of eating healthily and carefully choosing organic products is very popular nowadays in Poland.
• As we all know, being a student is much more than only studying. It is only as important as the other components of higher education: partying, sports, music festivals, film festivals, hanging out with friends, going out of town for the weekends, etc. This is why you'll never regret choosing Poland. Thanks to our rapid economic growth in the last two decades, the cultural offerings of Poland are comparable to any other European country, but with its own character.
• Poland is visited each summer by the world's biggest pop music stars. Young Poles are true lovers of alternative culture so they attend in droves festivals like Opener (jokingly called the Polish Coachella, awarded Best Major European Festival of the 2009) or OFF Festival (chosen as the best medium-sized music festival in Europe 2011). Every year, each university organizes its own carnival called Juwenalia. During Juwenalia, all classes are cancelled so that everybody has time to party. There are plenty of things to watch/listen to/get involved in every day in the biggest cities, so you will find no time for boredom.