ENTRY CRITERIA
The Perspektywy Academic Schools Ranking 2026 presents both public and private Polish academic universities (in accordance with the institution type specified in the register of higher education and science institutions in Poland, available in the RAD-on system) that: (i) have a right to confer doctoral degree in at least one scientific discipline, (ii) have minimum 300 enrolled full-time students, (iii) have at least two years of graduates.
REPUTATION - 12%
- Academic reputation – a number of indications based on the survey conducted among academic staff (full professors as well as PhDs with habilitation, who have obtained their academic titles in the years 2021-2025. The survey takes also into account votes cast in the previous year. It was completed by Perspektywy Education Foundation in the CAWI method.
Source: Perspektywy. (10%) - International recognition – measured by an institution’s position in the following 2026 international rankings available in the month preceding the publication of the ranking, i.e. in May 2026: ARWU, THE, QS, US News, Leiden, FT, and Webometrics.
Source: international university rankings. (2%)
EMPLOYABILITY- 12%
- Alumni earnings - the indicator reflects the alumni earnings of a given university in 2020-2023 to average earnings in the county of residence according to the nationwide study of the “Polish Graduate Tracking System" (ELA) by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education based on the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) data.
Source: Polish Graduate Tracking System (ELA). (6%) - Alumni’s employment - indicator reflects the average length of employment of graduates of a given university in 2020-2023, estimated on the basis of the average percentage of months within the study period in which graduates were registered as unemployed, according to the nationwide study the "Polish Graduate Tracking System" (ELA) by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education based on the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) data. The data are related to unemployment rates in the graduates’ counties of residence.
Source: Polish Graduate Tracking System (ELA). (6%)
RESEARCH POTENTIAL - 13%
- Parametric evaluation – the sum of rating (categories) of individual disciplines assessed by the Committee for Scientific Evaluation (KEN), weighted by the number of full time academic staff activity in the evaluated disciplines (the so-called number “N”), and related to the total number of the staff. (Note: for institutions whose scientific activity quality evaluation covered only a single discipline, this indicator was not calculated, as the evaluation outcome in such cases is more susceptible to random variation than in institutions representing a larger number of disciplines, where random effects are partially offset. To compensate for the absence of this indicator, which carried a weight of 8% in the final assessment, the aggregated ranking score for these institutions was adjusted by multiplying it by a factor of 100/92.)
Source: POL-on database. (8%) - Academic staff with highest qualifications - defined as the ratio of the number of researchers and research/teaching staff (full time professors, PhDs with habilitation) to the total number of teaching staff employed as of 31.12.2025.
Source: POL-on database. (2%) - Rights to confer PhD degrees and PhD with habilitation degree – measured by the weighted sum of rights to confer PhD with habilitation degree (2 points for each discipline university is entitled to, 3 points for each discipline university conferred PhD degree, and 3 points for each discipline university conferred PhD degree with habilitation) as of 31.12.2025.
Source: POL-on database. (1%) - Teaching in doctoral schools - measured as the ratio of the number of doctoral students studying in doctoral schools in a given university to the number of research and research/teaching employees with a habilitation degree or the title of professor as of 31.12.2025.
Source: POL-on database. (2%)
RESEARCH EFFECTIVENESS - 30%
- External funding for research –measured by the ratio of the total funding obtained for research and development from outside in 2022-2025 to the total number of research and research/teaching staff as of the end of year. The indicator reflects the differences in research cost intensity between scientific disciplines.
Source: POL-on and university data - PNT S1 report. (5%) - EU funding for research and innovation - measured as the ratio of financial resources obtained from the EU framework programs for scientific research and innovation in relation to all employees engaged in research and implementation activities as of the end of year. The indicator concerns funds for the years 2022-2025 and takes into account differences in research costs between scientific disciplines.
Sources: POL-on and CORDIS database. (4%) - Faculty development – measured by the ratio of academic titles and degrees obtained by university staff in 2024-2025 (PhD's with habilitation weighted 1.5 and full professors weighted 2.0) in relation to the total number of academic staff - professors and doctoral degrees employed full-time.
Source: POL-on database. (3%) - Academic titles awarded – measured by the ratio of academic titles and degrees awarded by university in 2024-2025 (PhDs weighted 1,0, PhDs with habilitation weighted 1.5, full professors weighted 2.0) in relation to the total number of full-time academic staff.
