Balázs Hankó, the deputy state secretary for education, said modernizing Hungary’s higher education sector and turning universities into innovation hubs is key to securing the country’s competitiveness. “Globally, we rank highly in almost every field of training,” Hankó told Magyar Nemzet, evaluating the results of the structural transformation and international rankings of Hungarian universities ahead of the Feb. 15 deadline for applying to university.
Hankó added that today eleven Hungarian universities rank among the top 5 percent of the world’s 28,000 universities, “with two-thirds of our university students” studying in one of them. Increasing the number of university graduates is vital to the country’s economic development, Hankó said, noting that this year 350 bachelor and 400 master’s courses have been announced in 48 cities.
On the subject of the change to the model for how universities are run, Hankó noted that 21 Hungarian universities have gradually shifted from being state-run to being operated by an asset management foundation. “The aim has been to provide universities a structure that allows them greater flexibility and autonomy so they can be competitive both at home and abroad,” Hankó said. “This is why we have provided them with the appropriate legal framework, institutional profiles and significant resources,” he said, noting a 2.5-fold increase in central funding.
Hankó said the Hungarian government this year has earmarked 1.9 percent of GDP for spending on higher education, which, he said, “only a few [countries] in Europe can proudly say”. Also, the government is planning to spend HUF 2,700 billion (EUR 7.6bn) on university infrastructure development and building a network of science parks, Hankó noted.
Photo credit: MTI