University of Warsaw and Jagiellonian University jointly took first place in the Perspektywy University Ranking 2026, finishing ex aequo at the top of the ranking. Close behind them is Warsaw University of Technology, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. Kozminski University once again earned the title of the best non-public academic university, while the State University of Applied Sciences in Koszalin won in the category of vocational higher education schools.
Published since 2000, the Perspektywy University Ranking is the most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to Polish higher education. It provides a broad overview of academic and vocational institutions, both public and private, as well as 76 fields of study offered by these institutions. Thanks to the ranking, every secondary school graduate, whether aiming for the prestige of a major metropolitan university or seeking high-quality, practice-oriented education at a local institution, has access to a tool that supports informed, evidence-based decisions about their future educational path.
The ranking is published annually by the Perspektywy Education Foundation and is overseen by a Ranking Committee chaired by Professor Michał Kleiber, former President of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The committee includes representatives of the academic community (including the Polish Accreditation Committee and the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland), institutions supporting innovation (such as the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland and the National Information Processing Institute - National Research Institute OPI PIB), the labor market (represented by the Polish Bank Association), where graduates ultimately find employment, and the publishing company Elsevier. This broad representation contributes to the credibility of the ranking and the widespread recognition of its results.
- Our ranking is primarily intended for secondary school graduates, says Waldemar Siwinski, Head of the Ranking and creator of Poland’s educational rankings. - It serves as a kind of compass to help them choose the best direction for their future education. However, the academic community also eagerly awaits the results. Thanks to its regular publication, methodological consistency, and ability to evolve over time, the Perspektywy University Ranking has become a mirror in which Polish academic and vocational institutions review themselves each year. It highlights what is working well and deserves recognition, while also indicating areas that may require improvement.
The Perspektywy University Ranking relies exclusively on external data sources, including Poland’s nationwide Polish Graduate Tracking System (ELA), which tracks graduates’ earnings and the speed with which they secure employment after completing their studies. The Ranking Committee also evaluates factors such as the proportion of academic staff holding the highest qualifications, the actual number of scientific publications, the quality of journals in which faculty members publish, citation impact, innovation, teaching conditions, and internationalization. As a result, the assessment of academic quality is designed to be as objective as possible.
The Perspektywy University Ranking currently consists of three complementary rankings:
- Perspektywy Academic Schools Ranking, covering all higher education institutions in Poland (except arts universities) that hold at least the authority to confer doctoral degrees;
- Perspektywy Ranking by Subject, covering 76 major fields or groups of fields of study offered by academic universities this year (with electroradiology included as a new addition);
- The Higher Vocational Schools Ranking, covering public and non-public higher education institutions that offer master's degree programmes.
Perspektywy Ranking by Subject, should be particularly valuable for secondary school graduates, as it often demonstrates that in a specific, specialized discipline, a smaller but highly focused institution can compete with and even outperform the country’s leading universities. This enables prospective students to make more personalized and well-informed choices regarding their studies and future educational paths.
In the Perspektywy Ranking by Subject 2026, a total of 76 fields of study were evaluated this year. A new addition to the ranking is electroradiology, with the Medical University of Warsaw taking first place in this category.
Among the universities offering the highest-ranked fields of study in Poland, the University of Warsaw leads with 17 top-ranked programmes, followed by Jagiellonian University with 15 and Warsaw University of Technology with 11. They are followed by AGH University of Krakow and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, each with 7 top-ranked programmes, the Warsaw University of Life Sciences SGGW with 4, and the Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport, Gdansk University of Technology, and Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, each with 3.
The full results of the Perspektywy University Ranking 2026 and the Perspektywy Ranking by Subject 2026 are available at: ranking.perspektywy.pl.
Strategic Partner of the Perspektywy University Ranking 2026: Erste Bank Polska
Partners: National Information Processing Institute – National Research Institute (OPI PIB), Elsevier, and the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland.
The special issue of Perspektywy magazine featuring the ranking results is available at selected newsstands, while a free e-book can be downloaded from ranking.perspektywy.pl.
Note: In accordance with the decision of the Ranking Committee, institutions whose ranking scores differ by no more than 0.5 percentage points are classified ex aequo (jointly ranked).