„Ukrainization” of the Polish Universities and the Internalization of Higher Education in Poland

Abstract

In the article the author describes factors and social and economical consequences of the constantly increasing number of Ukrainian students in Poland. In the academic year 2014/2015 Ukrainians constituted more than 50,6% of all foreigner students in Poland. This process has been called the “ukrainization” of the polish universities. The factors which have an impact on the increasing number of Ukrainian students are the opportunity to make a European diploma, not stable political and economical situation in Ukraine, corruption in Ukrainian universities. The “ukrainization” of the Polish universities, in one hand, is an antidote for the consequences of bad demography and is a part of wider process of the internalization of higher education in Poland. In the other hand, the increasing number of students from Ukraine makes some of Polish students do feel being discriminated because of – in their opinion – Ukrainians are treated by teachers with a bigger tolerance because of the lower level of knowing Polish language and because of the situation in Ukraine in 2014–2015. Also Polish students are against the government’s financial support for the Ukrainians who arrived from the Eastern Ukraine. The written paper is based on government statistics, articles published by “Perspektywy” Foundation and other articles on the subject.