The 2009-2010 academic year - summary

In the 2009/2010 academic year there were 1 900.0 thousand students in higher education institutions, i.e. by 1,4% less than in the previous academic year. It was the fourth successive year when a decline in the number of students was recorded, which was influenced by demographic changes (year by year the population aged 19-24 has been decreasing).

71,6% of all higher schools are non-public. However, these are public schools which record the highest number of students amounting 1.27 m and made up 66.7% of all students. Women accounted for 58.2% of all students.

Economy and administration, teacher training and education science as well as social sciences were most often chosen subgroups among the fields of education.

The number of foreign students in Polish higher schools is increasing. In the 2009/2010 academic year their number amounted to 17.0 thousand, i.e. 0.9% of all students.

The most numerous were students from Europe - 11.6 thous. persons in total, majority of whom came from Ukraine, Belarus, Norway and Sweden.

In 2009 there were 839.6 thousand students learning modem foreign languages in obligatory courses (i.e. 44.6% of all students). Their number fell slightly in comparison with the previous year.

90.9% of students learning foreign languages attended only one foreign language course. Students learning one foreign language accounted for 40.5% of the students' population. Much smaller percentage of students learned two foreign languages (4.0%) or more (0.1% of students were taught three or more languages within their course of studies).

The number of graduates in the 2008/2009 academic year amounted to 439.7 thous. and was higher by nearly 18.8 thous. (i.e. by 4.5%) in comparison with the 2007/2008 academic year.

The number of persons in post-graduate studies in the 2009/2010 academic year increased by 25.8 thous. in relation to the previous year and amounted to 194.2 thousand. In comparison with the 2006/2007 academic year there were 43.5 thous. more post-graduate students (28.8%) which also represents a more then a tripled number of attendees in 1995. Among post-graduate students women constituted 68.1%.

In the 2009/2010 academic year a total of 35.7 thous. persons attended Ph.D. studies conducted by tertiary education schools, science and research institutes, units of Polish Academy of Sciences and the Medical Centre of Post-graduate Education. The number of Ph.D. students increased by 9,8% as compared with the previous year.



source: Central Statistical Office, Higher Education Institutions and their Finances in 2009