Poland - Universities join forces to recruit more international students

ByBianka Siwinska. Polish universities have introduced a free iPhone and iPad app to spread information internationally about opportunities in Polish higher education, and an Android version is promised soon.
The use of the latest technology will move the promotion of Polish higher education to a completely new level, according to a Polish Press Agency report quoting Dr Wojciech Marchwica of the Perspektywy Educational Foundation (Fundacja Edukacyjna Perspektywy), coordinator of the Study in Poland programme. The number of foreign students in Poland has been growing for the past five years. This year there were 24,253, according to the recent report Foreign Students in Poland 2012 by the foundation. This is a 13% increase compared to last year. In 2005-06 Polish universities had only 10,092 students from outside the country. Most came from Ukraine (6,321) and Belarus (2,937), with a sizeable group of students from Norway, Spain, Sweden and the US engaged in English-medium medical studies. Nevertheless, at 1.2%, the proportion of international students is among the lowest in the OECD and EU countries.
* Bianka Siwinska is editor-in-chief of Poland's higher education magazine Perspektywy, a publication of the Perspektywy Education Foundation.