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Study in Poland - costs, charges and tuition fees
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Polish higher education system
Polish higher education facilities can be divided into universities, technical universities, academies, colleges and schools. The system of education comprises of three cycles established by the Bologna process, each of them open to foreign students:
- 1st cycle - undergraduate studies (Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science, in Polish licencjat and inżynier respectively);
- 2nd cycle - postgraduate studies (Master of Arts or Master of Science, in Polish magister);
- 3rd cycle - doctoral studies (in Polish doktor).
Education is free for all Polish full-time students of public universities financed from the national budget, although there are some extra costs involved (such as: fee for issuing student ID, recruitment fee or paid exam retakes).The same applies to Pole’s Card holders, who can study full-time for free even if they do not hold Polish citizenship. Studying at private facilities is paid and generally all foreigners (both EU and non-EU) need to pay for their studies in Poland.
Private vs public universities
In 2016 Aegon, an international insurance company, carried out its research aiming to establish costs of studying in Poland’s private higher education facilities (click to read the full Aegon report on costs of studying in Poland for 2016/2017). Its findings indicate that while these expenses remain significantly lower than in Western Europe, they still vary and depend on the selection of university. The table below presents the charges for some of the leading private universities in Poland, collected by Aegon in 2016.
|
University |
Undergraduate first year tuition |
Postgraduate first year tuition |
Recruitment fee (one-off) |
Entry fee (one-off) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koźmiński University in Warsaw | PLN 6,400 - 21,000 | PLN 10,400 - 22,050 | - | PLN 200 |
| University of Social Sciences in Warsaw (SWPS) | PLN 6,800 - 18,550 | PLN 7,600 - 18,500 | PLN 300 | - |
| Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Warsaw | PLN 7,000 - 12,800 | PLN 7,000 - 14,300 | PLN 75 | PLN 750 - 1,500 |
| Łazarski University in Warsaw | PLN 4,320 - 13,800 | PLN 4,320 - 13,800 | PLN 400 | - |
| Vistula University in Warsaw | PLN 4,400 - 12,942 | PLN 5,200 - 12,492 | - | PLN 400 - 517 |
| Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Kraków University | PLN 2,050 - 3,700 | PLN 2,400 - 3,800 | PLN 100 / 5,000 (med students) | PLN 200 - 400 |
| Collegium Civitas in Warsaw | PLN 3,100 - 7,100 | PLN 3,200 - 9,200 | PLN 100 - 290 | PLN 320 - 450 |
| University of Social Sciences in Warsaw | PLN 2,500 - 7,200 | PLN 2,950 - 7,200 | PLN 100 - 150 | PLN 50 - 400 |
| Katowice School of Economics | PLN 3,705 - 5,038 | PLN 4,530 - 5,695 | PLN 120 | PLN 0 / 500 |
| The University of Dąbrowa Górnicza | PLN 3,550 - 4,467 | PLN 3,750 - 3,953 | PLN 100 | - |
The data collected by Aegon gives you insight into how much one needs to spend on studying at some of the leading private universities in Poland. When it comes to public universities, foreign students may need to inquire as to how much tuition fees and other charges are. Each public university's international office should be able to provide up-to-date information in this respect.
You are the ones to judge whether studying costs in Poland are high or low. It is useful to compare it with other countries, and in this respect Poland can be placed on the cheaper end. At most English universities, students are required to pay around £9,000 each year, while Harvard annual tuition fees amount to $47,074. In continental Europe, studying in e.g. Germany entails similar costs to what students are charged in Poland, for instance students of the Technical University of Munich pay tuition fees of €234 each year.
Tuition fees and other university charges are not the only costs involved in moving abroad to study. If you are interested in learning more about living costs in Poland, stay tuned!
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