While most Poles who have settled in the UK plan to stay, many of the 5,200 Polish students at British universities intend to return to their homeland. Three graduates explain why

Sitting with Marta Poślad, 30, in a busy cafe at the hip Saviour Square in central Warsaw, you get the feeling that she knows everyone. Whoever passes – a politician, a businessman or an artist – she greets them cheerfully. Between these conversations, her mobile phones buzz ceaselessly on the table.

As Google’s head of public policy for central and eastern Europe, it is part of her job to know everyone. Back in 2006, Poślad was among the first students to leave for Britain’s top universities following Poland’s accession to the European Union. She has no doubts that studying for an MPhil degree at Cambridge has been formative to her career. “It has broadened my intellectual horizons, given me confidence and guaranteed recognition in the eyes of employers back home,” she says. However, she never really hesitated about returning to Poland.

“I have always known that public policy is what I wanted to do,” she says, “but if there is one thing any career in this field is linked to, it is your passport.” In London, she was just one of many Oxbridge graduates – and a foreign one. In Poland, she was one of the few. The leverage was substantial.

“I remember all the talk about catching up with Europe, often expressed in civilisational terms. My generation realised, however, that this delay created many opportunities to innovate, go through uncharted territory, and take an active part in forming this new Poland,” she says.

The country has indeed become increasingly attractive for people like her. Spared the troubles of the 2008 financial crisis, it no longer relies just on sentiment when luring the best talent and investors to move there, but on its solid economic performance and robust growth rate. In fact, Poślad claims her career prospects and standard of living are simply better in Warsaw than in London. Last year, she divided her time between offices in both cities – and she chose to settle in Poland. “A studio in the very centre of Warsaw wins over a flatshare in east London – one of many things in favour of Poland,” she says.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘My place is back here’ ... Google public policy manager Marta Poślad. Photograph: Guillaume Binet/MYOP

“I sometimes miss the cosmopolitan feeling of London, and the intellectual feel of Cambridge, but my place is back here – and I think I am here to stay.”

Her case is not isolated. While the vast majority of Poles living in the UK have little or no intention of returning, research shows a reverse trend when it comes to more than 5,200 Polish students at Britain’s top universities. According to a poll by Boston Consulting Group, as many as 83% want to return to Poland in the foreseeable future: 51% of them hope to get more than four years of work experience first, but 32% expect to move in the first three years after graduation. They also point to the higher standard of living as a primary factor (36%).

“It has become a new norm that people of my generation have some experience of studying or working abroad,” says astronomer Jakub Bochiński. Aged 27, he heads the European Space Agency’s education office in Warsaw, where he manages programmes aiming to make Polish teenagers more interested in exploring space. Last year, teams of 13- to 18-year-olds designed scientific satellites sent on a rocket into the atmosphere. This year, as part of the British-led Astro Pi project launched by astronaut Tim Peake, they are coding apps for the international space station to run in space.

“I have learned, during my studies in Britain, that the more freedom you get to come up with an idea, the better – and it works with teenagers just as well,” Bochiński says. He studied mathematics and astrophysics at University College London and later completed a PhD at the Open University in Milton Keynes. “This is one of the things that make Britain great – this fantastic, collaborative education system, a real product for the whole world to benefit and learn from,” he says. However, after eight years in Britain, he moved back to Poland last year.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘It would not feel genuine to present myself as a Brit’ ... Bochiński. Photograph: Guillaume Binet/MYOP

“In a way, it was the British who were responsible for that,” he says. As a science communicator, he competed in the British Council’s FameLab project at Warsaw’s state-of-the-art Copernicus science centre. Standing on the bank of the Vistula river, the centre, one of the most technologically advanced in Europe, has become a symbol of rapid change in Poland. Bochiński was impressed by how the country had transformed – and decided it was time to return.

He did not come back alone, however. During his studies, Bochiński met a fellow Polish student in Britain – Gosia, from the University of St Andrews. “We met at a scientific conference in Oxford, Science: Polish Perspectives. A year later we organised it together. Three years later, we were married. Once again, Britain is responsible for an important change in my life.”

Career prospects played an important part in their decision. “To a scientist, Poland feels like it must have felt for capitalist entrepreneurs back in the 1990s, during the first years of wild economic transition. Whole areas of science are booming and up for grabs as we rapidly catch up with the world. It is like taking part in a revolution.”

Despite living in Britain for many years, he never thought about applying for citizenship. “It would not feel genuine to present myself as a Brit. I always felt Polish, and thought about Poland as my final destination,” he says.

He believes that Poland may even end up as a major regional hub, finally using its long-cursed geopolitical position between the west and the east. “Even more so after Brexit. I feel bad saying that, with my genuine sentiment for Britain, but your loss will be our gain: one rival less for major scientific contracts.”

