Human capital

Academic center

Throughout Małopolska, in the academic year 2024/2025, 152,000 people (including foreigners) studied at 25 universities based in the Małopolska Region.

The largest academic center is Krakow, where 131,800 people studied.

The best universities in the country are based in Krakow. According to the “Perspektywy 2024” Ranking of Academies, the Jagiellonian University is number 2 place in Poland among universities, and the AGH University of Science and Technology is fourth among Polish technical universities.

And these are the universities that are most popular among college graduates. These universities have also been recognized in the prestigious Shanghai ranking of “1,000 best universities in the world”:

• Jagiellonian University – 401-500
• Stanisław Staszic AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow – 801-900

Universities in Małopolska focus on development of modern education, closely related to the expectations of the labor market, hence they offer fields of study such as biotechnology, IT, materials engineering, chemistry and process engineering, electronics and telecommunications, chemical technologies, design, economics, finance and accounting, management and marketing, linguistics.

Below is the distribution of students in the most popular fields of study:

• Business, administration and law – 30,900 (20.4%)
• Social sciences, journalism and information – 27,200 (17.9%)
• Technology, industry and construction – 25,600 (16.8%)
• Humanities and arts – 17,800 (11.7%)

In the academic year 2024/2025, higher education diplomas in Małopolska were awarded to 35,600 people.

The largest group of graduates completed their studies in the following fields:

• Business, administration and law – 7,600 (21.3%)
• Technology, industry and construction – 7,000 (19.8% of all graduates)
• Social sciences, journalism and information – 5,200 (14.7%)
• Humanities and arts – 3,900 (10.9%)

As of December 31, 2024, there were 9,100 foreigners, which constituted 6% of the total number of students. The foreign students came from 133 countries. The largest group, 5,200, were from Ukraine (57.4% of foreign students). Belarus was well represented (1,000 students), followed by Norway (400), China (300) and Spain (300).

As of December 31, 2024, 11,700 persons (including 200 foreigners) participated in postgraduate studies in the academic year 2023/2024. Postgraduate students supplemented their knowledge primarily in the fields of:

• Business, administration and law – 4,400 (38%)
• Social sciences, journalism and information – 1,400 (12.3%)
• Education – 1,300 (14.9%)
• ICT technologies – 1,100 (9.8%)

8,800 postgraduate diplomas were issued in the academic year 2023/2024.

Labor market

The following factors boost the potential of the Małopolska labor market:

• 2 million inhabitants are people in working age (III qr. 2023), of whom above 1.5 million are professionally active (working or actively looking for work)
• Małopolska is an attractive place to work for foreigners: in 2024, 123,000 work permits were issued for them.
• According to the demographic forecast prepared by the Central Statistical Office, by 2035 there will be a constant increase in the number of inhabitants in Małopolska.

The situation on the Małopolska labor market is reflected in the following statistical indicators regarding both Małopolska and Krakow alone.

MAŁOPOLSKA (October 2025)

• Unemployment rate – 4.6%
• Registered unemployed – 67,200
• Mean monthly gross remuneration in the enterprise sector – PLN 9,404.47 
• Average employment in the enterprise sector – 558,300

KRAKOW (October 2025)

• Unemployment rate – 2.5%
• Registered unemployed – 13,000
• Mean monthly gross remuneration in the enterprise sector – PLN 11,160.39
• Average employment in the enterprise sector – 251,400