Full-time Polish-taught programmes at public universities are free for EU/EEA and Swiss citizens, while English-taught ones usually cost €2,000–6,000 a year. Poland has 344 higher education institutions, and full-time non-EU/EEA students with a student visa or temporary residence permit can work without a permit. Find out how admission works and what a student typically spends a month (PLN 1,500–2,000).
How long: 3–4 years (most often 4) in a doctoral school run by a university or a research institute (e.g. institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences). Education in doctoral schools is free of charge.
Your status: doctoral students receive a scholarship of at least 37% of a professor's salary until the mid-term evaluation (PLN 3,570.50 gross a month in 2026) and at least 57% afterwards (PLN 5,500.50), for up to 4 years.
How to get in: a master's degree and a recruitment competition; schools publish their admission rules by 31 May of the previous year.
Where to look: doctoral positions and calls are published on the websites of universities and their doctoral schools and on EURAXESS. Programmes in Poland in our database: Poland – 952 doctoral programmes (as of September 2026) »
Sources: Eurydice – national description of third-cycle (PhD) programmes (updated 8 December 2025); Law on Higher Education and Science, art. 209. As of October 2026.
Sources: European Commission – Study in Europe (education.ec.europa.eu/study-in-europe), Eurostat, official national study and residence portals and authorities, Eurodesk, enic-naric.net, studentnews.eu. As of September 2026.
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