Tomasz Szatkowski, another graduate of a British university who returned to a top job in Poland, is more diplomatic. Aged 38, he is Poland’s deputy defence minister and was in charge of preparing this year’s Nato summit in Warsaw. He chooses his words carefully as we sit in his office in the ministry’s secure zone. “We respect the sovereign decision of the British people, and will continue to work closely with the British government,” he states officially. However, behind this official line, some real sympathy for Britain is evident.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Some of the things I learned at King’s were reflected in our policy’ ... deputy defence minister Tomasz Szatkowski. Photograph: Guillaume Binet/MYOP

Szatkowski has visited London numerous times. In 1998, he came for a language course, and in 2000, still as a student at the University of Warsaw’s department of law, he briefly worked in London to earn some pocket money. “I remember visiting the Polish Social and Cultural Centre in Hammersmith back then, where many second world war veterans would meet for lunch. It was genuinely touching, a reminder of the important part of Poland’s history connected with London, as our government-in-exile operated here for 50 years,” he recalls.

In 2003, while working as a parliament staffer with the newly established conservative Law and Justice party, Szatkowski decided to continue his studies in Britain. He completed an application for a Foreign Office-sponsored Chevening scholarship, collected a dozen references, and hoped for the best. The following year, he joined King’s College London’s war studies programme – his first essay was on the Polish contribution to cracking the Nazi Enigma machine. One of the lectures was held in the Polish room of the highly secretive Special Forces Club in Knightsbridge, with a national emblem on the walls remembering the dedication of many Polish intelligence officers working along with the British.

Shortly after Szatkowski’s graduation in 2005, the Law and Justice party won the parliamentary elections, opening the way for him to serve in the government as a junior aide to one of the ministers. “In fact, some of the things I learned during my time at King’s were later reflected in our policy. You can call it a Chevening legacy, if you want.”

He thought about continuing his studies in Britain and applying for a PhD at Oxford, but decided to return to Warsaw to be with his newly started family. In April this year, he visited London in his new official capacity as a deputy defence minister. “London certainly played an important part in this journey,” he says. He is wearing a tie with an emblem of his alma mater, King’s College London. “Maybe it is a bit old-fashioned now, but I have kept it over the years – it is a nice souvenir.”

• Jakub Krupa is the UK correspondent for the Polish Press Agency and a graduate of the LSE. @JakubKrupa

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Young Poles get tickets for public transport on world car-free day in Warsaw, 22 September. Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images

Poland in statistics – from GDP to the cost of a litre of milk





Long a poster-child of successful post-communist transition, Poland regularly scores high marks from international economic institutions for its reform efforts, and headline figures tend to compare favourably with other countries still emerging from communist rule.

But it remains significantly poorer than the UK in terms of 2013 GDP per capita, with Poland on $13,647, compared with UK GDP per capita of $41,787.47. (Source: World Bank)

Average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita

$17,820, less than the OECD average of $29,016 a year. (Source: OECD)

Unemployment rate

7.5% of the labour force, compared with 5.3% in the UK. Youth unemployment 20.8%, compared with 14.6% in the UK. (Source: OECD)

Minimum wage

€409.53 per month, compared with €589.17 in Portugal and €756.70 in Spain. (Source: Eurostat)

According to the Economist’s Big Mac index, workers on the minimum wage in the UK in 2014 could buy exactly twice as many Big Macs per hours worked in the UK (2.2.) as in Poland (1.1)

Civil Law Contracts (CLCs)

Widely known as “junk contracts” – part-time contracts that provide limited employment rights, under which employers are not required to make health insurance or health insurance contributions. As of 2014, 25% of Polish wage-workers (the highest level in the EU, according to Eurostat) were in fixed-term, temporary employment – the highest rate among OECD countries – with between 1 and 1.4 million Polish workers on CTCs.

In 1998, only 4.7% of Polish workers had contracts that didn’t ensure stable employment. Since then, the share has risen to 26.9% – the largest increase in Europe and one that is comparable only to that of Portugal and Spain. In 2012, there were 15.6 million Polish workers, of whom 9 million had open-ended (“regular”) contracts, 3.2 million had temporary contracts, and 1.1 million individuals were self-employed outside the agricultural sector. The remaining 2.3 million workers were farmers (self-employed).

Facebook Twitter Pinterest New flats in Gdynia, Poland. Homes are in short supply. Photograph: NurPhoto via Getty Images

Housing

Households on average spend 22% of their gross adjusted disposable income on keeping a roof over their heads, slightly above the OECD average of 21%. (Source: OECD)

According to Habitat for Humanity, “Poland has the lowest rate of homes for its population in Europe (1,000: 327). Consequently, more than 3.2m families have to share a flat with others, around 11.9 million Poles live in overcrowded facilities, and 44% of young people (25-34 years of age) still live with their parents, with a third of them never moving out to live independently.”

Rent

Rental costs are 53.7% lower in Poland than in the UK on average.

Cost of living

41.86% lower (not taking rent into account).

Average costs

Cappuccino – 7.35 złoty (£1.54)

Milk (litre) – zł2.39 (50p)

1 min prepaid mobile tariff – zł0.25 (5p)

Fitness class – zł113.18 month (£23.71)

1-bedroom apartment, city centre – zł1,644.14 (£344.59)

Price per sq m to buy a city-centre apartment – zł7,625.28 (£1,598)

Average monthly disposable salary after tax – zł3,112.15 (£652.27)

Nike trainers – zł264.99 (£54.76)

Dress (Zara, H&M) – zł124.20 (£25.67)

Compiled by Christian Davies