How to get into a Polish university?

I haven't finished school here and my family is moving back to Poland because my dad finally scored an okay job (my mum is very homesick and also my granny needs looking after). Is there any way I can get into university in Poland?

In Australia, completing school isn't a must and there are many ways to get into university. Are there options like that in Poland? Or if not, is there any way I can do my last year of schooling in Poland being now that I'm 20 and have been out if school for 3 years? Thanks.

Easy enough. Do the American GED - gedtestingservice.com/educators/home- you can sit the test in Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Lviv or probably even in Australia (you'd need to sign up to check). You can then use this to enter university in Poland. The process requires a thing called "nostrification" - which is a bureaucratic mess, but it's by far the easiest path in your case.

You could also sign up for a free adult high school in Poland, which would let you work towards the Polish Matura, which in turn would give you the qualification needed to enter university, though you'd need to have reasonable Polish skills to start. How is your Polish?

Thanks for your message delphiandomine, sounds easy enough :)
Polish skills will need brushing up but so will the rest of my academic skills. May I ask the age range for the free adult high school, if you do just one year or how it works, and also the age range? Is it difficult? Thanks so much for your helpful answer! I'm relieved

Free adult high school is only up to the age of Matura i.e. 18. You have to have excellent Matura exams to get into a Uni. Remember too that they are cutting available places at Unis. Do your research thoroughly first.

Sorry Terri, but that's not true.

There are plenty of free adult high schools available - for instance progresjeden.pl/poznan/oferta-edukacyjna/liceum-dla-doroslych.html - Nasze Liceum oferuje naukę bez opłat.

No need for excellent Matura exams. There are plenty of subjects offering entry for those with very low grades, even at the best universities and in good faculties, such as the law faculty at Adam Mickewicz University in Poznań.


Age can vary wildly, it's not uncommon for women to do it later in life, though it's mostly people in their 20's that have realised that they need it. Usually they last for 3 years, but you can probably skip some of it if you have proof of finishing a certain year in Australia. It's not difficult, but the reading might overwhelm you. But bear in mind that this is aimed at getting people educated at a basic level, so it really won't be that tough :)

Yes, you are right. Now I have thought about it I do see plenty of these 'liceum schools offering nauke bez oplat' in Krakow. Next time I'm in Krakow, I'll go in enquire about this. It would be interesting to see where they get their money from - I expect its from the EU.

They get it from the Polish state, which guarantees free secondary education to all citizens, regardless of age (as do most developed countries). Two of my students went to such schools, both while still teenagers; one because he missed a year of liceum when his mother died and he couldn't deal with it (went on to be top of his class in Bohemistyka at the University of Wroclaw and finished his masters with distinction), the other because he failed in his first year of lyceum (now finishing his third year in a very demanding course in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Detroit Mercy on a full-ride scholarship). Most of their classmates were in their twenties and thirties, and some even older. There were both full-time and part-time (zaoczne) programs available.

However, if the OP intends to go that route, it will take two years of full-time study, and loads of reading, to be able to pass the matura exam, even with the help of a tutor.