Doctoral student’s ABC guide

USOSweb is the portal you will use throughout your studies.Through it, you will, among other things, register for classes, check grades and submit applications and requests – including requests for material support.

A USOSweb account will be set up for you by your dean’s office. If you don’t have access to USOSweb, and you want, for example, to apply for a dormitory place, contact your dean’s office directly and let the people working there know. They will certainly be happy to assist you.

Unfortunately, we cannot expedite the process and are not involved in the process of setting up accounts.

UW has seven dormitories. We conduct two types of recruitment for dormitories:

• basic, which is customarily held during the summer vacation. During its course, you must submit an application by the deadline via USOSweb after logging in, select the tab for all, then applications). During its course you obtain a place for the next academic year.
• Supplementary, which takes place throughout the academic year. Instead of an application, you need to sign up for the waiting list – you can find it in our entry in the news The waiting list for UW student dormitories.

As a rule, rooms in the dormitories are double. It is possible to convert a double room into a single room, but this is only possible if the number of people willing to live in the dorms is less than the number of vacancies. This usually happens from mid-January to the end of the academic year.

A place in a dormitory is granted for 10 months with the possibility of extending the residence for the vacations.

If you will be one of the people living in the dorm, you are encouraged to get involved in the social life of the dorm by becoming a member of the Resident Council. You can read more about this on the Students’ Council of the University of Warsaw:
Main Dormitory Council.

Not sure which dorm is right for you? Use our Dorm tab and see photos and detailed descriptions of each dorm.

A doctoral scholarship is available to those studying at a doctoral school who do not hold a doctoral degree and have not previously received a doctoral scholarship for more than 4 years (except for those receiving a scholarship under the terms of maternity benefits).

If you are a doctoral school participant who took part in the so-called “regular” enrollment, all you need to do to get a doctoral scholarship is to sign a statement indicating, among other things, your account number.

The doctoral scholarship amounts to 3 466,90 gross (PLN 3 076,53 net).

At the UW you will find many forms of support for the brightest. One example of this is the Scholarship to Start for Doctoral Students. You can get it when your enrollment score is among the top 20%.

It is customary to apply at the beginning of the calendar year and ends with the scholarships being handed out at a ceremony organized by the JM Rector in late April or early May.

The scholarship is paid in a single payment. During the I. and II. Edition of the program amounted to 18,000 PLN.

Having health insurance is mandatory for all doctoral students (except for certain groups of foreigners). I encourage you to pay attention to the continuity of your insurance, as it allows you to benefit from free health care. Remember that the university can provide you with health insurance only in certain cases and only upon your request.

Some of the most important rules that everyone should know:

• The university will insure you only upon your written request,
• you must inform the Material Assistance Office whenever you are covered by insurance from another source (e.g., in connection with signing an employment contract or a contract of commission – regardless of its duration or whether it was signed at the University of Warsaw!). You cannot be insured in two places at the same time. Failure to report insurance from another source may result in ZUS or NFZ recognizing that you are not covered by health insurance!
• as of January 1, 2023, the university does not pay health insurance premiums for a doctoral student, but only reports him or her for health insurance – so if you are insured by the university as a doctoral student, you do not have to worry about not seeing information in your Patient Account about the premiums paid,
• Whenever you have doubts about the correctness of your insurance, it is a good idea to contact the Material Assistance Office to confirm or be informed of the need to take any action. Retroactive insurance corrections are difficult and sometimes may be impossible, so don’t put off reporting your concerns.

For more useful information, see Health insurance for doctoral students.