Govt Official Calls for Streamlining Higher Education System

Budapest (MTI) – The state secretary for higher education called for the streamlining of Hungary’s higher education system, noting the continuously falling performance of students and a disproportionate distribution of financial resources.

However the Bologna system did away with entrance exams at universities and high schools, higher requirements should be put in place when pupils enter an institution, Laszlo Palkovics told an expert conference on Saturday. He called the results of recent competency tests “woeful” and said that a higher-level graduate exam and a foreign language exam as pre-requisites were “worth considering”.

He said that the 11,562 different courses available currently across Hungary’s higher education institutions should be scaled back.

Palkovics said that standalone incomes that these institutions generate outside offering pay-for courses should be increased. As for the disparity of teachers’ wages, the same amount of money will pay 3,000 and 12,000 employees at different universities.

He both criticised Hungary’s doctoral schools of their poor level and those participating in the schemes for not having a final degree even though entering the system in 2007 or 2008. He called for fewer but better doctoral training.

In Hungary, an average wage a professor gets is 1100 euros while in the Czech Republic it is 3000 euros which is still the 60 percent of the university wages in Vienna, the head of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee said. Ervin Balazs added that this posed a brain drain problem and called for the preparation of a career model.

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Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters