Thanks to the competitiveness of the restructured Hungarian higher education system, the benefits of a degree and the new, individualized and flexible admission, the number of applicants to higher education institutions exceeded 120 thousand again this year, which a major breakthrough compared to previous years, the culture and innovation ministry's state secretary in charge of higher and adult education, vocational training and youth posted on social media.
Eight out of ten admitted students can start their studies as state scholarship holders, Veronika Varga-Bajusz highlighted. The state spends an average of six million forints (15 thousand euros) on the studies of a scholarship student during their time in education. The state secretary recalled that one of the important elements of the new admission system is that this year the universities could already decide on one-fifth of the points, and their freedom of decision has significantly increased in relation to secondary school leaving exam scores and study grade points as well, thereby strengthening university autonomy.
A promising future ahead
One out of two students were admitted to so-called MTMI+ courses - a priority for the national economy - such as mathematics, engineering, natural sciences, agriculture, medicine and health sciences, teacher training and IT.
Teacher training finished second on the imaginary podium, with almost 13,000 students accepted. Out of this number, about 8500 applicants were admitted to kindergarten, elementary and secondary school teacher training programs, of which more than 1400 applicants enrolled in MTMI (i.e. engineering, sciences, mathematics, IT) courses.
According to Veronika Varga-Bajusz, the results achieved by the universities speak for themselves: this year, twelve Hungarian universities were ranked in the world's top five percent, three in the top two percent and one in the top one percent. Thanks to performance-based funding, the academic performance of universities has increased by 30 percent, the number of active students grew by more than six thousand, drop-out rates have improved, 3,500 more students have been able to continue their studies and 1,200 more are progressing faster than earlier, the state secretary said.
Every second applicant was admitted to a rural higher education institution, showing that the new model supports universities in retaining the local population, and one in five applicants is over 30 years old, who chose to study while in a job.
Admissions from disadvantaged districts have increased by an average of 50 percent this year, showing that higher education improves both competitiveness and access to learning opportunities,
the state secretary emphasized.
