SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities (reviews)

I attended the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw.
The course was Scandinavian Studies with Norwegian as major. The year I started my degree was the year they started the Norwegian leg of Scandinavian Studies at SWPS. Hence I didn’t expect it to be ideal. Truth to be told after graduating from SWPS I attended two different universities and none of them was as greatly organized as this one. The course was exactly what I expected or better – useful subjects, heavy on gaining language skills, political and cultural emphasis too. Professors mainly from Norway, and what’s important – from different regions of Norway which is important because we were able to get used to different accents. Professors were always for us, always reachable and willing to listen and help. I can’t really think of anything that was missing, maybe students that would give us some notes from past year haha – perks of being the first ever group of students at particular course 🙂 Absolutely recommend!!!

This is specifically about the English Studies BA program!!!!

My time at SWPS was genuinely great. I remember being very interested in all of my classes and thought they were taught with great enthusiasm and knowledge. I’ll definitely never forget Prof. Wisniewski, Prof. Gadomska, Prof. Tarnowska, and Prof. Komorowska-Janowska for such great lectures.

The level of English that my lecturers had, particularly in my program, was outstanding. As a native English speaker I felt comfortable understanding them.

In this course, everything felt well-organised and ran smoothly, especially when we switched to online-mode.

The only downsides of this university is of course the 480 hour internship, two semesters of cross training, and that the uni allows student’s with very poor English to make it into the third year. Yes, most students had great English, but I remember some who just couldn’t speak or write. I think the uni is setting these kinds of students up for failure.

Never less, the positive aspects of the English Studies program are of course the variety of different English subjects, the lovely cafeterias within and outside the campus, and the easy-going feeling of studying.

I am doing my master’s at SWPS University. My professors are experienced professionals in their field of study. They are innovative and up-to-date when it comes to operating their classes. Materials are always provided. The university building isn’t that big. There are no many facilities where students can take their times and relax. Inside the building is very clean. Overall, it’s a good university to study.

I enrolled in the Psychology in English Bachelor’s program during the pandemic in 2020. The pandemic situation was not clear, so the information regarding the format of the study was changing. Unfortunately, the first year was fully online, and I neither met most of my colleagues nor I studied in the building. It is hard to assess the quality of the program during this period; however, my overall perception was rather positive than negative. Most of the subjects were very interesting and some teachers met the “golden standard”. They were engaged in the process and tried to encourage us. It was obvious that they were knowledgeable and interested in the subject they taught. On the other hand, since this program is in English and the teachers are Poles, a couple of them were not enough proficient in spoken English to provide us with information in a clear way. I consider it as a huge drawback because one of them was teaching Neurobiology subject which is quite challenging by itself and with language problems from the teacher’s side it was almost impossible to stay focused and motivated during these lectures.
The second year was brightened up by the fact that we were finally able to visit the building for some of our classes, although the minority of them. The building was right after the repairments, we witnessed modern and comfy classes with all the technical equipment that we might need. There are also a few cafes and a cafeteria with fair prices. All the pros and cons which I mentioned above moved to the second year, however, I noticed something more. From my point of view, the program is too easy. I realized that I do not have to spend too much time and effort to receive straight 5 points. On the one hand, it is good, since I have a lot of spare time and I can work. On the other hand, I see that after 2 years of studying I do not have the level of knowledge I expected to gain. I reckon the problem exists due to the two factors. First, a small number of graded assignments and a lack of truly challenging tasks. Second, lack of negative (fair) feedback. Psychologists are aware of the importance of feedback; therefore, we receive a lot of it, however, It is usually positive or neutral even in the cases when It should have been negative. That leads to a situation in which students do not actually know about their mistakes and will continue to make them in the future. Also, it gives the feeling that it is possible to cheat and do not put much effort into tasks, because the work will be marked as good or excellent either way. I was able to meet a couple of students from the psychology program in the Polish language and according to their stories, I concluded that the program in English is more theoretical and easier than in Polish.
The second year has also shown several pros of the University regarding communication between University authorities and the student community. In case of any reasonable desire of changes in the studying process, it was possible to contact the University, write a petition, collect signatures and achieve the results. The University seems to care about students’ opinions and satisfaction with the study process.
In addition, the offline study format opened opportunities to participate in scientific and other activities. The University has several student scientific clubs and some professors offer an opportunity to assist in conducting research, however, that is very limited and not as interesting as I expected.
I wish I’d started my education here after the pandemic to see how the University actually functions, whether there is a student’s life and whether it is worth its price.

To summarize:
Pros:
– Some of the teachers are very passionate and knowledgeable about their subject;
– Good communication and attitude between the University and students;
– Comfy classes with modern technical equipment;
– Some opportunities to do scientific work.

Cons:
– Low level of spoken English of some teachers;
– Easy/not very challenging program (lack of fair feedback and challenging tasks);
– Increasing price without apparent reasons.