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“The government would like to reach out to members of the Hungarian diaspora worldwide, especially young people, in order to build relationships that will serve as a strong force for the nation,” said Levente Magyar, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Wednesday in Budapest.
At the opening of the Carpathian Basin Summer University, the State Secretary explained that, all things considered, the number of Hungarian students receiving higher education outside the country’s borders in neighboring countries could reach 20,000 to 30,000. He said that they would like to increase the number of participants in the program by reaching out to those who may not yet be aware of this opportunity.
“But this is a great start and a wonderful tradition, which has been continued and nurtured by the current leadership of ELTE,” he said.
Strengthening Hungarian solidarity across the border and the relations between Hungarian communities across the border and with the mother country is an important government objective, as everyone knows. You can see, for example, what important results have been achieved in the economic sphere in recent years,”
he continued.
As an example, he cited the Hungarian economic development program, which has virtually covered the entire Carpathian Basin in recent years and resulted in investments of hundreds of billions of forints.
In addition, there are also the old classic national policy guidelines, such as education and the cultivation of culture, which are at least as important as ensuring livelihoods. “And this current program, which we would like to expand significantly, fits into this trend,” he reiterated.
Levente Magyar then turned to state scholarship programs targeting Hungarians living in neighboring countries and around the world.
“We launched the Diaspora Higher Education Scholarship Program a few years ago, which has taken off nicely since then, and we will continue to expand it. Young people are coming to Hungary for higher education whose grandparents or parents emigrated to North or South America, or to Australia and other parts of the world in 1956,” he said.
Many of them do not speak Hungarian well, but they are interested in their Hungarian roots. They have rediscovered their Hungarian roots after possibly losing their identity for several decades, and now they are looking for a connection to their motherland. This program is for them,”
he noted.
“We want to reach out to Hungarians living around the world, to young Hungarians, and bring them to Budapest, even if only temporarily, thus they can build relationships and develop that network,” he said.
Via MTI; Featured photo: Facebook/Rákóczi Szövetség