Higher Education Systems - Poland

In Poland, there are two main categories of higher education institutions: university-type and non-university institutions. Both categories of institutions may provide first-cycle, second-cycle and/or long-cycle programs; but only the university-type institution is authorized to offer a doctoral program and confer the academic degree of doctor (PhD). According to the Polish Central Statistical Office [PL1], in the 2016/17 academic year there were 390 higher education institutions (132 public and 258 private) of different types: Universities, Technical Universities, Agricultural Academies, Academies of Economics, Higher teacher education schools, Medical universities/academies, Maritime Universities, Physical academies, Fine arts academies, Theological academies, Academies of the Ministry of National Defense and of the Ministry of Interior and Administration and other higher education institutions. Typically, most of Universities (Uniwersytety), Technical Universities (Wyższe szkoły techniczne), Medical universities / academies (Uniwersytety / Akademie medyczne) and Maritime Universities (Wyższe szkoły morskie) offer doctoral programs, whereas most of Academies of Economics (Wyższe szkoły ekonomiczne) and other higher education institutions (Wyższe Szkoły) offer only first or second-cycle programs.

Higher education in Poland is organized according to the Bologna agreement in three levels. First-cycle studies (3 to 4 years, or 180-240 ECTS) include Bachelor’s programs leading to the title of a Licencjat or Inżynier (Bachelor or Engineer, in the field of Agriculture, Economics or Technical Science, including Informatics) which is an equivalent of the Bachelor’s degree. Access to first-cycle programs is open to holders of a matura certificate given by the state (Świadectwo maturalne). Admission to some higher education institutions is competitive and is based on the results of the matura examination.

Second-cycle studies (1.5 to 2 years, or 90-120 ECTS) include Master’s programs following the first cycle studies and leading to the title of Master (Magister, or an equivalent degree depending on the study course profile). In addition, 11 fields of study offer long-cycle programs (4.5 to 6 years, or 270-360 ECTS) leading to the professional title of Master (Magister, or an equivalent degree depending on the study course profile).

Third-cycle studies include doctoral programs (3 to 4 years) which are accessible for graduates with a Master’s degree. The PhD degree (Doktor) is awarded to candidates who submit and successfully defend a doctoral dissertation before the thesis committee and pass the doctoral examination. In Poland, doctoral programs may be offered by academic universities, institutes of the Polish Academy of Science, or other research institutes or international institutes which meet the criteria to award a PhD degree [PL2].

Grades

Each higher education institution identifies its grading scale in its Study Rules. The most common scale comprises the marks from 2 to 5, with a grade 2 meaning a fail, grade 3 – lowest passing grade and grade 5 – the highest achieved grade. Sometimes the plus symbol or decimal is used to modify the numerical grades.