Situated in Central Europe, Poland is a developed country, bordered by Germany, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, and Lithuania. With a population of nearly 38.5 million people, Poland is the fifth most populous country in the European Union and regional power in Central Europe. Poland is the sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP in the European Union and the tenth-largest in all of Europe. It is also one of the fastest-growing economies within the European Union, with the largest stock exchange in the East-Central European region. As one of the most dynamic economies in the world, ranking highly on the Human Development Index, Poland offers its citizens and prospective international students a very high standard of living, safety, a good universal health care system, topnotch university education, and economic freedom. Because Poland has a robust domestic market, low unemployment rate, strong currency, low private debt, and is not dependent on a single export sector, it was the only European country that avoided the 2008 economic recession.

Poland also has a rich historic heritage evidenced by its 16 UNESCO World Heritage Sites (including 15 cultural ones) and a developed educational system ranked 10th best in the world in 2012 by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). With almost 2 million enrolled students as of 2010, Poland has about 457 university-level institutions of higher education, divided into categories based on their legal status and level of authorization. There are 131 state-funded, 326 privately owned universities, 40 of the publicly funded universities, and 2 of the private ones are considered classical, granting doctoral degrees on top of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in at least ten fields of study. The rest of them are divided according to their educational profile as usually reflected in their distinct names. Academy is used for institutions with a focus on fine arts, music, and drama while technical universities specialize in engineering and the physical sciences.