Several Polish universities have been implicated in a visa scandal, accused of failing to properly verify the eligibility of international students. According to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (DGP), tens of thousands of students from countries such as Rwanda, Turkey, and Zimbabwe enroll in Polish universities primarily to obtain visas. Many of these students, after completing their first year, abandon their studies and choose to remain in the Schengen Area illegally.
While students bear some responsibility, Polish universities have been labeled the main culprits in this scandal. DGP reports that foreign students are a significant source of income for some universities, leading these institutions to overlook proper qualification checks.
This practice allows international students who pay the enrollment fees to be accepted and issued visas, which enable them to work and live in Poland. The primary concern is that these students do not return home after their visas expire, opting instead to stay in Poland or other Schengen countries illegally.
As a result of the scandal, three private Polish universities are currently under investigation. Experts are calling for immediate reforms to address these issues, including special controls by the Polish Accreditation Committee on all universities admitting foreign students.
Data shows that one year of studies in English at a Polish university costs about €3,100. Additionally, around 61 percent of students at the University of Management and Administration in Opole are foreign nationals, further indicating that universities are admitting unqualified foreign students to boost their income.
The Ministry of Interior and Administration has formed an inter-ministerial working group to tackle the irregularities in the visa system. Poland has also launched an investigation into some IT companies that were supposed to bring foreign workers on work visas, only to discover discrepancies between the number of visas granted and the number of foreign workers who actually arrived in the country.
