Transfer from the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn: Where to Continue Medicine in 2026

What is the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn and what does it teach in English?

The University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Uniwersytet Warminsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie) is a Polish state university founded on 1 September 1999. Its Collegium Medicum runs a six-year Medicine programme taught entirely in English, worth 360 ECTS across twelve semesters, leading to the MD degree.

The faculty itself is younger than the university. It was established on 17 July 2007, and the English-language programme admitted its first students on 1 October 2010. The university as a whole counted around 15,607 students in December 2023. Olsztyn is the regional capital of Warmia and Mazury in north-eastern Poland, a lake region with a small-city pace.

That combination is the reason many international students choose Olsztyn in the first place. English-taught medicine, an EU degree, and a quiet place to study. Our location page for the University of Warmia and Mazury, Collegium Medicum collects the programme facts in one place.

Can you transfer from the University of Warmia and Mazury to another university?

Yes. A student enrolled in the English-taught Medicine programme at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn can move to another medical university and continue from the year their record supports. Medschool Experts arranges these transfers as its core work and reviews every case individually against its official partner network.

The decision is never made from a list. It is made from your transcript, the exams you have passed, the ECTS behind them, and the country you want to work in afterwards. Two students in the same semester in Olsztyn can end up with very different recommendations, because their goals differ.

Why do students transfer from the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn?

Students leave Olsztyn for planning reasons rather than complaints. The five reasons we hear most often are cost, exam fit, personal or organisational circumstances, a career goal in the United States, and a career goal in Germany. None of them is a judgement on the University of Warmia and Mazury or on Polish medical education.

• Cost. Tuition of approximately EUR 12,000 per year, plus living costs, adds up over six years. A more affordable partner university can cut that figure sharply.
• Exam fit. Some students keep meeting the same wall in one or two specific subjects. A university with a different examination format and pace can be the difference between stalling and finishing. We are specialists in exactly this situation.
• Personal and organisational circumstances. Difficulties with individual professors, family matters, or other issues that make continuing in one place impractical.
• A career in the United States. Students who want to sit the USMLE and apply for a US residency often want a programme built around that path.
• A career in Germany. Some universities prepare particularly well for German practice, including the option of completing the final practical year in Germany.

Where can University of Warmia and Mazury students transfer to?

Destinations for a student of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn fall into five groups, sorted by goal rather than by country: lower total cost, a better exam fit, a route into the United States, a route into Germany, and staying inside the European Union. Medschool Experts matches the group to the student.

Our full list of locations is on the partner universities page, and the services page explains what we take off your hands. The Mostar School of Medicine is the only European university that specifically prepares students for the USMLE, covering Step 1 for the preclinical part and Step 2 CK for the clinical part, in small groups with a better teacher-to-student ratio than other European medical schools and only 30 places per year. Medschool Experts places students there reliably without an entrance test, as long as our own quota allows.

How much can a University of Warmia and Mazury student save by transferring?

A worked example makes it concrete. The School of Medicine of the University of Warmia and Mazury states tuition of approximately EUR 12,000 per academic year. The Faculty of Medicine Foca charges EUR 3,500 per year, and roughly EUR 7,500 per year covers tuition and living costs together (Medschool Experts figures, 2026).

On tuition alone the gap is roughly EUR 8,500 per year. Counting living costs, the difference runs to somewhere between EUR 9,500 and EUR 11,500 per academic year. A student with three years still to complete is therefore looking at a total in the region of EUR 28,000 to EUR 35,000. Your own figure depends on the year you enter and how you live.

The zloty figures are worth keeping in view too. The published fee table for 2024/2025 lists 52,000 PLN for the first year and 47,000 PLN for years two to five, with 46,000 PLN for the sixth. At the European Central Bank reference rate of 4.3250 zloty to the euro on 11 September 2026, 52,000 PLN is about EUR 12,020 and 47,000 PLN about EUR 10,870. Currency movement alone can shift a budget by several hundred euros a year.

Which year can you enter after leaving the University of Warmia and Mazury?

There is no fixed ceiling. Medschool Experts frequently achieves high placements for students of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, often into year four or year five, and every case is reviewed individually. The aim is always the highest possible entry year with no or minimal loss of time.

As a rule of thumb, a clean transfer usually means no more than two outstanding exams, and the ECTS attached to them must stay below a maximum. Beyond that the picture gets more complicated, though it rarely becomes impossible. Send us the record and we will tell you what it supports.

One thing worth saying plainly. Entry into the final two years is often possible, which is why waiting until you have finished a full academic year sometimes works in your favour rather than against it.

How does a transfer from the University of Warmia and Mazury work with Medschool Experts?

Four steps. A free consultation about your situation and your goal, a review of your academic record and the ECTS you hold, a concrete placement offer from our partner network, and then the switch itself with a plan behind it. You stay enrolled at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn until the new place is confirmed.

We do not ask you to assemble paperwork on spec or to guess what a foreign faculty will accept. That comparison is our job, and we have done it several hundred times. What you provide is your transcript and a clear description of where you want to end up.

Student stories from people who have already made the move give a sense of the rhythm of it.

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What does Poland's EU membership mean for a degree from the University of Warmia and Mazury?

Poland has been a member state of the European Union since 2004, so the MD degree awarded by the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn is automatically recognised across the EU under Directive 2005/36/EC. A graduate does not need a separate equivalence procedure in another member state to have the qualification accepted.

This matters when choosing a destination. Moving to another EU university, for example in Bulgaria, keeps the same automatic recognition in place. Moving outside the EU changes the mechanism rather than the outcome, and the practical question becomes which country you intend to practise in. Graduates aiming for the United States work through the USMLE route regardless of where in Europe they studied.

We check the recognition picture for your target country as part of the consultation, before anything is signed.

When should University of Warmia and Mazury students start planning a transfer?

Earlier than most people do. A student at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn who is thinking about a move for the next academic year should talk to us at least one semester ahead, because credit assessment and placement both take time. Nothing is committed by asking early.

Two moments come up repeatedly. The first is after the initial year, once the cost of six years has become real rather than theoretical. The second is around the transition into the clinical phase, when a US or German career goal starts to shape everything that follows. Both are good times to talk.

And if the answer turns out to be that staying in Olsztyn is the right call, we will say so.