Studying Medicine in Katowice: Costs, Structure and Recognition

Katowice at a glance

Katowice is the centre of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area, a city that has transformed itself within a few decades from a coal-and-steel region into a services and culture hub. Right in the middle of it sits the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, internationally known as SUM. It's a state university, founded in 1948, and teaches Medicine and Dentistry in its own English-language programme for international students. Don't confuse it with the private Academy of Silesia at the same location — these are two separate institutions with different governance, admissions processes and fee structures.

University and teaching hospitals

The institution traces back to a medical academy founded in Bytom in 1948 and has held university status since 2007. Today, five faculties are spread across four Upper Silesian locations: Katowice-Ligota, Zabrze, Bytom and Sosnowiec. According to the university, it offers 18 programmes and has a teaching staff of more than 1,500 (sum.edu.pl, as of 2026).

Clinically, the university is affiliated with a network of seven hospitals and centres. These include the University Clinical Centre in Katowice-Ligota, the Upper Silesian Medical Centre, the Upper Silesian Child Health Centre, and the Silesian Centre for Heart Diseases in Zabrze, regarded in Poland as a reference centre for cardiology and cardiac surgery. Dentistry has its own teaching clinic at the Academic Centre for Dentistry. In practice, that means your clinical years take place at large hospitals serving a catchment area of around two million people.

In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026, the university sits in the 1201–1500 band, with 10,184 students and a student-to-staff ratio of 6.9. When looking at a location, I pay less attention to the ranking itself than to this ratio, because it says something about how often you actually get hands-on in class. 6.9 is a figure you'd expect from a specialist medical institution, and it matches what students in Upper Silesia tell us about group sizes in their placements.

A word on the scale of the network: the university is one of Poland's larger medical institutions, training students not only in Medicine and Dentistry but also in Pharmacy, Nursing, Physiotherapy, medical laboratory science and public health. For you as a medical student, this mainly means one thing — in daily clinical work you'll encounter teams from within the same institution and structures set up specifically for teaching.

Which programmes are available, and in what language?

SUM's English-language programme offers two medical degrees. Both lead to a single-cycle master's qualification, both are taught entirely in English, and both start in the winter semester.

Good English skills are therefore not a formality but a working necessity. Solid school-level English is enough to get started; you build up medical terminology from scratch in the first semesters anyway, and that's true for everyone. Polish comes on top of that: language courses are firmly built into the curriculum in the pre-clinical stage, because from the clinical stage onward you'll be speaking with Polish-speaking patients. Anyone who dismisses these courses as a nuisance notices it later at the bedside.

How does admission work?

There's no numerus clausus. What's required is a general higher education entrance qualification and good English skills. Your school-leaving grade doesn't determine admission — it takes a back seat to your entrance test result.

The university runs this test remotely, via MS Teams (admission.sum.edu.pl, as of 2026). Biology is fixed, and for your second subject you choose between chemistry and physics. It tests upper-secondary school material, not university-level knowledge. The result is expressed in points and determines your place on the applicant ranking list. You get one attempt per application round, so preparation is worth it.

As an official partner of this university, we handle your registration, application and test scheduling for you. We take care of the paperwork. You focus on the academic side and on the interview where you present your motivation; beforehand, we go through which subject combination suits your strengths and practise the format with you. You don't need to travel to Poland for the test.

In consultations, I notice that many applicants choose their subject too quickly. If you dropped physics in upper secondary school, don't tick physics out of habit just because it went well once in your final exams. That one decision often shifts the result more than two extra weeks of studying would.

What does the programme cost?

The university charges its fees in Złoty and also states euro amounts. For the 2026/2027 academic year, it lists 65,500 PLN for Medicine and 68,400 PLN for Dentistry (admission.sum.edu.pl, as of 2026). In euros, that matches the figures also listed by studimed.de for the winter semester of 2026.

Fees are due each semester, so you don't pay for the whole programme upfront. On top of that come one-off costs around the application, plus ongoing expenses for textbooks and lab coats; in Dentistry you also need to budget for your own instruments.

Let's work through the full calculation — explicitly an estimate, not a quote: with €92,160 in fees for six years of Medicine, a monthly cost-of-living budget of €800 to €1,000, and around €3,000 for books, coats, insurance and trips home, you land at roughly €155,000 to €170,000 for the full programme. For five years of Dentistry, with €80,100 in fees, the same monthly budget and an instruments line item, I get to roughly €135,000 to €145,000. These are estimated figures, not invoices — but they give a clearer sense of scale than any single semester fee on its own.

On financing: Poland is an EU member, so study-abroad BAföG is generally an option for full-time study. The relevant education funding office decides on approval and amount based on your personal circumstances — nobody can give a blanket guarantee, and the application needs lead time. Alongside that, students also use study loans, scholarships and family contributions. Since fees in Poland are charged in Złoty, exchange rates shift your euro costs slightly from year to year — plan for a buffer.

Within Poland, Katowice sits in the mid-range. The following figures come from studimed.de, as of the winter semester of 2026.

You can see how Katowice compares with other Polish locations in our overview studying medicine in Poland; the closest comparable location is covered in our article on the Medical University of Wrocław.

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How is the programme structured?

Medicine follows the classic European structure: theoretical foundations first, then clinical training, finishing with a full practical year. Dentistry runs in parallel in Zabrze, with earlier patient contact at the treatment chair.

You end up with around 360 ECTS credits in Medicine and around 300 in Dentistry, documented on the Transcript of Records. Collect these records fully from the start — you'll need them later for licensing and for every application to a specialist training post.

In practical terms, from the third year onward you're working in the hospitals of the university network. Clinical electives in Germany are generally possible; the university decides on recognition according to its own regulations — check this in advance rather than assuming it. Many students use semester breaks for exactly this, building contacts with their future specialist training hospital while still studying. It's the most effective step you can take yourself.

