Help in choosing a university
Every year thousands of high school graduates face the problem of choosing a university. They wonder at which university they can find interesting fields of study, which one has the best academic staff, which university has students exchange programmes or has contacts with the world of business. In Poland, various institutions try to classify universities in terms of the quality of education, scientific research results, infrastructure and friendly attitude to students. Every such minor ranking contains simplifications and some inaccuracies, that is why it is difficult to make an objective choice based on them. There is only one significant though not without flaws ranking of higher education in Poland, based on objective criteria. The ranking is prepared by the “Perspektywy” educational portal www.perspektywy.pl When you face choosing where to study in Poland, it is worth looking at this ranking to find out which university cares about scientific development, provides the highest quality teaching staff, carries out international cooperation or has a very good infrastructure.
“Perspektywy” portal
“Perspektywy” is the largest, complete and the most opinion-forming portal dealing with education in Poland. The portal deals with higher education and education at the secondary level (technical colleges
and high schools). It is the biggest source of information about schools in Poland. It is interesting to know that the website deals with both state and private education (public and private schools). Here you will find not only databases of universities and high schools, but also you can read interesting articles about studies in Poland, news about recruitment processes, descriptions of many universities, information about changes in the legislation, interesting information concerning the educational service market. The portal also has an English-language section, where you can find interesting information about studies in Poland. All this can make it easier for you to choose the educational institution where you would like to study.” Perspektywy” is a brand recognized all over the world. Being the first national ranking it received the prestigious IREG Approved quality certificate, awarded by the international organization IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence, founded by a group of creators and analysts of university rankings from all over the world.
The “Perspektywy”Rankings
Ranking of universities
The rankings are very important and are carefully designed by the efforts of the “Perspektywy”portal.
It is the most comprehensive and complete analysis of the Polish educational market, thanks to which you will find out which educational institutions are the best in Poland. The ranking is created on the basis of data collected not only by the ministry (in the POLON system), but also from schools in public and non-public university registers, which confirms their truthfulness and completeness.
That is why the ranking of universities prepared by the “Perspektywy” portal can be a good source of information about Polish universities for you. This ranking is basically a few separate ways of assessing a university that includes different classifications and categories. Here you will find:
• ranking of academic universities – i.e universities conducting scientific and research activities. There you will find the best 100 public and private schools. The assessment is influenced by 7 assessed areas: scientific effectiveness (28% of the assessment), scientific potential (15%), internationalization (15%), graduates on the labor market (12%), prestige of the university (12%), educational conditions (10%), innovation (8%);
• ranking of non-public universities – here you will find the ratings of non-public universities, not only the recognized ones conducting research, focused on the international cooperation, but also the universities which activities are focused on the didactic process, practicality of education and the creation of the best possible conditions for educating students. The ranking includes the best 50 universities in Poland. The assessment is influenced by 6 assessed areas: scientific strength (30% of the assessment), graduates in the labor market (25%), internationalization (15%), education conditions (15%), prestige (10%), innovation (5%);
• ranking of public vocational universities (i.e. universities conducting only didactics, not focused on scientific development). The assessment is influenced by 5 assessed areas: scientific strength (35% of the assessment), graduates in the labor market (30%), internationalization (15%), education conditions (10%), prestige (10%);
• Ranking according to the groups of criteria – it is an interesting presentation of the results obtained by universities, classifying them according to individual criteria (e.g. prestige, academic strength, internationalization or study conditions), with no division into private or public.
It is worth emphasizing that more and more private universities are successfully competing with state-owned universities. Universities from the top 20 non-public ones are often rated higher than the public universities, and there are even such institutions where the process of studying creates significantly better conditions for the development of students and opens up greater prospects for their graduates, e.g. the best economic university in Poland in 2021 was private institution Leon Kozminski Academy in Warsaw, leaving behind such public universities as the University of Economics in Warsaw, Poznan and Wroclaw.
Ranking of fields of study
The “ Perspektywy” portal prepares a separate ranking of study programmes grouped into categories. It is an integral part of the ranking of universities (created on the basis of the same data) containing structured information about the most popular fields of study at Polish academic universities (public and non-public). The ranking assesses 70 fields of study in nine areas including: humanities, social, economic, exact, natural, technical, medical and health, agricultural, forestry and veterinary, and even theological studies. Only artistry is missing from the ranking. The fields of study are assessed by the similar criteria as universities, i.e. scientific strength, didactic potential, graduates in the labor market, internationalization, education conditions, prestige (sometimes additional final exams in fields of study are taken into account, e.g. medical examinations)
Ranking of secondary schools
Particular rankings are the rankings of secondary schools in Poland. They can be a good source of information about secondary schools (high schools and technical schools) for people who want to choose an educational institution in Poland for themselves or their children. Each ranking is created separately for comprehensive schools, i.e. high schools, and separately for schools after which the graduate acquires a profession, i.e. technical secondary school. Of course, after graduating from each of these institutions, you can enter a university in Poland if you have passed the state secondary school final exam. With regard to secondary schools, the rankings are based on several different criteria, namely: high school rankings and technical high school rankings are created as a general ranking from all schools (three criteria are taken into the account: school success in Olympiads, results of the state final secondary exam in compulsory and optional subjects, and in technical schools – the results of the vocational exam), the state final secondary exam ranking (based on the results of the state exam), the ranking of Olympic schools (i.e. schools which are successful in the Olympiads), voivodship ranking. In the case of high schools, an additional ranking of Warsaw schools is created.
To sum up it is worth browsing the “Perspektywy” rankings. In addition to the ones presented, the portal organizes additional rankings, such as the ranking of MBA studies or engineering studies. Each university in Poland strives to be included in the ranking in an appropriate category and to be placed as high as possible.
5 steps to choosing a university for you
1. It is worth analyzing the rankings of schools analytically – you should determine what is important to you in advance (the city, the field of studies, or maybe the possibility of participating in the Erasmus + programme). Not only the position in the ranking is important, sometimes it is worth looking at a single criterion.
2. Do not make any decisions about an educational institution solely on the basis of them. Ranking is only a support, treat it as one of the many criteria for choosing a university – set them in advance.
3. Browse the websites of the universities you are interested in. There you will find the information which is not included into the ranking.
4. Ask your friends – they can have interesting information too, nothing helps better than other people’s experience.
5. Use the services of professionals – contact someone who knows Polish universities and will help you with the final choice and application.
If you are interested in additional, more detailed information about the rankings – write to us in the comment or directly to the Eurostudent e-mail address: office@eurostudent.org
