The Podkarpackie voivodship lies in south-eastern Poland. Its northern part embraces the Sandoinierz Basin while the part south of Rzeszow is a typical uplands and montainous area (the Carpathian Foothills (Pogorze Karpackie), the Low Beskid Range (Beskid Niski), the Bieszczady Mountains). The main rivers of the region are Vistula and its tributary San. The voivodship is bordered to the east by Ukraine and by Slovakia to the south. The region's scope for development is participation within the Carpathian Euroregion which spans over the border areas of north-east Hungary (Miskolc), north-west Romania (Satu Mare), east Slovakia (Kosice) and western Ukraine (Uzhhorod, Lvov). The Podkarpackie voivodship is one of Poland's most beautiful and least polluted regions. The voivodship is responsible for one fifth of Poland's population growth. The domestic airport in Rzeszow is also used for certain international flights The voivodship capital has good road connections with Cracow and Lvov (a segment of the international route Dresden - Kiev), as well as with Radom and Warsaw. Rzeszow is also on the route through Kosice and Miskolc to Budapest.
 
 
ECONOMY
 
      Podkarpackie is an industrial and agricultural region endowed with the world largest deposits of sulphur discovered near Tarnobrzeg. Other natural resources include natural gas and close to depletion oil reservoirs. Agriculture and in particular cattle and sheep breeding is well developed. A part of the pre-war and now considerably expanded Central Industrial District (Centralny Okreg Przemyslowy) known for its heavy industry and armaments brunches is located in the region. Food industry is also one of the branches showing a marked upward development trend. Rzeszow is the largest regional industrial centre There are a number of internationally significant companies in the region, such as the Stalowa Wola Steelworks (10,000 employees), the aircraft manufacturing companies WSK PZL Mielec and WSK PLZ Rzeszow (over 5,000 employees each), the tyre factory TC Debica S.A. (almost 5,000), Krosno Glassworks (4,600) and Tarnobrzeg Siarkopol (a sulphur mine) (3,200). The Special Economic Zones Euro Park Mielec and Euro Park Wislosan have increased the region's investment attractiveness. There are about 103,000, mostly small and medium sized, companies registered in the Podkarpackie voivodship, employing more than 581,000 people. Only about 3,500 businesses (3.5% of the total number) are state-owned and almost 100,000 (96.5 %) belong to the private sector. They employ 272,150 (46.8 %) and 308,981 (53.2 %) people respectively. The majority of the voivodship companies are in wholesale, retail trade, real estate and in other services.
 
 
UNIVERSITIES
 
      The biggest regional academic centre is Rzeszow, host to 32,000 students in 1998. 9,000 students attended the Rzeszow Technical University, nearly 11,000 its Pedagogic University, and 4,500 the Rzeszow branch of the Lublin Marie Curie University. Additionally, there is a branch of the Krakow Agricultural Academy in Rzeszow and a branch of the Lublin Catholic University in Stalowa Wola. The first private higher school in the voivodship is the Administration and Management College in Przemysl. There are also private schools in Rzeszow, Nisko und Tyczyn.
 
 
TOURISM
 
      Unquestionably, the region's biggest asset is the natural beauty of its southern part and its popular Bieszczady and Beskid Niski Mountains. The are around Lubaczow is also delightful with its hills and many rivers. A large part of the voivodship is densly forested (36% of its total area). The castle in Lancut, an extraordinary reminder of the prewar, Polish nobility residence, is the region's well-known tourist treasure. The Przemysl area features a beautifully-located castle in Krasiczyn Tourists can also admire the biggest national collection of icons in Sanok. Lezajsk is the destination for Jewish pilgrims from all over the worId, who come to visit the grave ot the Jewish Hasidic leader Elimelech.