Poland has achieved a significant milestone in its higher education landscape, with more than 105,000 foreign students currently enrolled in its universities, as revealed by a recent report from the Perspektywy Educational Foundation.
The majority of these students, totaling 48,100, come from Ukraine, making up 45.6 percent of all international students in Poland. The number of Ukrainian students has witnessed a remarkable increase of over 12,000 compared to the previous year. Following Ukraine, Belarus and Turkey secure the second and third positions, with 12,000 (11.4 percent) and 3,800 (3.6 percent) students, respectively.
The overall figure of 105,000 foreign students represents an internationalization rate of 8.7 percent, a development that Waldemar Siwiński, the founder of the Perspektywy Foundation, attributes to the extraordinary efforts made by Polish higher education institutions over the past 19 years. He emphasized the transformation of the landscape since Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004 when the country had only 8,800 foreign students, amounting to an internationalization rate of just 0.48 percent, the lowest in Europe.
The growth of international students in Poland has been a concerted effort, with the country actively promoting its universities globally, while academic institutions have introduced study programs in English and trained their staff to manage the internationalization process professionally.
Prof. Arkadiusz Mężyk, rector of the Silesian University of Technology and chairman of the association of university presidents (KRASP), acknowledged the invaluable contribution of foreign students to Poland’s academic environment. These students bring talents, scientific passions, and a diverse multicultural atmosphere, enriching the academic community. He also highlighted that these international students, upon returning to their home countries, become the best ambassadors of Poland and its universities.
According to data for the 2022/2023 academic year, apart from Ukraine, Belarus, and Turkey, the most students came from countries such as Zimbabwe, India, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, China, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria. Notably, the number of students from these countries has seen consistent growth over the past four years.
On the other hand, there has been a decline in the number of students from countries like the United States, Russia, Germany, Vietnam, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Thailand, and Georgia.
The report reveals that 67 percent of foreign students in Polish universities hail from Europe, while 20 percent come from Asia and 12 percent from Africa. The most popular fields of study among foreign students in Poland are management, computer science, and medicine. The mode of instruction varies, with 60 percent studying in Polish, 37 percent in English, and the remaining 3 percent in other languages.