Postgraduate student and the insurance obligation

Pursuant to Art. 6 sec. 4 of the Act on the Social Insurance System and Art. 66 sec. 1 point 1 lit. e of the Health Act, a student up to the age of 26 - employed on a mandate contract - is not compulsorily subject to social and health insurance. It is different in the case of postgraduate students, which we write about later in the article.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Act on Higher Education (Article 2 (1) (5) and 18k), a student is considered to be "a person studying at higher education, while higher education - first-cycle studies, second-cycle studies or uniform master's studies, conducted by the university authorized to conduct them ”.

First-cycle studies are a form of education undertaken by people with a secondary school-leaving examination certificate. They end with a first degree qualification. Second-cycle studies, on the other hand, are a form of education undertaken by students with at least first-cycle qualifications. Similarly to the above, they end with obtaining a second degree qualification. On the other hand, long-cycle studies also end with obtaining a second-degree qualification, and are undertaken by people with a secondary school-leaving examination certificate.

But what are postgraduate studies? It is a form of education other than higher education and doctoral studies, undertaken by persons with at least first degree qualifications. To start postgraduate studies, you must have a bachelor's, engineering or master's degree. They are conducted at a university, research institute, research institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences or at the Medical Center of Postgraduate Education. These studies end with obtaining postgraduate qualifications.

To sum up, a student of postgraduate studies is not a student under the Law on Higher Education. In connection with the above, a person employed under a mandate contract is obligatorily (assuming that he has no other entitlements for insurance) subject to social insurance and health insurance.