The past decade saw changes in the improvement of students' skills in Poland (compared to the beginning of the millennium), both for girls and boys. In the past decade, girls outperformed boys in reading (although the differences between them in this field were becoming smaller). The level of skills acquired in mathematics and science were roughly equal among both sexes. In terms of the acquired skills, male and female students from Poland were rated among the highest of students form all OECD countries in the last edition of the survey (in 2018), ranking higher than in 2015. Fifteen-year-old girls were 5th in 2018 in terms of their performance in two areas: reading and mathematics, and 7th in science-related subjects (boys ranked 5th in reading and science literacy, and 6th in mathematics).

Polish women aged 18–24 are more likely to continue education and training after completing compulsory schooling than their male counterparts, which is a common phenomenon in most EU countries. In addition, fewer young women from Poland leave education and training in the early stages than do their EU female peers than on average. In the last decade, fewer Polish women aged 18–24 than men from the same age group decided to discontinue their education (4% of women and 6% of men in 2022). In the recent years, however, the percentage of women discontinuing their education slightly increased compared to 2010, while the opposite was true for men.

Women in Poland are also more likely to enter into and complete tertiary education than men. In 2022, in the age group between 25 and 34, 50% of women and 31% of men attained tertiary education, which was slightly more than at the beginning of the previous decade. Polish women were also slightly more likely than Polish men to continue their education in adulthood, with 8% of women between the ages of 25 and 64 and 7% of their male counterparts undertaking such education in 2022 (more than at the beginning of the previous decade). However, women from other European countries undertook education in adulthood nearly twice as often as Polish women.

Download data .xls

As a result of demographic changes, the number of students at Polish universities is gradually decreasing (by a third in a decade). Within the student community, women continue to outnumber men – in the last decade, female students accounted for nearly 60% of all students at Polish universities (which is more than the EU average, where women constituted 54% of all students).

As the number of students in Poland decreases, so does the number of graduates. In the 2021/2022 academic year, the number of graduates was over 40% lower than in 2010/2011. Women graduate definitely more often from universities and are more likely to receive a degree than men. In the past decade, women on average accounted for almost 2/3 of all university graduates in Poland. The education-related differences between men and women become even more evident in terms of the studied fields of educations. Women predominate among graduates in most groups of fields of education; for years, they have dominated in such fields as education and health and welfare (in both the above-mentioned disciplines, over 80% of all graduates are women). Female graduates, however, are among the minority in the fields such as ICTs and engineering, manufacturing and construction, so generally those which increase the chances of finding a better-paid job.

Women are more likely than men to continue their education after earning a university degree by entering into postgraduate programmes. Since 2010, they have accounted for an average of 70% of all participants in this type of studies. When deciding to supplement their knowledge, Polish women most often take up studies in health and welfare, business, administration and law, and education (in total, these three disciplines are chosen by 80% of female postgraduate students). Polish men, on the other hand, upgrade their education most often in the field of health and welfare, business, administration and law (altogether, these disciplines are chosen by almost 70% of men). As in the case of higher education, most fields of education in postgraduate studies tend to be dominated by women, with the exception of ICTs and subjects related to engineering, manufacturing and construction, which are predominantly chosen by men.

Download data .xls

A steady growth in the number of doctoral students was observed until 2014, and in 2015 it came to a halt. In the subsequent years, their number gradually decreased. In 2022, the total number of PhD students (i.e. students in doctoral programmes and doctoral schools) declined by 35% compared to 2010. A slightly larger decrease was observed among women than men; nonetheless, the share of women attending doctoral programmes and doctoral schools remains above 50% (52% in 2022). In doctoral schools (established in 2019), women accounted for 50% of the total number of participants in 2022.

In 2022, women constituted the majority (about 65%) of students of doctoral schools in the field of agricultural sciences as well as medical and health sciences, while remained the minority in theology (25%) as well as engineering and technology (33%). Women most often studied natural sciences, social sciences, and medical and health sciences, while men tended to choose engineering and technology as well as natural sciences.

Women slightly more often than men earn doctoral degrees in Poland. In the years 2010-2022, women with a PhD accounted for an average of 53% of those awarded such a degree. Although women dominate among the graduates of university and doctoral studies, men outnumber them in the group of habilitated doctors. In the period of 2010-2022, the share of women among scientists who earned degrees of habilitated doctor increased from 37% to 46%. More women than men were awarded the degree of habilitated doctor in the fields of agricultural sciences, and medical and health sciences.

The disparity between men and women holding the title of full or titular professor in Poland is even greater. In 2022, women received 37% of all awarded titles of professor (25% in 2010), mostly in the medical and health sciences, in humanities and agricultural sciences.

Download data .xls

Increasing numbers of young people from abroad choose to study at Polish universities – from the beginning of the previous decade, their number rose fivefold (from 21 thous. in 2010 to 105 thous. in 2022). Due to the growing number of foreigners studying in Poland and the simultaneous decrease in the overall number of students, the share of foreigners in the student community in Poland is rising (in 2010 foreign students accounted for slightly more than 1% of the total student population, and for almost 9% in 2022). In the years 2010-2021, about half of the students from abroad studying in Poland were women, while in 2022 their share dropped to 46%.

In the years 2010–2022, most foreigners choosing to study in Poland came from Europe (their share fluctuated from 70% to almost 84% over that period); the remaining part of foreign students at Polish universities come mainly from Asia and – increasingly often – from Africa. Most foreign female students in Poland come from Europe: in 2010-2021, they accounted for 54% to 56% of the total number of students from Europe; however, their share decreased to 49% in 2022 due to a large inflow of men from Ukraine. Female students from e.g. Asia or Africa, on the other hand, are in the minority. The proportion of Asian women in the total number of students from that region is constantly decreasing: in the years 2010-2022, it dropped from 43% to 36%, whereas the share of women from African countries is on the rise. In the same period, their proportion in the total number of African students in Poland grew from almost 30% to over 42%.

Ukraine and Belarus have for years been the countries where most foreign students attending Polish universities came from. In 2022, women from Ukraine constituted 46% and from Belarus 15% of all foreign female students in Poland. In 2022, the annual increase in the number of Ukrainians studying in Poland was 33% (from 36 thous. in 2021 to 48 thous. in 2022). A much larger increase was observed among men (by 67%) than women (by 9%).

Foreigners studying in Poland most often choose business, administration and law as their major (the latter was chosen by 35% of men and 28% of women in 2022). Majors which are more popular among foreign women than men include, among others, education and art and humanities. Men, on the other hand, tend to choose fields of study related to information and communication technologies (ICTs), individual inter-field studies, as well as those connected with engineering, manufacturing and construction.

Download data .xls