Poland

Poland’s tradition of academic education goes back to 1364 when King Casimir the Great realised how important it was to have a class of educated people. Thus, Krakow Academy, today known as Jagiellonian University, was established. Today, Poland has over 450 HEIs (Higher Education institutions) to choose from and being a member of the Socrates-Erasmus network, Poland has slowly built a reputation for students looking to get an unforgettable study experience and an internationally recognized degree. There were 72 743 foreign students from 170 countries studying in Poland last year and the numbers grow steadily. Read on to discover what exactly makes Poland a good choice for a study destination.

Every day throughout the world over a billion people rely heavily on Australian inventions. Every time they drive a car, fly, prepare a meal, use a laptop or Smartphone or spend some time in hospital there is a good chance they are relying on Australian inventions or discoveries. Australian inventions include the very old, such as the boomerang and the woomera, and the very new, such as the scramjet, first fired at the Woomera rocket range. Australians have been leaders in inventions relating to both maritime and aeronautical matters, including powered flight, the black box flight recorder, the inflatable escape slide, the surf ski, the wave-piercing catamaran and the winged keel. The economy of Australia is a developed, modern market economy with a GDP of approximately US$1.2 trillion. In 2009, it was the 13th largest national economy by nominal GDP and the 17th largest measured by PPP. Australia still benefits from the wealth on and under its land and seas. Natural resources and energy companies remain well represented on our list of Australia’s 40 biggest companies. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, two mining giants, occupy second and fourth places in the list. The top ten is rounded out by banks, financial services firms, a telecoms group and food retailers. The full 40 spans multinationals in a range of industries, from Fosters, synonymous with beer but whose wine business is now its larger part, to Qantas Airways to Macquarie Bank, which has developed an investment banking niche in large-scale infrastructure and is the world’s largest operator of private toll roads.

The majority of all people living in Poland (about 60%) have settled in the country’s urban areas. There are quite a few bigger towns in Poland, with life in Poland focusing on five of them, which qualify as major cities. Warsaw, the country’s capital, alone has about 1.7 million inhabitants. Most inhabitants are of a Polish descent. In fact, there is only a small minority of Germans, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Lithuanians, and Belarusians. The country’s many traditions and local customs emerged from Latin and Byzantine influences and were strongly shaped by various European occupiers. As mentioned above, life in Poland is mainly influenced by the geniality of the Polish people. The culture is a rather welcoming one. Even if you do not speak the language fluently yet, you will probably be quickly included and find new friends in Poland.