Polish univs see sharp fall in enrolment of foreign students
By ENGR.M.R.AHMAMD(RAJ)
Polish Universities are facing a huge drop of the enrolment of foreign students due to COVID pandemic .Recent days Polish universities become one of the most popular destination among international students comparing with other European countries.
An according with the ministry of science and education along with NAWA which is an official Polish National agency for academic exchange , the situation could deteriorate because the killer virus continues to spread.
The University of Łódź, which is a state University and world ranked University where every year a significant number of foreign students get admission from different countries of the world .Last year ,they had almost 2300 foreign students who got admission and continued their study in Bachelor ,Masters and Doctoral program while this year its dropped to around 1600 students .Beside ,University of Gdansk which is also a renowned public University among International students and they could recruit only 500 international students where it was near about 2000 enrolled foreign students last year .Though situation is improving day by day instead of getting worse .
University of Warsaw which is the top public University and ranked first only 2452 foreign candidate took part during this recruitment as of data from the net and EduXplore analysis up to now over 800 students admitted .In 2019 nearly 3000 students admitted before the pandemic in 2019 .Though all of the students could not take part on campus classes due to pandemic and they are doing remote classes from their native country due to travel ban and facing the problem of visa application to the respective embassy .
The press office of the University Warsaw said that it’s expected situation and difficult to compare the amount of foreign students with the students previous students as usual and also said that Significant changes could occur by then.”
According to the statement of the professor Jerzy Lis who is the rector of AGH University of Science and Technology located in IT HUB city Krakow This year, two times fewer people signed up for Erasmus than last year, and the summer semester is exceptionally much more popular than the winter semester. This situation overlaps with restrictions in individual countries, border closures and limited flight options between countries”
Poland is also a popular destination for Erasmus Exchange students for its cultural diversity and rich academic tradition .But due to pandemic most of the University didn’t open their exchange program for health precautions for international students . Though the reporter found that a few students arrived Lublin University of Technology as an ERASMUS exchange student beginning of October when the situation was under control .Students who already came and started classes they are doing also remote classes instead of on campus lectures and labs .
Lucia Candrina ,an Italian student got the opportunity to study at Lublin University of Technology and came to Lublin beginning of October and participated a few classes on campus but from October 15 ministry of science and education decided to shut down all of Universities and went for remote learning .Lucia Candrina said “I came to Lublin from Italy to explore Polish culture ,make new friends ,taste polish foods and visit historical places like Lublin castle and others popular tourist destination of Lublin but unfortunately I am now locked at my dormitory even I was affected by Corona virus and quarantined almost 4 weeks “
Another state renowned University named Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan also found a dramatic drop of foreign students comparing with last year .University spokeswoman Malgorzata Rybczyncka saying that whereas last year there were almost 1200 foreign students completing full education cycle in the academic year ,that number has gone down to 1000.Additionally ,she added that the number of ERASMUS Exchange students dived from 600 in 2019 to just over 200 this year .
Due to COVID a lot of public and private Universities in Poland even could not start their international study program for international students main academic year which starts as usual October 1 .They are facing troubles with foreign students regarding students visas even a good number students had acceptance letter from Universities .
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education said: “A lower number of admissions of foreign students is projected due to the global restrictions related to COVID-19. The situation of universities in Poland is of course no exception, universities all over the world are struggling with similar problems and challenges due to COVID-19.”
As reported by one of the most popular foreign student recruit consultancy firm named EduXplore based in Poland which recruits a huge number of foreign students from the country like Bangladesh , India ,Nepal,Pakistan , Ukrain and African continent .The CEO of EduXplore said “We are facing a tough situation during COVID pandemic days and we found students from Asian countries are suffering about financial difficulties. Beside that ,due to pandemic the Polish embassy situated in NewDelhi ,Abuja ,Pretoria and Kieve was closed till September and the students didn’t want to take risk about this to get the appointment from Poland embassy to submit their visa application .in 2019 EduXplore recruited near about 250 international students around the world but this year dropped over the 50”
Additionally ,Country operating officer(COO) in Bangladesh of EduXplore Mr.Ahsan said “ We are now overcoming this situation and students are preparing for March intake while we are processing their university admission recent days.”
The writer is Masters student & International Student ambassador, University of Economics and Innovation in Lublin.
