Places to Apply to...

Which institutions can students apply to in Hungary? What are the prerequisites of application? What is the admission procedure at different level programs? These are the questions that we will try to answer in the following overview of the Hungarian higher education admission system. Next month we shall review the higher education opportunities offered for foreign students, and the conditions affecting those who wish to apply to the Hungarian system.

The total number of students in the higher education system was 416 thousand in the 2006/2007 academic year. Hungary has 71 operating higher education institutions today: 18 state maintained universities and 12 state colleges, 7 non-state maintained universities and 34 non-state colleges. A number of foreign higher education institutions also offer programs in Hungary. The majority of the institutions are located in Budapest.

Students can apply to a number of Bachelors, unified (undivided) and Master degree programs in 14 educational fields. Hungarian higher education institutions offer programs in full time, correspondence and distance education arrangements. The form of financing can be state-financed or self-paid tuition.

As a result of the Bologna process, the structure of programs was transformed in the past few years in Hungary. The goals of the process are to create a comparable system of programs and to introduce a tiered training system. The degree obtained in the first cycle (Bachelor level) provides a professional qualification enabling its owner to find employment in the labour market, and is a prerequisite for entry into the second cycle (Master programs). Also well known and important goals are the establishment of a credit transfer system, the promotion of instructor-, researcher- and student mobility, the establishment of co-operation for quality assurance in European higher education, and the advancement of the European dimension of higher education.

The first level of higher education is the 6-8-semester Bachelor training (BA, BSc), which only offers qualification in a single discipline. The first cycle of education offers a Bachelor degree and provides professional skills and knowledge that can be utilised in the labour market, in addition to the theoretical foundation necessary for continuing studies in the given discipline in order to obtain a Master degree.

Following the introduction of the tiered training system, some faculties (e.g. Medicine, Law, Dentistry, as well as a number of Arts Faculties) offer unified, 10-12 semester programs, which are completed with the acquisition of a Master degree.

The Master degree programs (MA, MSc) constitute the second level of higher education, offering Master level diplomas and professional qualifications. The exact conditions of application are defined by the higher education institutions. The duration of these programs is 2-4 semesters (except for teacher training, which lasts for 5 semesters). Graduates can enter the labour market or apply to doctoral studies.

Part of the higher education system is the non-university higher vocational training, which is incorporated in the system of the Bachelor programs of the higher education institution, and provides a non-university higher vocational qualification.