STUDENTS’ CARDS PAID BY UNIVERSITIES

The government wants to cover the costs of the new and very expensive students’s cards from the material expenditure of the universities.

This intention is reflected in the amendment bill of the parliamentary committee: the plan will cost the universities HUF 350 million. This sum will cover a part of the price to be paid by the students. The bill confirms the concerns of the opposition that the price of such cards will be three times higher than they are now from the next year. Earlier Bálint Magyar, Minister of Education said the change of cards would affect only the new students – each year about 100 000 students start their academic studies in Hungary. At present a student’s card costs HUF 1600. István Klinghammer, chairman of the Hungarian Rectors’ Conference said he was not informed about the bill but added it was not a correct and elegant decision to cover expenses from the budget of the universities. The minister has not refuted the informations about the new cards and did not comment the news that the only valid bid for the tender of producing the new cards had been made by Ákos Erdős's State Press Company.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó