The most popular Hungarian higher education institutions and programs in 2009
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The number of Master programs available in Hungary increased significantly this year, offering not only an advancement opportunity for students of the first BSc and BA programs who graduate this year in most institutions, but also giving a much wider perspective for older age degree holders to continuing their studies.
This year has produced a significant increase in student numbers again after a long time, thanks largely to the applicants entering the Master programs. At the same time, this has also led to a restructuring in popularity rankings of institutions and faculties in Hungary. The primary winners of this transformation seem to be universities with a long history, traditionally offering education at several faculties. The first students to enter the new BSc and BA programs will graduate this spring, and so popularity tendencies of programs in the new Bachelor system resulting from the Bologna transformation can also be analysed in comparison with previous years. What follows is a close-up view of a selection of interesting data on applications to higher education in Hungary in 2009.
Winners of the Bologna system are classical large universities
This year's application statistics have reinforced the dominance of classical large universities traditionally offering education in several different fields. If we include each stage and schedule (full time, part time, correspondence) of education, these five institutions have attracted more than a third of all applicants in 2009. Four of these (the Eötvös Loránd University, the University of Szeged, the University of Debrecen, the University of Pécs) take one of the first five places, but the University of Miskolc is also regularly one of the ten most popular institutions. Except for the University of Pécs, which has shown an average increase, all of the others have significantly increased their applicant numbers, which is largely a result of students graduating in the first BSc/BA programs this year, as well as the high number of Master programs launched in the university centres with a significant catchment area.
The Eötvös Loránd University continues to be the most popular institution
The first five places in the ranking of the most popular universities and colleges are taken by the same five institutions as in 2008. Moreover, their sequence is also very similar to that of a year ago, only three institutions have shifted places (Table 1). The Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), which has taken the first place for many years, continues to lead the popularity top list with a great advantage. In 2009, every tenth applicant indicated ELTE as his/her first choice. Moreover, the increase in student numbers was far above average (41.9 per cent) in this institution of the capital city, which is a sign that the Hungarian university with the highest number of qualified instructors is the unquestionable winner of the two-level education system.
The ELTE has been followed by the same three institutions for years. Among these, the University of Szeged has advanced to the second place, representing an increase in student numbers even higher than the ELTE (46.3 per cent) as compared to 2008. The other institution that has exceeded the magic threshold of ten thousand applicants is the University of Szeged. The University of Debrecen, which has taken third place, has achieved a lesser increase (43.9 per cent), but this still exceeds the average. The University of Pécs shows a quite uneven performance: after the outstandingly high popularity experienced three years ago (2nd place), it fell back somewhat two years ago, but has stably preserved its fourth place since then. However, it has been weaker again this year compared to the other classic large universities, achieving an average degree of growth (29.8 per cent).
Table 1 NUMBER OF APPLICANTS BY INSTITUTIONS Counting all applicants based on first choices in the application form (all levels of education and schedule arrangements)(Five most popular institutions)
| Place in 2009 (2008) | Abbreviated name of institution | Name of institution | Number of applicants (persons) 2009 (2008) |
Change compared to 2008 (%) * |
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1 (1)
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ELTE
|
Eötvös Loránd University |
13 037 (9187)
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+41.9%
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2 (3)
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SZTE
|
University of Szeged |
10 013 (6843)
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+46.3%
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|
3 (2)
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DE
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University of Debrecen |
9749 (7229)
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+34.9%
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4 (4)
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PTE
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University of Pécs |
8449 (6509)
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+29.8%
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5 (5)
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BCE
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Corvinus University of Budapest |
7588 (6091)
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+24.6%
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- 1. The most popular Hungarian higher education institutions and programs in 2009
- 2. Soaring faculties of Humanities, declining institutions of Economics
- 3. The number of applicants to the most popular Technology programs is continuously increasing
