Second Degree in Poland: Rules, Routes and Costs for 2027

Three ways to study in Poland when you already have a degree

You have three options and they are not equally good. A second bachelor’s is allowed, with no quota and no graduate surcharge. A master’s in a subject you did not study at first-cycle level is ordinary second-cycle admission, gated by an entrance exam or a qualifying interview. A one-year top-up into the final year of a bachelor’s does not exist in Poland at all.

Which fits you depends on why you are studying again. To change field or add seniority, the conversion master’s is almost always the answer: 1.5 to 2.5 years, €2,500–7,500 per year at a public university, and the only one of the three that leads to the Temporary residence permit for graduates (job search) for 9 months. A second bachelor’s makes sense in one case: the new field is regulated at home and the licence requires an undergraduate degree in it.

Unless a professional body insists on a first degree in the new subject, take the master’s with bridging courses. Intakes are October, February (some); our master’s degrees in Poland page sets out the entry standards.

A second bachelor’s in Poland

Poland permits a second bachelor’s — yes — and imposes nothing extra for a degree you already hold. There is no quota of the kind Germany applies to a Zweitstudium and no separate graduate scheme: you apply on the ordinary first-cycle form described on our bachelor’s degrees in Poland page, against the same standards as a school leaver.

The old second-field-of-study fee rule, which charged Polish students for a second programme, died with the 2005 Act and was never re-enacted. Admission now turns on one thing: a certificate giving access to higher education. You pay tuition as a non-EU applicant in any case, so you pay the standard fee whatever degrees you hold — €2,000–6,500 per year at a public university, €3,500–7,000 per year at a private one — and the law freezes that fee for the length of the studies.

What it costs you is time. First-cycle studies run 3 to 4 years and 180 ECTS, entered at year one, and credit for earlier study is discretionary rather than a published entitlement. A second bachelor’s in Poland is a full degree at full length and full price, so justify it with a licence rather than with interest.

Changing field with a conversion master’s

This is the mainstream route. The law asks for a first-cycle diploma and nothing else — there is no matching-field rule — so a graduate of one subject may apply to a second-cycle programme in another. Universities control quality at the gate instead, through an entrance exam or a qualifying interview, and attach różnice programowe, bridging courses taken alongside the master’s. Because those sit on top of the timetable rather than extending it, the nominal length is unchanged: 90 ECTS over 1.5 to 2.5 years.

Two examples show the spread. The University of Warsaw admits to second-cycle Chemistry from any field on an oral exam and an interview. AGH adds a bridging semester ahead of its Chemical Technology master’s and teaches that route in Polish only, which rules it out for most African applicants.

Fees are the ordinary second-cycle ones: 30 English-taught master’s at the University of Warsaw at €1,000–18,000 per year, and 24 at Warsaw University of Technology. Ask admissions in writing how many bridging courses your file attracts and in which language they are taught, before you accept an offer. Compare institutions on our universities in Poland page.

HND and diploma holders: top-up routes

Applicants from Nigeria and Ghana often ask for a final-year top-up, the way British universities sell it. Poland does not have one. The published position: No top-up degree exists in Poland; first-cycle studies are entered at year one. NAWA rates the Nigerian ND and HND and the Ghanaian HND as grounds only for crediting a period of study towards a Polish bachelor's, with no Polish equivalent and no right to second-cycle entry, while a Ghanaian bachelor's does open a master's. Advanced standing is discretionary, through transfer of ECTS or validation of learning outcomes (art. 71: 5 years' work experience for first-cycle entry, capped at 50% of the programme's ECTS and 20% of its intake), and is run in Polish.

That splits applicants by document rather than by ability: a full bachelor’s opens the second cycle, a national or higher national diploma does not, however long it took.

Test two alternatives before committing to a full first cycle. Ask whether validation of your work experience shortens it, accepting that the procedure is competitive, capped and conducted in Polish. Or finish a bachelor’s at home and come for the master’s, where a three-year African degree is accepted on its own terms.

Visa, age and funding for a second degree

Nothing in Polish law bars a second degree at the same level, and there is no age limit: none. The exposure is at the consulate rather than the university. A student permit is granted for a declared purpose and refused where the file does not support it; it is withdrawn where the holder uses it for something else or is removed from the student register, and rectors must now report that removal to the visa authority. Poland refused 38% (2024) of student-visa decisions, with Nigerian applicants recording the second-highest number of refusals of any nationality. Write one paragraph into the file explaining why this degree follows from the first: a licence, a career change, a specialisation the first degree does not carry.

Funding bites harder. Banach NAWA, the one Polish scheme that pays for a master’s, excludes you on the face of its rules: A first-cycle (bachelor) degree awarded no earlier than 2024, or final-semester enrolment with graduation by 15 July of the application year. Holders of a second-cycle or uniform master degree are excluded. It also bars anyone who took their bachelor’s in Poland, and covers only Nigeria and Kenya among our nine origins. Poland My First Choice lists no African country and the Łukasiewicz programme is closed. Erasmus Mundus is open to all nine and pays €1,400 per month, excluding only a second Erasmus Mundus award. Work rights are unchanged: No cap for full-time students at qualifying institutions. See Poland student visa requirements and Poland scholarships.

How to apply with a degree in hand

The sequence is the same for all three routes; only the second step differs.

1. Get your existing degree assessed. Obtain a written statement from the Director of NAWA that your diploma entitles you to continue to the next cycle at home; nostrification applies only where it does not.
2. Choose the route. A master’s with bridging courses where the field is unregulated; a second bachelor’s only where a licence requires the undergraduate degree itself. A diploma without a degree means first-cycle entry at year one.
3. Check the language of the bridging courses. Some faculties run różnice programowe in Polish only, turning an English-taught master’s bilingual.
4. Apply through the university’s own system. Poland has no national portal. Second-cycle admission is Rolling at many universities, with intakes in October, February (some); apply early, because non-EU files need visa time.
5. Assemble the documents. Degree certificate, full transcript, the NAWA statement, passport and proof of accommodation. Every certificate needs an apostille: yes. The one-off application fee is PLN 85–100.
6. Prove your language. No national minimum grade applies; the threshold is B2 in the language of instruction, commonly 6 for a master’s, though several universities accept 5.5.
7. Build the money file. Show PLN 17,650 by bank statement or sponsor letter. Egyptian statements have historically been rejected by the Cairo post.
8. Apply for the visa and insure yourself. The National (Type D) visa costs €200 and takes 2 to 8 weeks. Budget PLN 55.80 per month for NFZ voluntary cover once resident.