Uniwersytet Warszawski (UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW)

Studying in Poland can turn out to be a bit of a shock for international students, especially western ones.

The structure and content of the degrees are its absolute pro. Compared to a British schedule for a humanities/social science degree be prepared for twice as many hours of contact a week. Also be prepared by knowing that, in order to achieve a good grade for a class, you may have to jump through various hoops in order to please the professor, rather than following any strict peer-reviewed assessment criteria. Teaching is very traditional here, and the particular professor's values become wholly clear in their approach to grading and assessment. On the other hand, this has some advantages, as professors are often willing to develop a more personal student-teacher relationship, meeting outside of scheduled classes. This can overall be beneficial as you get them on your good side, which is necessary given how arbitrary the marking can be.

The biggest con of Polish universities lies not with the teaching (which is actually pretty impressive compared to English universities which, in my opinion especially for arts degrees,  have few contact hours and emphasise independent learning), but with the overall structure. As universities are publicly financed institutions they lack the amenities you'll normally be accustomed to when studying at a university. I certainly miss the 24 hour library with hundreds of computer spaces (the UW library is open 9-21 and has around 150 all running  a Windows OS from before I was born. The actual administration is probably the worse part though. You'll repeatedly find yourself either being ignored or have quite important processes not being complete. It's a particularly cruel irony once you realise how anal Polish civil servants are regarding correct documentation.   

Although my course was taught in English, you should definitely learn the language. Even living in the capital of Warsaw, it is a very lonely existence if you only know English. Whilst everyone under 30 will likely be conversational in English, it's often when dealing with more important business such as police, local government offices, shops, and transport inspectors that you find they don't speak English. Poles are one of the most proud peoples in the world and at least making attempts to engage in their intensely difficult native language is met with remarkable respect.

I had been studying in small degree, circ. 10-15 people per year and it was great deal. Everyone knew each other so teachers treated us very personaly and helped everyone to grauate. All teachers and professors were passionate about what they were doing. There were opportunities to attend courses from other disciplines and to learn almost every language in the world and that was pretty cool. On such courses you meet a lot, lot, lot of people and make friendships which can stay for all your live. Main campus is near the old town and city center so student live can easily shift with for ex. job live. You can attend here in exchange programmes such as Erasmus, Most and others.

The 1st place among Polish universities, one of the best and most valuable study programs in International Relations. The highest level of education and a lot of international opportunities. Perfect career prospects!!!