Hungarian government info: “There is a secure supply of new teachers in Hungary”
Gulyás said the teaching profession was viewed by many as a source of secure income for the future, as demonstrated by the 10,514 applicants accepted to teacher training in Hungarian universities this year, the highest figure in the past six years. “There is a secure supply of new teachers in Hungary,” he added.
Gulyás noted that university admission thresholds were announced on Wednesday, and he welcomed the fact that some 95,000 people were accepted out of more than 126,000 applicants.
There was a 43 percent increase in the number of students admitted to universities outside Budapest and a 34 percent increase in the number of those admitted for technical, science, engineering and IT studies, he said. Eight out of every ten student will be able to start their studies with a state grant, he added.
The government has decided to support the construction of the new campus for Károli University, providing 15 billion forints each in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and HUF 45 billion in 2027. Construction is scheduled to be completed by 2027-2028 and Karoli University will have a highly developed campus that meets all European demands and modern higher education requirements, he said.
Meanwhile, commenting on shootings by migrants at the southern borders, he said professionally trained border units had been set up to tackle this problem and protect the borders by all possible means.
Zoltán Kovács, the state secretary in charge of international communications, told the briefing that since the start of the war, some 1.15 million people had crossed the Hungarian border, 38,000 had submitted an asylum request and 34,000 of these have been approved. Many of these latter are staying in Hungary and there are also some who are commuters, he added.
On the subject of Ukraine, he said the government maintained three principles in connection with helping the country: Hungary supported the country under attack in various forms but “we do not supply weapons and we cannot give financial help”, and “we have a vested interest in Ukraine remaining functional”.
“We believe that a ceasefire and the start of peace talks as soon as possible would clearly serve these principles,” he said. “But we cannot support a non-EU country from the EU budget, certainly not as long as all member states are not receiving the budget resources they are entitled to,” he added.
Commenting on banning Russian sportspeople from international competitions, Gulyás said it was generally incorrect to exclude sportspeople based on their nationality. A good solution may be if they were not to compete under the national colours and only those are excluded that were members of the military, he said.
Gulyás said Hungary was trying to maintain a clear moral principle based on Ukraine being a country under attack which therefore needs help. “This is why we are providing humanitarian aid and receiving refugees, offering them financial support,” he added. However, when Ukrainian policies run counter to the ethnic Hungarian community, violating all European standards, “we will raise our voice and in certain cases make it clear that Hungary’s friendly behaviour has limits”, he said. “The fact that Russia has attacked Ukraine in violation of international laws does not make Ukraine less corrupt,” he added.
Source: MTI