Student accommodation is one of the most important non-academic factors considered by students and their parents when making choices around studying abroad. Studying medicine and veterinary in the heart of Europe is so popular also because student accommodation in Poland is of high standard and costs fraction of what is charged e.g. in UK or Ireland. The dorms in most Polish cities are located within the campus boundaries or a few minutes on foot from the university. This makes them the most natural choice for first-year students,
but many decide to stay in the student accommodation throughout the duration of the entire program. Sadhbh describes what the student accommodation is like in Wroclaw, where she studies veterinary.
ICEF refers a six-country study conducted among 4,000 university students by Sodexo UK – the University Lifestyle Survey which found that the top non-academic factor influencing students’ choice of university was the availability of good transit links (41%), followed by the cost of accommodation (30%).
A study by StudentMarketing conducted across 15 European cities shows that 51% of student accomodation facilites provided access control systems and identifiable security measures, a small percentage given that, as the StudentMarketing report authors note, “security and safety are now coming to the fore in Europe, with parents wanting their children to feel safe in the current precarious geopolitical era.”
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Back in Wroclaw... The university dormitories, called “Raj” or “Paradise” in English are exactly that! They are exceptionally clean and very safe. They are mainly reserved for English division students as well as some Erasmus students. This ensures that there are always other English speaking students around to socialise and study with. The dorms are located in the Biskupin area of Wroclaw, which is a 3 minute walk from the Biskupin campus and a 10 minute tram ride to the Norwida/Grunwaldski campus. It is the perfect location for students and has everything you need right on your doorstep. Located on Fryderyka Pautscha, there is a supermarket, pharmacy, local fruit and vegetable store, bakery and bookshop less than 2 minutes away. They are also located right at the tram stop so you would never get caught too far from home on a rainy day! Biskupin park or Park Biskupiński is located right behind the student accommodation. The Odra river runs along the course and occupiesan area of about 10 ha. The park includes, among other things: a playground for children , tennis courts , fields for basketball and football, naturopaths . It is an amazing area to take a break from study to walk, run or just chill out with friends.
After applying and confirming your place in the dorms you arrive and check in with the management. You can opt to share a room with someone you know or someone who is in your class. I would advise to share a room for the 1st year at least because it makes it easier to make friends and meet new people. The dorms themselves are divided into 2 separate bedrooms (with 4 people in total in the 2 bedrooms), a kitchen and bathroom. The rooms are very bright and are always warm! (which is very welcome during the cold winters!). They each have a balcony to enjoy views of the gorgeous garden plots or open BBQ area to the back. There are washing machines and driers on site as well as other areas to dry clothes. There is ample wardrobe and storage space and they are very easy to keep clean. There are monthly cleaning checks in the dorms carried out by the cleaning staff so the standard is always really high. Any issues with the student accommodation rooms are fixed instantly and anything that is needed is provided by the staff. The rooms do not come with any of the smaller appliances such as a kettle, toaster, microwave and utensils should be purchased. An iron and hoover is provided for the whole dorms which can be rented at reception.
Student Safety at the Student Accommodation in Poland
The most important thing to keep safe is your dorm identification card. It is needed every time you leave and enter the building as well as for using washing machines and other services. The dorm management require you to leave your room key at reception when you leave and to present your card when you need to collect your key again. This ensures the highest quality of security and safety for everyone. It gives peace of mind as well as no other students or friends etc are not allowed to enter the dorms without a form of identification which will be kept at reception until they leave. All visitors must also leave the building by 11pm at night. This is something to keep in mind if you intend on maybe visiting the dorms with parents if it is possible while visiting the city.
Inexpensive Student Dorms in Poland
The dorms are the perfect place to stay while studying veterinary in Wroclaw from a student’s perspective. The rent works out when sharing a room as 549zl per month which is roughly €130 or 810zl for a single room which is around €197 per month. They are one the lowest rates in the city for student accommodation. However, some students do decide to live away from the dorms and move into the city centre. The rent will of course be higher, but some find the standard of accommodation to be higher as most buildings are newer or newly refurbished.
Renting a Flat in Poland When Studying Veterinary
Some tips for looking for accommodation outside of the dorms:
- Be aware that some landlords do charge an agency fee for helping you to find suitable housing.
- Never send any transactions to the person advertising the apartment/house online before meeting with them or seeing the property. Any honest landlord will accept this.
- Do let the landlords know that you are a student. This is to allow them to know that you will most likely only be there for the school months (i.e. not summer months). Be aware that some landlords may ask you to pay for rent over the summer even if you are not living there.
- Some Facebook pages such as “Rent a Flat Wroclaw” are very reliable so try to join them.
Parents and Family Visiting Students in Poland
For any parents or friends who are looking to visit the college before the year starts or during the course of study there are a lot of options for accommodation in the city. The city centre is located around “Rynek” or the city square. It is known for its distinctively beautiful and unique town hall and quaint town houses which are brightly coloured. There are lots of hotels around this area but of course the prices will be at the highest here as it is the most central part of the city. Other central places include Plac Dominikanska and Podwale. Of course, there are also some more affordable places to stay such as “Aparthotels” which are self-serviced apartments or AirBNBs around the city. The Raj dorms also offer a very affordable price for visitors to stay in the “hotel” accommodation on the ground floor of the building.
Sadhbh Moran, 2nd year student of Veterinary Medicine at Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences
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Medical Poland can help with both renting private accommodation and booking apartments for family visits. It only takes an e-mail to support@medicalpoland.ie with the number of people and dates.