Where can you practise as a doctor with this degree?

Poland is a member of the European Union, SUM is a state university, and the Polish title lekarz is listed in Annex V, point 5.1.1 of Directive 2005/36/EC — as amended by Delegated Decision (EU) 2023/2383 of 23 May 2023, applicable since 9 October 2023. This means automatic recognition applies: no equivalence assessment, no knowledge test.

This last point matters more than it sounds. The Polish Accreditation Commission (PKA) is responsible for Polish institutions, and on 15 September 2025 it received World Federation for Medical Education recognition status, issued for the full ten-year term (wfme.org). This means graduates of Polish medical programmes meet the formal requirement the ECFMG has set since 2023.

To be clear once more, since this constantly gets mixed up: LEK and Staż are required for professional licensing in Poland. They are not required for German licensing. After graduating, you go directly to the licensing authority of the German state where you want to work.

Dentist, pharmacist, psychologist, veterinarian: the legal position by profession

Dentist. SUM's Dentistry programme runs for five years, is taught in Zabrze, and leads to the title lekarz dentysta. This title is listed in Annex V, point 5.3.2 of Directive 2005/36/EC, so the same automatic recognition applies as in Medicine. After licensing, specialist dental training is open to you.

Pharmacist. This profession is harmonised across the EU, and Annex V, point 5.6.2 lists the recognised qualifications. SUM maintains a Faculty of Pharmacy in Sosnowiec, but Pharmacy is not part of the English-language programme for international students in Katowice. This location is therefore not an option if Pharmacy is your goal.

Psychologist. Psychology and psychotherapy are not harmonised under the directive, with no entry in Annex V. Each member state regulates access and use of the title itself — in Germany via the Psychotherapy Act and licensing regulations. Recognition is therefore always assessed case by case, not automatic. In any case, this subject isn't offered in Katowice.

Veterinarian. Veterinary Medicine is also harmonised, under Annex V, point 5.4.2, with automatic recognition of the degree. However, it's not part of the Medical University of Silesia's offering; in Poland, it's taught at separate institutions. We'll help you find the right location for this in a free consultation.

Career paths after graduation

With your lekarz diploma and German licence, you begin specialist training at any hospital or institution authorised to provide it. The most common path among our graduates leads back to Germany, Austria or Switzerland — into internal medicine, surgery, anaesthesiology or general practice.

The degree isn't limited to German-speaking countries, though. It's valid across all EU and EEA states, and anyone wanting to work in the United States can pursue the ECFMG route, since Polish accreditation has been WFME-recognised since 2025. There's also research, public health services, industry and international organisations. We've covered in detail which doors an EU medical degree opens worldwide, and what steps each path involves, in our career paths with an EU medical degree.

If you want to stay in Poland, you sit LEK and complete Staż, and can then pursue specialist training within the Polish system. Upper Silesia, with its large medical centres, is not a bad place for that.

Timing matters too. The programme starts in the winter semester, and you should apply the year before, since places are limited and preparing for the test takes time. Applying early gives you a choice among several locations; applying late means taking what's left. That's not dramatic — it's simply a matter of planning.

Lateral entry, transfers and moving back to Germany

Katowice is also open to you if you've already studied or are partway through a degree. If you've completed semesters in a science subject in Germany, you bring relevant background, but you'll generally still need to start in the first year. Entry into a higher semester is the exception, and depends on which credits the university recognises.

The reverse also applies: a transfer from Katowice to a German faculty is possible, but not automatic. It requires a free place in the appropriate higher semester, and the receiving faculty decides independently which credits it recognises. You can't build a plan around that. Plan to finish your degree in Poland; a later transfer is then an option, not a necessity. We've covered the rules for returning to Germany in our article on moving back to Germany.

Life in Katowice: the city, getting around, costs

Katowice has around 280,000 inhabitants, and roughly two million people live in the wider Upper Silesian metropolitan area. The city is compact, well served by trams and buses, and noticeably cheaper than Warsaw or Kraków. According to Numbeo data from 3 August 2026, a monthly public transport pass costs 120 Złoty, a simple restaurant meal around 43 Złoty, and estimated living costs for a single person excluding rent are around 2,840 Złoty a month, roughly €660.

For housing, studimed.de lists around €196 for a place in halls and about €370 for a one-bedroom flat in the centre, for the winter semester of 2026. If you're studying Dentistry, you should focus your housing search on Zabrze, since teaching takes place there; connections within the metropolitan area run frequently.

Getting home is straightforward. Katowice-Pyrzowice Airport is around 30 kilometres north of the city, Kraków is about an hour and a half away by train, and Dresden or Berlin are a manageable drive. What I appreciate about Katowice is that the city doesn't present itself as a postcard backdrop — it's an ordinary, functioning place to work and study. That's exactly what I liked about Sofia too.

Socially, the international student body is the biggest factor. The English-language cohorts bring together people from many countries who are all new to the city, so making connections is easier than at a faculty where most students are local. Sports, choir, student council work and academic societies all run through the university, and students who want to get involved in research can join working groups early on.

Who this location suits

Katowice suits you if you want a state university with a large hospital network, if you want to study in English, and if you'd rather have a transparent admissions process than wait on a quota tied to your school-leaving grade. The entrance test rewards preparation, not background or grades — that's a fair starting point.

The location suits you less if you want to study Pharmacy, Psychology or Veterinary Medicine. There are better options elsewhere in Europe for those, and we have a suitable partner university for almost every situation.

My assessment: Katowice is one of the most solid Polish locations for international applicants — state-run, clinically strong, unremarkable in fee comparisons, and with an admissions route you can actively influence. Whether it fits your situation can be worked out in twenty minutes: book a free consultation.