Number of foreign students may double in Hungary by 2030, building of a “dormitory city” in Budapest starts
It is one of the Orbán cabinet’s primary aims to double the number of foreign students in Hungary by 2030. Meanwhile, they would like to increase the number of dormitory beds for higher education students. Therefore, the building of the so-called “dormitory city” in Southern Budapest started with the expropriation of the lands concerned. According to opposition mayor Krisztina Baranyi, a minimalist plan will be carried out contrary to earlier plans for which the government paid more than HUF half a billion (EUR 1.2 million).
Orbán cabinet awaits masses of foreign students
Currently, there are 42 thousand foreign nationals studying in the institutions of Hungarian higher education, but the Hungarian government would like to increase that number to 100,000 in just five years. That would mean an unimaginable demand for apartments for rent in the Hungarian capital and other university cities like Debrecen, Szeged or Pécs.
Meanwhile, Hungarian university students struggle with the lack of available dormitory places everywhere in Hungary, but that problem is especially grave in Budapest. Based on Culture and Innovation Minister Balázs Hankó, there are only 17 thousand dormitory beds in Budapest, while the demand is 57 thousand.
New dormitories to be built
According to G7, the Hungarian government would create 12 thousand more places in the new “dormitory city” in South Budapest, near the newly-opened National Athletics Centre, close to the River Danube and the Rákóczi Bridge. Therefore, they expropriated 22 properties in Ferencváros, for which they will pay HUF 3.5 billion (EUR 8.62 million). One property is jointly owned by the local government and the Budapest Municipal Council. Consequently, negotiations will continue with Mayor Gergely Karácsony on the issue.
- National Athletics Centre in Budapest is open to the general public – PHOTOS and details HERE
Mayor Baranyi said that the new dormitory city plans are minimalist compared to the previous ones, aiming to create a “Venice-like” district for students and their teachers there. Only two types of buildings would be created; dormitories and a market hall offering services and having social functions. Click HERE to check out some original plan visuals.
High demand for dormitory places
Creating 12,000 new places would mean a decrease in demand but more than 27,000 students would not be able to have a dormitory bed even then. Furthermore, Hungarian students would need to compete with their foreign peers for available beds provided the government fulfils its aims and raises the number of international students to 100,000.
There are 310,000 students in Hungary’s higher education system. However, there are only 50,000 available beds in the dormitories.
This is why the HÖOK (Hungary’s Students Union) started a survey to discover how Hungarian university students live and what their main struggles are.
Between 2000 and 2024, the number of foreign students in Hungary increased four times, but the rate of international students living in the dormitories fell from 27% to 18%.
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