Malaysians can now study medicine in Poland

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians have more options to study medicine abroad with three Polish universities gaining accreditation here for their medical degree programmes.
The institutions are the Medical University of Warsaw, Medical University of Lodz, and Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow.
A Higher Education Ministry team visited Poland in 2005 to vet the country’s medical programmes.
Polish Ambassador Eugeniusz Sawicki said ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Zulkefli A. Hassan relayed the news to him when they met with Polish education officials who were here for the recent European Higher Education Fair.
The Public Services Department, in a letter to the envoy, confirmed that minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed had made the decision in a meeting on Aug 9.
“It’s a breakthrough for us as this is the first time Poland’s medical programmes are recognised by Malaysia.
“The cost of pursuing a medical degree in Poland is much lower compared to other European countries.
“For example, you pay ?12,000 euros (RM60,000) a year in Poland, compared to about ?30,000 (RM150,000) in Britain,” the envoy said in an interview.
Sawicki, who has been working hard to promote bilateral educational co-operation, is feeling optimistic in tapping his country’s developing education market from here.
Last week, he sent off the first private Malaysian student to pursue medicine at the Medical University of Warsaw. Thirty government-sponsored students will enrol at the university later. The medical course is conducted in English.
The envoy said education networking between Poland and Malaysia was gaining further strides with co-operation extended to the technical field as well.
Four UiTM Skudai students will study Optics in Science and Technology at the Warsaw University of Technology under a technical co-operation programme.