Rankings: The 21 best universities in Poland for 2021/2022
Photo by Peter Heeling, Public domain
Poland is an exciting country to study abroad, and Polish universities have been increasingly successful in international university rankings over recent years. The best-ranked universities in Poland are the University of Warsaw (the country’s largest) and Jagiellonian University in Cracow (the country’s oldest, dating back to the 14th century).
One strength of the Polish higher education system are its specialised universities of technology and its medical schools. These institutions offer world-class education at modest tuition fees.
| University | QS Ranking 2021 | THE Ranking 2021 | ARWU Ranking 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Warsaw | 321 | 801 | 301 |
| Jagiellonian University | 326 | 501 | 401 |
| Warsaw University of Technology | 511 | 1001 | 801 |
| AGH University of Science and Technology | 801 | 1001 | 701 |
| Lodz University of Technology | 801 | 1001 | – |
| Gdansk University of Technology | 801 | 1001 | 801 |
| Nicolaus Copernicus University | 801 | 1001 | – |
| Wroclaw University of Technology | 801 | 1001 | – |
| University of Wroclaw | 801 | 1001 | – |
| University of Lodz | 801 | 1001 | – |
| Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan (UAM) | 801 | 1001 | 801 |
| University of Gdansk | 801 | 1001 | – |
| Poznan University of Technology | 801 | – | – |
| Silesian University of Technology | 801 | 1001 | – |
| Cracow University of Technology | 801 | 1001 | – |
| SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities | – | 1001 | – |
| Medical University of Warsaw | – | 801 | 901 |
| Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences | – | 1001 | – |
| Warsaw University of Life Sciences | – | 1001 | – |
| University of Silesia in Katowice | – | 1001 | – |
| Medical University of Silesia | – | – | 901 |
The QS World University Rankings are among the most important, most-referenced rankings. The QS ranking relies heavily on its academic survey, asking thousands of academics worldwide about the reputation of universities.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (or the THE Rankings for short) compile a wide range of statistics. Equal weight is put on teaching quality, research excellence, and research impact through citations (meaning how often a university’s research is referenced elsewhere).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (often just Shanghai Ranking, or ARWU) focuses on research output and quality, for example measured by the number of published and cited scientific papers and the number of staff or alumni winning the Nobel Prize or Fields Medal.
Poland is an exciting and modern destination for international students. Tuition fees in the Eastern European country are modest and cost of living extremely low, while the quality of teaching is high.
Read more about studying in Poland
