Jagiellonian vs University of Wrocław for a master's degree in English?

Which university do you recommend?

Uniwersytet Jagiellonski in Krakow has a well-known reputation for Polish instruction given to foreigners. It may still have a partnership with the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York which sponsors an exchange program for qualified American-born applicants who wished to learn Polish in Poland as part of their college degree or the like.

As far as English instruction given by native Polish speakers for foreigners, I'd be more than a little wary:-)

If English isn't your first language, well, you might not know the difference anywayLOL

English is my first language

If English is your first language it seems odd that you want to do an English masters in Poland especially as instruction is through the Polish language. Have you done your Bachelors already? If you want an English masters it would be better to study in a country where English is the native language, unless you want to teach English in the Polish education system. I believe the masters in Poland would qualify you to do that if you also have full proficiency in Polish.

Have you looked at the syllabus offered by each university?

I've heard of an example or two (by people living here long term).


Depends on the university... in one program I knew of all instruction in the department was in English (which just leaves WF and library orientation and things like that in Polish).

If the poster is a native speaker he needs to get everything sorted about things like 'practical English' classes and exams and even accent.
Also some Polish teachers of English get weird and defensive around native speakers.... even as colleagues and the idea of a native speaking student might send them around the bend....

Recently the offspring of an acquaintance (from North America) quit a dual language major because despite being a borderline native speaker they had the 'wrong' accent. The English instructors (Polish) absolutely required British pronunciation and vocabulary and were nasty about it....

Yeah, agree. I know a Polish guy who was doing English in Poznan university a couple of years ago. He was very fluent and had a perfectly nice, intelligible accent but he was told he had to have RP. Of course no instruction was provided in acquiring this accent. They were given an audio dictionary with British pronunciation (not exactly RP either, more general south east England) and left to their own devices, then scolded when the accent didn't come up to scratch.


The universities mentioned by the OP both give instruction through Polish, or at least they say they do.

Back in the 90s I knew several Brits who worked there and they were all horrified at the accent that teachers wanted for those in the British section (decades out of date and seemingly calculated to make most people in Britain hate them). They banded together and tried to get something more modern and realistic established as a model... guess that fell apart.

I've worked with a few graduates of the American section and while it's a very... distinctive sound it doesn't sound like GAE (or really anything American) to me at all....

Also exams can be an issue. If a native speaker is freed from 'practical language' classes they might have to take exams that can't be easily passed without a familiarity with the class material...

Thanks, travel999!

I chose one, but I doubt the other would have been any better. I regret my decision but I have to live with it. I would not study a Master's degree in Poland, the quality of education is too low.


I did not see your post until now but after attending almost a year in Poland I agree with your assessment. I will try to finish it out but would not do it again here.

Maybe a different faculty and taught in Polish would be better, but I would never again study in English in a non-english speaking country except maybe a top university in western Europe, but if I could do it again I would learn Polish if I studied in Poland, but better yet I would not study in Poland at all.


I agree with this assertion, some professors are unintelligible to a native english speaker.

A degree in English is like a degree in breathing or walking. I knew how to do both by the time I was 2.

How about a degree in Polish?

A total waste of time. I never studied English and didn't die from starvation. I can debate leftist scum and win every time, too...

The only waste is obtaining a degree of English in a country in which English is not only not
the mother tongue, but more to the point, taught by professors whose first language isn't even
the language in which they are teaching. If the courses are in fact being taught in Polish, this
would seem to defeat the entire purpose of pursuing a degree in English instead of Polish.

There is a simple way to learn a new language: Go there.
Takes too long? Enlist or go to prison.
Skip college. You will read a lot poetry but won't be able to buy crack and stay alive.

Actually, you're right about that!
Although only briefly in Poland, I did notice greater confidence when I
returned home.