Students from the Russian Federation at Polish universities

Since the dissolution of the USSR, students from the Russian Federation have been able to study at Polish universities on the basis of bilateral agreements between the Polish and Russian governments. The purpose of this article is to analyse the legal basis enabling Russian citizens to obtain education in Poland, analyse the numbers of such students and the principles and procedure they followed to begin studies at Polish universities in 1993–2014. Throughout the period investigated, students from Russia accounted for a small percentage of foreigners entering Polish universities, ranging between 1.02% and 2.03% of the overall number of foreigners coming to study in Poland. At the beginning of the period investigated, in the academic year 1993/1994 all Russian citizens studying in Poland were Polish government scholarship holders, whereas in the last year analysed scholarship holders accounted for more than 10% of the overall number of students. The predominant group of students were those paying for their studies (more than 64%) and those studying without a scholarship and free of charge (23%). The most popular subjects included Management, Economics, International Relationships, Journalism, Political Sciences and Eastern Studies. Students from the Russian Federation entered the largest Polish universities: Warsaw University, Jagiellonian University, University in Poznań, University of Wrocław, University of Lublin and University of Białystok. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s5p35