The number of foreign students at Polish universities has exceeded 100,000 for the first time, following a rapid recent rise that has seen the figure triple in the space of a decade. Almost 9% of students in Poland are now from abroad.
The new figures, published by education magazine Perspektywy, show that there were 102,200 foreign students in the 2022/23 academic year registered in an education ministry database.
Data from Statistics Poland (GUS), a state agency, indicate that, when including annual exchange students, the figure reaches 105,400. That is almost 18% more than in the previous academic year.
By far the largest national group among foreign students are the 48,700 Ukrainians. Their number also increased the most since last year – by over 12,000 – suggesting that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a factor.
The next largest groups are from Belarus (12,000), Turkey (3,800), Zimbabwe (3,600), India (2,700), Azerbaijan (2,500), Uzbekistan (2,100), China (1,800), Kazakhstan (1,700) and Nigeria (1,600)
Perspektywy notes that, given there are around 1.2 million students in total at Polish universities, that means 8.7% are now from abroad – a figure close to the European average.
“This reflects the huge amount of work done by Polish higher education in the last 19 years,” writes the magazine, noting that when Poland joined the EU in 2004 it had only 8,800 foreign students. That was just 0.5% of all students at the time and the lowest relative figure in Europe.
In 2005, the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (KRASP) and Perspektywy‘s educational foundation launched the “Study in Poland” programme that aimed to promote Polish universities abroad and encourage foreign students to come to Poland.
Last year, Poland’s top two universities – the Jagiellonian in Kraków and Warsaw University – rose to their highest-ever positions in the prestigious QS World University Ranking.
#WATCH: #Saudis who studied medicine in #Poland navigate a new world as they return to the Kingdom as doctors https://t.co/8SQJLOyvnt pic.twitter.com/ZhhyR1aQth
— Arab News (@arabnews) July 5, 2023
“Foreign students bring their talents and passions to our academic landscape, as well as a multicultural atmosphere that is difficult to overestimate,” said Arkadiusz Mężyk, rector of the Silesian University of Technology and chairman of KRASP.
“They enrich us with their presence, activity and enthusiasm,” he added. “And after their return, they are the best ambassadors of Poland and Polish universities.”
The most popular subjects for foreign students at Polish universities are management (taken by 19,400 students), information technology (10,400), and medicine (7,100).
Around 60% of foreign students study in Polish, 37% in English and 3% in another foreign language. Over half (54%) of the foreign students are male and 46% are female.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: NAWA (press materials)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
