Support to students of institutions of tertiary education is regulated
by the Act on Higher Education, a government decree on fees payable by
and support payable to students, and the government decree on doctoral
training.
The annual Budget Act determines normative support
that the institutions of tertiary education receive on the basis of the
number of their students. Furthermore, there is funding available on
application, and grants provided by various sponsors.
Per capita funding to students
The
per capita funding to students presently equals 116,500 HUF.
Participants in doctoral training receive 1,092,600 HUF/person/year.
Further
financial and in-kind allowance to students includes support that may
be granted to purchase, and produce textbooks (9,320 HUF/person/year),
and to support dormitory placement that is not maintained by the higher
education institution a normative per capita fund HUF 116,500 may be
issued to students. The support for purchasing and producing textbooks
and financing sports and cultural activities is 11 650 HUF/person/year,
the dormitory (kollégium) support is 116 500 HUF/person/year, while the
housing benefit is 60,000HUF/person/year.
Support that may be
granted to students is regulated by the institution of tertiary
education taking into account the limits set in the government decree.
Students may claim students’ allowances based on their academic achievement, and their social status following application.
The
institution’s budget for students’ support channelled by the annual
budget may be used for scholarship determined on the basis of academic
achievement, scholarship for outstanding professional, scientific, and
public-life related achievement on top of curricular requirements, for
regular and extraordinary social support based on students’ social
status, cash support for renting a flat, to purchase course books,
study accessories, or to cover study costs related to work experience.
Students participating in state- funded training may apply for placement in a
kollégium.
When awarding the regular social support and the flat-rental support,
account is taken of persons living in the same household with the
applicant, the earnings status of persons in the same household, and
the distance between the location of the training and the applicant’s
residence.
Between 2000 and 2004 there were 35.000 milliard HUF
worth of investments realised in higher education. Due to the increased
number of students, the institutions try to increase the number of
student hostel places by inviting private investors. The
infrastructural development plan is due to start in 2004.
The dormitory
kollégium
built by private investment is operated by the investor according to a
contract signed by the higher education institution, and therefore he
may apply for the state support provided for accommodation of state
funded students from 2006.
The state ensures a student card to students that
entitle them to travel-discounts and reduced prices in certain shops.
The card is handed out through the various institutions of tertiary
education. The Minister of Education and Culture awards the Fellowship granted by the Republic(
köztársasági ösztöndíj)to
students after two terms of outstanding academic/professional
achievement, working with unique success in the scientific students’
circle. That grant equals a total of 335,000 HUF/person, and is paid
for the duration of one academic year.
In every tax year up to 30% but no more than 60,000
HUF of the tax stated per student may be re-claimed during studies in
tertiary education.
It has been allowed to institutions of
tertiary education since 1998 to apply for funding after students with
disabilities. The condition to disbursing the supplementary support is
the appointment of a person responsible for these persons at
institutional level (so-called coordinator).
Support to students
physically handicapped and/or with auditory, visual or other impairment
was converted into per-capita support in 2000, and amounts to 110,000
HUF/person/year.
In 2002-2003 the Ministry of Education (
Oktatási Minisztérium)
created a separate budget to facilitate the studies of physically
handicapped students. Funds from that budget are available though
application, and are to be used to remove obstacles to access to
buildings, requiring only 30% of the institution’s own budget.
Institutions of tertiary education are granted 2,330
HUF after each student to improve their quality of life and contribute
to their physical education. At least 50% of that sum must be spent on
supporting some sports activity, and no more than 50% must be spent on
supporting a cultural project as specified in the decree.
Studies
of students living beyond the borders but coming to Hungary to study
are regulated in a government decree. It provides that students
studying in tertiary education on Hungarian state scholarship in
Hungary may do so at conditions identical to those of Hungarian
students. The number of available scholarships depends on the level of
resources approved in the Budget Act for that purpose.
Responding
to the needs of professional organisations beyond the country’s
borders, while the total tertiary education budget decreases, there is
a growing rate of support by the state for partial programmes, teacher
further training at university summer courses, and doctoral course
participation.
