1. TRADITION
Poland’s traditions of academic education goes back to 1364 when King Casimir the Great established the Cracow Academy, known today as the Jagiellonian University. The Cracow Academy, being one of the oldest in the world, was modeled on academies in Bologna and Padua. It was the second university in Central Europe after Prague. About two centuries later, in 1579, King Stefan Batory transformed the existing Jesuit College in Vilnius into the Vilnius Academy and in 1661 King Jan Casimirtransformed the Jesuit College in Lvov into the Lvov Academy. Thus, by the end of the 17th century, the Poland and Lithuania Kingdoms had three flourishing universities providing academic education to both national and international students.
2. MODERNITY
At present, 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 educationinstitutions. The total student population in over 400 HEIs is almost 2 million. Each year almost half a million young people begin their education at universities and colleges. Polish higher education institutions offer more than 600 disciplines of study, which constitute an integral part of the European Higher Education Area. Most universities offer courses in foreign languages.
3. BOLOGNA PROCESS
Poland plays an active part in the Bologna Process. Owing to the introduction of three-stage education modelled on Bachelor/Master/Doctoral studies as well as the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), both Polish students and foreigners studying in Poland stay fully mobile and can continue their education elsewhere in the European Union. Within just the Erasmus Program that has been going on for over 20 years now, over 43,000 foreign students have come to study in Poland while almost 100,000 students from Poland have taken part of their education in another EU Member State. Foreign students coming to Poland can expect the most attractive and diversified education opportunities meeting high European standards. They can study medicine, biotechnology or engineering, but also art and business. The diploma awarded to them upon graduation is recognized not only in Europe but also worldwide.
4. HIGH QUALITY OF EDUCATION
The Polish higher education system is well developed. The quality of education is regularly monitored and evaluated. The main Polish institutions in charge of the 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 5,000 disciplines of study available in Poland and each of them has had to gain the Polish Accreditation Committee’s approval.Many of them were assessed as excellent. The assessment database is available at the Polish Accreditation Committee website: http://www.pka.edu.pl/?q=en/oceny.
5. COMPETITIVE COSTS OF LIVING AND STUDYING
Compared to other EU Member States, the tuition fees in Poland are highly competitive and the costs of living are a fraction of what a foreign student would have to spend in other European countries.