QAA publishes new report on HE in Poland

We have published the latest in our series of Country Reports for QAA International Insights Members. Our new report focuses on the contexts and conditions of higher education in Poland – the sixth largest country in Europe and the sixth largest economy in the EU.

Recent data shows that there are 416 HEIs in Poland – including 135 public institutions, 16 church institutions and 265 private providers.

Forty-four Polish HEIs feature in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, with Wrocław Medical University, the University of Warsaw, the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and the Medical University of Lodz all in the top 1,000.

Poland joined the Bologna process in 1999 and has adopted the European three-stage higher education system and the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation Scheme. As detailed in our report, the Polish Qualifications Framework aligns with the eight levels of the European Qualifications Framework.

Our new report covers the funding of public HEIs in Poland, arrangements for student finance and maintenance loans, and the work of the Polish Accreditation Committee – the independent state-funded statutory body responsible for the assurance and enhancement of quality in all higher education institutions.

The report also looks at the gradual growth of TNE in Poland, which includes the joint awards offered by partnerships between Warsaw University and the University of Reading, and between the University of Lodz and University of York, as well as the seven undergraduate courses and the MBA programme run by Coventry University at its campus in Wroclaw.

Although the numbers of Polish students choosing to study in the UK has fallen steeply as a result of Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis, significant numbers remain, with nearly a fifth of those students taking business and management courses.

"Poland's relations with UK universities have been affected in recent years by changing economic and political conditions," says QAA's Head of International Policy and Engagement Shannon Stowers. "But the Polish government's strategic emphasis on the value and quality of higher education and research as key to the country's ongoing development makes it an important player in Central Europe and gives it an influential voice on the European stage. As a result, Poland's HE sector is one to whose interests and agendas UK providers and policymakers are growing increasingly alert."

The report is part of QAA's series of Country and Territory Reports, offering insights for QAA International Insights Members. We publish these reports to give universities and colleges in the UK contextual information about key markets overseas, to help them develop their international operations and to enhance their TNE capabilities.

QAA International Insights Members can access this Country Report on our Membership Resources site. Sign up to use the site by completing our simple registration form.

If you’re interested in finding out more about QAA’s International Insights package, please contact our Membership team at membership@qaa.ac.uk.