Medicine (MD), unified master’s (European and International programmes)

About the course

A 6-year (12-semester, 360 ECTS) medical degree taught in English at the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, on the Katowice-Ligota campus, with clinical teaching in affiliated teaching hospitals. There are two programmes, European and International, and graduates of both receive the same MD diploma.

Entry requirements for Irish students

• The university converts Leaving Certificate grades to points (H1 = 100, H2 = 89, H3 = 79, H4 = 69, H5 = 59, H6 = 49, H7 = 39, H8 = 0; the Ordinary Level table uses the same values). It ranks applicants on Biology (compulsory) plus one of Chemistry, Physics or Mathematics, all taken at extended (advanced) level, which the Ireland table matches to Higher Level. You need at least 100 points in total across the two subjects, including at least 40 in Biology (so H6 or better in Biology). The Rector may lower this threshold if places are not filled. The Leaving Certificate does not need NAWA recognition.
• You only sit an entrance exam if your certificate is missing the required subjects. It is held remotely on MS Teams at high-school level, covers Biology (compulsory) plus Chemistry or Physics, is marked 0-100 per subject, and can be taken only once per admission process.
• English at B2 level or higher is required. For EU citizens, the rules accept a certificate of graduation from a school where English was the language of instruction, as well as language certificates.

Working in Ireland afterwards

Because your medical degree comes from an EU/EEA country, the Medical Council of Ireland can recognise it automatically under EU Directive 2005/36/EC, as long as it is listed in Annex V (point 5.1.1). If that listing says the degree must come with an internship or state-exam certificate from your home country, you need to have that too, and you must also show your current professional standing and meet the English-language requirements. Graduates of EU/EEA medical schools may apply to the HSE for Irish intern posts, but only if their home-country degree does not already count as complete training. In older HSE intern guides (e.g., the 2022 guide), only graduates from medical schools in Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Iceland and Slovenia could apply. Graduates from other EEA countries (and Italians holding the ‘abilitante’ degree) were told they are not eligible, because they qualify directly for General registration. Applicants who need no work permit were matched before those who do. Please check the current eligibility list in the HSE intern guide for the year you apply. We could not confirm it for the July 2027 intake because the current HSE guide pages are password-protected.

How to apply

1. Register onlineCreate an account on apply.sum.edu.pl and choose the European or International Medicine programme. For 2026 entry, registration ran from 1 Apr to 15 Aug.
2. Upload documents and pay the feeUpload scans of your Leaving Certificate (with apostille), passport, photo and proof of English, and pay the 85 PLN application fee. In 2026 the document deadline was 21 Aug. Leaving Certificate results come out in late August, so ask admissions how to submit them in time.
3. Check the ranking listThe university ranks applicants by their converted Biology plus Chemistry, Physics or Maths points and publishes a ranking list you can check by candidate number.
4. Send originals and enrolIf you qualify, post the hand-signed application form and original or notarised documents to the Admission Office (before 1 Oct in 2026) and pay tuition in PLN.

Costs

• 65,500 PLN a year (32,750 PLN per semester), shown by the university as about 15,360 euro. All payments are accepted only in Polish zloty, so the euro amount changes with the exchange rate. The fee table lists one fee for the English-taught programme, with no separate lower fee for EU students. There is also a one-off application fee of 85 PLN (100 PLN if you need to sit the entrance exam). These are the 2026/27 figures. The 2027/28 fee has not been published.

At a glance