Tuesday, 16 June 2026
The number of students enrolled at higher education institutions in Poland increased for the fifth consecutive year, reaching 1.32 million in the 2025/26 academic year, according to new data published by Statistics Poland. The total represented an increase of 42,700 students, or 3.3%, compared with the previous academic year.
As of December 31, 2025, Poland had 345 higher education institutions, of which 328 submitted statistical reports used in the analysis. The latest figures confirm a continuation of the recovery trend that began in 2020/21 after student numbers declined from 1.4 million in 2015/16 to 1.2 million in 2019/20.
Women accounted for 58.2% of all students, while full-time programmes attracted 818,200 students, representing 61.9% of total enrolment. First-cycle programmes remained the most popular, accounting for nearly 59% of all students.
Mazowieckie Voivodship remained the country’s largest academic centre, hosting 287,800 students, equivalent to 21.8% of total enrolment. At the opposite end of the scale, Lubuskie recorded the lowest number of students, with just over 12,000 enrolled.
Business, administration and law continued to be the most popular field of study, attracting 22.1% of all students. Health and welfare ranked second with 14.7%, followed by social sciences, journalism and information at 14.4%, and engineering, manufacturing and construction at 12.3%.
The number of international students declined by 6.5% year-on-year to 101,600. Foreign students accounted for approximately 7.7% of total enrolment, with the largest groups coming from Ukraine (46.7 thousand students), Belarus (10.9 thousand) and Türkiye (4.8 thousand). Nearly 88% of foreign students were enrolled in full-time programmes.
Mazowieckie was also the leading destination for international students, hosting around 33,000 foreign students, nearly one-third of the national total.
While student numbers continued to increase, graduate numbers remained below levels seen a decade ago. In the 2024/25 academic year, 306,600 people graduated from higher education institutions, including 189,100 women, representing 61.7% of all graduates. However, the number of graduates was still 15.9% lower than in the 2015/16 academic year.
The largest share of graduates completed programmes in business, administration and law, accounting for 24.9% of all diplomas awarded. Health and welfare represented 13.2% of graduates, followed by social sciences, journalism and information at 12.9%, and engineering, manufacturing and construction at 12.3%.
Among the 22,600 foreign graduates, Ukrainians represented the largest group, accounting for 39.6%, followed by Belarusians with 12.2%. More than half of all international graduates were women.
The figures suggest that Poland’s higher education sector continues to attract growing numbers of domestic students despite demographic pressures, while international enrolment has moderated after several years of rapid growth. Business-related disciplines remain the dominant area of study, both among current students and recent graduates.
