Hungarian Universities Reaching New Heights

Graduation ceremony of the University of Miskolc, Hungary, 4 July 2023

Balázs Hankó, Secretary of State for Innovation and Higher Education of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, said at the graduation ceremony of the University of Miskolc on Tuesday that it is good to be a Hungarian university student today, as students can gain competitive knowledge and a secure future at the country’s successful universities.

In his speech, Balázs Hankó stressed that the University of Miskolc is in the top five percent of the world’s 30,000 universities, where many students study. As far as Hungarian higher education is concerned, their goal is that by 2030, Hungary should have a university that is among the top 100 in the world, and that there should be universities whose regional mission is fulfilled in the way the University of Miskolc does in its everyday life.

The Secretary of State underlined that

university and innovation, university and creativity go hand in hand,”

therefore it has been decided to use the Neumann János Program to make Hungary one of the world’s top twenty-five, and Europe’s top ten innovators by 2030, in cooperation with universities, students, and teachers.

Hankó pointed out that in recent years Hungarian universities had been successfully transformed, modernized, and renewed, and the “solidly based” Neumann János Program had been launched, strengthening Hungary’s vision for the future.

In 2020, the University of Miskolc embarked on the path of model change, the watchwords of which are autonomy, competitiveness, flexibility, and predictability.

The politician added that the state has taken a step back, since, as he said, it is the university and the board of trustees that determine the future goals these days, and the university manages its own real estate and movable property, and independently shapes its own economic relations.

Emphasizing predictability, he said that a twenty-five-year framework agreement and a six-year framework contract had been signed to ensure the financing of the University of Miskolc and the other universities.

Hankó pointed out that

in addition to the University of Miskolc, another ten Hungarian universities are also in the top five percent of the world’s universities.

Photo: Facebook/Miskolci Egyetem

In recent years, the proportion of non-degree holders has fallen from 21% to 18.7%, while the academic performance of Hungarian universities in the top international rankings has increased by 26%, he said.

He added that thanks to the renewed admissions process, which can be adapted by universities, 27 percent more people applied to the country’s universities this year. There were 40 percent more applicants to the University of Miskolc this year.

The number of students wishing to study for a degree while working has also increased by more than 50 percent, the Secretary of State said.

He added that the University of Miskolc, together with the University of Debrecen, will host the European University Games, for which the Hungarian government has provided the HUF 20.6 billion (EUR 55 M) needed to develop the infrastructure.

Featured image: MTI/Attila Balázs