Polish language at the Warsaw University of Technology

Photo: The Foreign Language Centre archive.

Polish functions at our university according to the same principles as any other foreign language: there is a registration requirement, course completion, and students receive ECTS credits. Participants of the Erasmus+ programme who have Polish written into their contract (Learning Agreement) can take part in classes.

A course of 30 or 60 hours is obligatory in some faculties on studies in English (Faculty of Architecture, Faculty of Mechanical, Energy and Aeronautical Engineering) or on selected dual degree programmes (JEMARO, EuroAquae). Those studying in English usually choose Polish as part of their language course. Many students justify this choice with the desire to remain in Poland after their studies, sometimes for personal reasons. 

Learning Polish vocabulary. Photo: The Foreign Language Centre archive.

In classes at the Foreign Language Centre, most students learn at the beginning levels of language proficiency. Depending on need, the Foreign Language Centre also runs courses at higher levels: A2 and B2. In each examination session, it is possible to take the ACERT B2 exam in Polish and thus pass an exam in a foreign language.

In the summer semester of an academic year 2022/2023 222 students in 13 groups studied Polish.

The courses offered by the Foreign Language Centre include:

 - one-year courses to enable you to study in Polish,
- short preparatory courses for state certificate examinations,
- a preparatory course for candidates from Belarus (Konstanty Kalinowski Scholarship Programme),
- general Polish language courses for the families of Warsaw University of Technology employees and Ukrainian students,
- a particular course for Ukrainian students admitted to study at WUT after 24.02.2022,
- courses resulting from current needs.

Students learn about traditions related to the celebration of Polish holidays during their Polish language classes at WUT. Photo: The Foreign Language Centre archive.

The Polish language and subjects on culture and life in Poland are integral to the Foundation Year Programme, which the Foreign Language Centre has been running since 2015. In the 2022/2023 academic year, 86 students participated in the programme. Since the beginning of the Programme, 612 students have participated.

Since 2017, the Foreign Language Centre has been an examination centre accredited by the State Commission for the Certification of Polish as a Foreign Language. Annually, the Polish Language Centre conducts 2 to 3 sessions for 50-70 examinees.

For the past 15 years, the Foreign Language Centre has been running intensive September courses (the last two weeks of September, three lessons per day), funded by the Centre for International Cooperation, for all willing Erasmus+ students. These courses ended with a workshop, during which students had to put the knowledge and language skills they had acquired into practice. In the 2022/2023 academic year, the Foreign Language Centre lecturers conducted remote Polish language classes at the B2 level for lecturers from Lviv Polytechnic as part of the "Solidarity with Ukraine" project.

Group of foreign students studying Polish with a visit to the Nicolaus Copernicus monument in Krakowskie Przedmieście. Photo: The Foreign Language Centre archive.

Polish language courses also cover Polish culture and history in a broad sense. The employees are happy to answer students' questions about everyday life in Poland: they help translate text messages, e-mails, official documents, teach how to communicate with a courier, write an application form, etc. The immersion in Polish culture starts at the first Welcome Meeting for international students by learning basic phrases and singing Polish songs together.

Information about courses and enrolment is available on the Foreign Language Centre website.

The material was compiled by: mgr Marta Szpak
coordinator of Polish language classes
teaching assistant, lecturer of Polish as a foreign language