POLISH STUDENTS AT LONDON UNIVERSITIES AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE POLISH DIASPORA IN THE UK

Integration of the European Union has modified the traditional understanding of the notion of “migration”. As Adrian Favell puts it, currently - after the EU enlargement - migration from the Eastern European to the Western European states takes 2 forms: one is traditional immigration into European nation-states; the other one is “elite migration” of the EU citizens whose career strategies are cosmopolitan and post-national. Educational migration may be described as the second form; students are moving temporarily and they are open to decisions to further migrate. It is interesting to examine the links between these two types of migration; I will do this on the example of the Polish society in the UK, where both the labour migration and the educational migration has significantly increased after the Poland’s accession to the EU. My study is based on in-depth interviews, followed by a short questionnaire. The query took place in London in the academic year 2009/10 and included students and graduates of the four London universities: Westminster, Metropolitan, City University and colleges of University of London. In addition, I pay attention to government reports and statistic surveys