The Centre for Social Studies (CSS) is an English-speaking post-graduate school operated in partnership with Lancaster University and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sicences. The CSS also cooperates with the Warsaw School for Social Psychology (SWPS). The CSS is grateful for the generous support of the Open Society Institute's Higher Education Support Program.

The CSS was established in Warsaw in 1995 by the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFiS) in cooperation with Lancaster University, the Central European University (until 2003 the CSS functioned as the Sociology Department of the CEU) and the Srodkowoeuropejska Fundacja Edukacyjna (SFE). IFiS is a leading institution for the social sciences in Poland. The SFE is a non-profit foundation registered in Poland and reporting to the Ministry of Education and Science in Warsaw.

At present the CSS offers four MA programmes:

• MA in Society and Politics
• MA in Economy and Society
• MA in Culture, Media and Society

On successful completion of their studies graduates receive both a Polish post-graduate diploma and a Master of Arts degree awarded by Lancaster University, which is acknowledged in Europe and the USA.

The CSS invites applications from candidates who either have a university degree comparable to a BA or MA degree or who will receive such a degree before the start of the programme.

Situated in the historic Staszic Palace in the heart of the old centre of Warsaw, the CSS is within 200 metres of the University of Warsaw. Students have access to several libraries in the immediate area comprising together the largest collection in the region of sociological works in English and other major languages.

The nearby presence of the University of Warsaw's Department of Philosophy and Sociology and of the University's Institute of Applied Social Sciences, located just across the street, also contributes to the friendly academic environment.

Academic staff are drawn from the region (Hungary, Poland) and beyond, including Western Europe (France, Sweden and the UK), Australia, and the USA (the CSS regularly hosts a Fulbright Professor). At present the student body comprises representatives of 16 countries. Among our alumni are representatives of some 40 countries from 6 continents.

Now in its 12th year of operation, the CSS has nearly 400 alumni. A high proportion of graduates go on to further study at the Graduate School for Social Research or at other universities including Berkeley, Columbia, Stanford, Cambridge, Lancaster, the London School of Economics and at leading institutions in the region.

On completion of their studies our graduates have embarked on careers in market research, journalism, public administration and in a range of NGOs and international agencies. Others from the region have returned to their home universities to begin to regenerate (or establish for the first time) the study of the social sciences and humanities in their own countries.