Source: POL-on database. (3%) - Publications – measured by the ratio of the number of publications in the SCOPUS database covering 2021-2025 to the total number of full-time researchers and research/teaching staff as of the end of year.
Source: SciVal and POL-on. (3%) - FWCI (Field-Weighted Citation Impact) – measured by the ratio of citations of the publication to the average number of citations obtained by similar publications indexed in the SCOPUS database for 2021-2025.
Source: SciVal. (5%) - FWVI (Field-Weighted View Impact) - the ratio of the number of page views (screen views) of publications to the average number of page views obtained by similar publications indexed in the SCOPUS database in 2021-2025.
Source: SciVal. (3%) - Top 10 (Publications in Top 10 Journal Percentiles) - indicates the extent to which university's publications are present in 10% of the most frequently cited magazines in the world. The index is calculated by the ratio of publications in magazines with the highest CiteScore coefficient in relation to all university publications in 2021-2025.
Source: SciVal. (4%)
INNOVATION - 8%
- Patents and rights’ protection in Poland – number of domestic patents and protection rights obtained by university in the period 2022–2025, normalized using discipline-specific patent intensity and utility model intensity coefficients calculated for the period 2021–2025.
Source: POL-on database and university data. (3%) - Foreign patents and protection rights – number of international patents and protection rights obtained by university in the period 2022- 2025, normalized using discipline-specific patent intensity and utility model intensity coefficients calculated for the period 2021–2025
Source: POL-on database and university data. (3%) - SDG – contribution of research to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (2030 agenda).
Source: SciVAL. (2%)
TEACHING - 10%
- Teaching staff - ratio of the number of academic teaching full-time staff (professors weighted 2.0, PhDs with habilitation weighted 1.5 and PhDs weighted 1.0) to the total number of students (full-time students weighted 1.0 and external students weighted 0.6) as of 31.12.2025.
Source: POL-on database. (5%) - Accreditations – measured by the number of valid international accreditations and certificates, valid accreditations with distinction granted by the Polish Accreditation Committee (PKA) and Education Excellence Certificates (also granted by PKA).
Source: PKA database and international accreditation institutions’ database. (5%)
INTERNATIONALIZATION - 15%
- International students – measured by the ratio of foreign students to the total number of students as of 31.12.2025 (note: universities that have a percentage of international students of at least 25 percent receive the maximum number of points).
Source: POL-on database. (3%) - Students studying in foreign language – measured by the ratio of students studying in a foreign language in relation to the total number of students as of 31.12.2025 (note: universities where the percentage of students studying foreign languages is at least 25 percent receive the maximum number of points).
Source: POL-on database and university data. (3%) - ICI (Collaboration Impact) – measured by the number of citations in publications with a foreign co-author in 2021-2025. Self-citations are not included.
Source: SciVal. (2%) - Membership in European university – indicator rewards universities that are full members of a EU European university consortium as of 31.12.2025.
Source: European Commission database. (1%) - International teaching staff – measured by the ratio of the number of international staff to the total number of full-time teaching staff as of 31.12.2025 (note: universities that have a percentage of foreign academic staff of at least 25 percent receive the maximum number of points).
Source: POL-on database. (1%) - Mobility of academic staff under the Erasmus+ - measured by the number of academic teachers going abroad in 2025 as part of international exchange (minimums 5 days) in relation to the total number of academic teachers as of 31 December 2025 (note: universities in which the ratio of the number of mobility to the number of university employees reached a value of at least 25 percent receive the maximum number of points).
Source: Erasmus+. (1%) - Student mobility (outbound) – measured by the ratio of students going abroad for at least three months, in the last year reported to POL-on, to the total number of students as of 31.12.2025.
Source: POL-on database. (1,5%) - Students mobility (inbound) – measured by the ratio of students coming to the institution as part of an international exchange program for at least three months, in the last year reported to POL-on, to the total number of students as of 31.12.2025.
Source: POL-on database. (1,5%) - Multicultural composition of student body – measured by the number of countries represented by at least 10 foreign students as of 31.12.2025.
Source: POL-on database. (1%)
Note: PhD with habilitation is the degree between doctoral degree and full professor title.