Poland: where the official answers live

What you need to do

In Poland admission remains the university's business: there is no single application portal of the kind Italy or France operates. Each university announces its own intake, its own deadlines and its own list of documents, and you apply to that university.

The state is responsible for two things your application cannot do without. First, an information portal for international candidates: programmes taught in English, residence rules, the order of steps. Second, the national agency for academic exchange: scholarships on one side of its work, confirmation and recognition of qualifications on the other.

The practical consequence: look for a programme on the portal, but check requirements on the website of the specific university, because the university is the one deciding.

Where this is stated officially

• study.gov.pl — the state portal for international students: programmes, residence rules, the sequence of steps.
• NAWA — the national agency for academic exchange: scholarship programmes and questions of recognition.

How to check the requirement is still current

Cross-read the two sources. The portal sets out the general frame and is rarely wrong about principles, but it does not know the dates of an individual intake. The university knows its dates, yet often publishes last year's page without a date on it. If there is no date on the university's page, that is a reason to write to the admissions office rather than to fill in the blanks yourself.

Amounts, fees and deadlines for Poland sit in the facts on the country page, each with its source and verification date.