Study a master degree in Poznan University of Life Science as international student

Hi,

I am from Central America and I have been accepted to study for a master degree (in English) in Poznan University of Life Science. I´m really interested in the program. Though, I have not been able to get in touch with anyone that has studied previously there. Could anyone give me a feedback about the reputation of this University in Poland? While looking into the rankings I see that is not one on the top, but I know is a relatively small University so I just want to know if they are good in their study area.

I will greatly appreciate any comment.

Why would you want to do a master in English at a polish university in the first place?

Well, currently most international master's degrees are offered in English despite the host country (from Germany to Sweden, to China or Japan and so on). While searching for programs my main criteria was the study course and how much it fits with my current profession. Country of origin wasn´t that important (though, having a study experience abroad should be amazing, especially in a European country).

I have read several good comments about Polish universities, but most of these ones come from Erasmus students which I feel in many cases just care about traveling and having fun (this is just my feeling, perhaps is not true). On the other hand, I have read in this blog and other places that English programs aren´t that good in several Polish Unis (which in the worst of the scenarios will probably be better than average Latin American Universities).

If you ask me I could easily tell about the reputation of most of the Unis in my country, but I have not been able to get in touch with someone that has studied previously at Poznan. In brief, I will like to know from a Polish native what I could expect from Poznan University of Life Sciences. Is this considered a good university in Poland?

Thanks a lot for your time!

Poznan is an average university in terms of reputation, maybe a tad higher than average. The best unis tend to be in Warsaw and Krakow.

Personally I think you're better off studying elsewhere, especially a master's in English. Polish universities aren't internationally recognized- certainly poznan uni won't be. If you're going to do a master's in English you're better off doing it in the us, UK or a top European/asian/etc school or even one in central America. The only jobs available to you with a master's in English is going to be teaching, translating and related positions. None of them pay much - you'll be lucky to get a job that pays slightly more than the national average starting out. Most of the good jobs with an English degree are located in the wealthy gulf countries and Asian countries like China Japan Korea etc. In the Asian countries especially China and Korea it's more important to be a good looking white person and a native speaker than having a master's. Unless you plan to stay in Poland and teach, imo getting an English master's from poznan is a waste of time. Even if money isn't your primary motivation you still have to look at the roi and see which countries and schools will give you the best career options.

That is very true.


The former Agricultural University, not the highest prestige within Poznań itself...

Polish education is very good in Polish, but it tends to be a lot weaker in English and living in Poland without knowing Polish is often inconvenient and difficult (possibly like living in Costa Rica without knowing Spanish, maybe more so).

A lot depends on what kind of program it is. Generally this univ is very good in some niche areas such as forestry or wood related things but is rather medium in cases of economy or IT (which they are also running) - you could find better programs in these fields in Poznań itself so it makes no sense to study for example economy there especially If you would need to travel half of the world to get there.

Is it one of these ?
skylark.up.poznan.pl//kandydat/study-english

Then it looks fine. This is what this univ is about - farming/animal/food/forestry - next to SGGW (sggw.pl/) they seem to be the best in Poland in these fields. Don't look at general rankings, there are univs in PL that are much larger and have centuries long traditions so overall they will be always ranked better.

Can't say anything about their English programs or how they compare to similar ones in Germany and elsewhere but it's definitely not any clow level.

Jm84,

I know someone whose major was linguistics and thoroughly enjoyed her studies at the University of Poznan. Not certain if all majors have equally good faculties.

Get my e-mail yesterday, incidentally? Sorry if there were any typos:-)

no such animal exists, there are several state universities

University of Life Sciences (formerly Algricultural University)
Medical Unviersity
University of Engineering (Polytechnika)
University of Fine Arts
Adam Mickiewicz University (Humanities, Social and Natural Sciences)

Linguistics would have been studied at the last

Each subsumed, I've no doubt, under the generic rubric of "Poznan University", regardless of the individual faculty for their respective department(s)!
Lots of colleges and/or universities, e.g. Maximillian-Universitaet in Munich, will typically have a subdivision, such as "Life Science" etc. as separate from "Humanities" or the like. All institutions will have various disciplines listed under differing categories, for instance, in my college, "History" was separate from "Liberal Arts" which included exclusively "English", "Modern & Ancient Languages", along with "Mathematics", of all things.

I'd imagine it should be much the same in this case, no?

Nope. They are separate institutions. Each is subdivided into Wydziały (Faculties or Colleges).

Aha, therefore the linguistics dept. would be the same, albeit a separate division of same.
Thanks again for the heads-up:-)

Didn't have time to edit post just now.

You mean that they are individual faculties, but under one roof. More or less:-)

Here are the wydziały for Adam Mickiewicz University

amu.edu.pl/dzialalnosc/wydzialy

And on this page you can find the wydziały for Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy (a separate institution unrealted to Adam Mickiewicz University

skylark.up.poznan.pl/uczelnia/struktura

Much appreciated, maf.

Hi,

I really appreciate all your comments and feedback.


I guess that without a few exceptions this is the truth for most professions everywhere in the world....But also, I believe that effort and good working persons can succeed in any area, it just takes more time (and a little bit of luck).


My idea is to come back to my home country and apply the new knowledge. That is why I am more interested in the coursework and worried about the quality of the Uni.


Then I guess I will not have many chances in those countries JAJAJAJA

That is right. One of those ones. They seem pretty well structured.

Thank you very much