According to the Act on Higher Education, someone
with right to free movement, with residence permit, and the citizens of
countries where Hungarian students can participate in tertiary
education in terms of reciprocity, during their studies in Hungary, in
state-financed education they are only entitled for social or other
types of grants, or housing benefit if it is justified by an
international contract, legislation, work plan or the principle of
reciprocity. Applications, scholarships to support students
The
government decided to introduce the student loan. From the autumn of
2001 repayable support has been available under the student loan
arrangement for the duration of the studies in tertiary vocational
training. The largest sum available was 21,000 HUF/month, raised to
25,000 HUF in May 2002. Repayment of the student loan is by variable
interest regulated by decree. The sum available from 2006 is HUF 30,000
that can also be used for studies completed abroad. The age of
creditability has been raised to 40.
In an attempt to mitigate social unevenness, the Ministry of Education (
Oktatási Minisztérium)
launched, jointly with local and county local governments, the local
governmental scholarship called Bursa Hungarica, unique in Europe, to
support socially disadvantaged students or candidates.
Support from the Foundation "
A chance to learn"(
Esély a Tanulásra Közalapítvány)
plays an important role in granting a chance to those who need it. It
is available twice a year to those in deprivation or suffering from a
disability who are or would like to study in tertiary education, and
who could not afford doing so without support from that source. The
funding was 200 million HUF in both 1997 and 1998, and in 1999 it was
raised to 400 million HUF annually. Apart from the social component,
academic achievement is also taken into account. The foundation ceased
to exist in 2006, because of the new plan in talent development.
In 1998 the government established a scholarship to
encourage students in tertiary education to learn about the EU’s
internal mechanisms, and acquire related legal, economic and
administrative knowledge. The monthly sum of the scholarship equals
50,000 HUF.
International cooperation programmes are a way of encouraging student mobility.
The
Erasmus programme is a part of the Lifelong Learning Programme from
2007. It intends to support the establishment of the European Higher
Education Area, also the co-operation and strengthening of tertiary
education to the process of innovation. Among the objectives of the
programme there is the idea to increase the number of international
projects, and strengthen the co-operation of tertiary institutions and
enterprises and the mobility of European students and lecturers.
The
Erasmus programme in 2006/2007 is proved to be a success as it caters
for 3 028 students for partial-courses for an average of 5.18 months
per person to one of the institutions of tertiary education of an EU
member country. Average scholarship was 299.75 EUR/month. The most
popular target countries are Germany, France and Italy. The most
popular areas of study are business and management, languages,
philology and social sciences.
Most project applications under
the Leonardo programme, supporting practical vocational training, are
in the field of agriculture, economics and technical sciences. Average
duration of scholarships is 16 months. Number of students travelling
was 144 in 2004.
The objective in CEEPUS is to enable the
tertiary institutions of participating countries to organise teacher
and student exchange, language and other professional courses, and
participation in summer universities in order to strengthen the
professional relations in the Middle-European region. The number who
travelled abroad was 400 (218 students and 182 teachers) in 2006, the
number of those who arrived in Hungary was 369 (233 students and 136
teachers). The average duration of scholarship was 2.1 months and
concerning students who came into Hungary 1.8 months. In the academic
year of 2006/2007 the main target country of the Hungarian students was
Austria, but Romania, Slovakia and Poland were also favoured. Most
students came from Romania, followed by, in decreasing order, Slovakia,
the Check Republic, Poland and Austria. Hungarian students mostly chose
Humanities, business and management, Natural Sciences (Chemistry,
Biology), agriculture and food science, technical and IT areas as their
areas of study.
As tertiary education becomes a mass phenomenon,
the outstanding workshops of talents management and scientific student
circles become increasingly important, doctoral schools at universities
( egyetem), which
need to be strengthened and further developed to safeguard the training
of professionals in the future. That, at the same time, promotes the
replacement of teachers and researchers. The Ministry of Education and
Culture regularly publishes calls for applications to support that
initiative.
In tertiary education a major infrastructure
modernization, student hostel extension, dormitory reconstruction,
extension and modernization of educational facilities took place
through the involvement of PPP (Public Private Partnership), to improve
the competitiveness of tertiary institutions in the educational and
cultural market.
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