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Why number of those who want to study in Hungarian higher education hits low-bottom?
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In 2019, there were more than 111 thousand students who wanted to continue their studies in Hungarian higher education. This number fell to a bit more than 91 thousand this year. We collected the possible reasons below.
As we reported before, the number of students enrolling in higher education in Hungary dropped sharply this year, falling by 20,000 to 91,400 compared to the previous year. The enrollment figure is at a 19-year low, and a similar fall-off was last seen in 2013 when 15,000 fewer students applied.
Debrecen University has seen the most significant drop, with 3,000 fewer enrollments this year. Demand for places at Budapest’s ELTE University remains high, however, only with 24,100 applications compared to 24,700 last year. In the case of the Budapest Corvinus University, the number of applicants fell by 33 pc to a bit more than seven thousand.
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In February 2019, the government announced that it would place Corvinus University under the newly created Maecenas Universitatis Corvini Foundation from July 2019. The foundation will be allocated 10 pc of the government’s stake in MOL and Gedeon Richter worth HUF 380 billion at the time, with the operational expenses to be paid with the dividends from these companies. Because of the coronavirus epidemic, the economic crisis and the low oil prices, MOL and Richter will not pay dividends this year, so the government allocated extra money for the university last week.
Smaller universities suffered more significant losses.
For example, the number of applicants fell by 21 pc at the University of Miskolc, 25 pc at the University of Pannonia, 31 pc at the University of Kaposvár, 34 pc at the Széchenyi István University and it almost halved at the Neumann János University compared to 2019.
Is there any data if this unpleasant phenomenon is specific only for Hungary or other EU counties are struggling with the same problem?
In answer to Edith (above), in the UK applications from international students have dropped considerably due to the global pandemic (Chinese students alone make up around 120,000 of the UK student population). However, with the domestic student intake, universities are competing to attract UK students to make up the shortfall of international students , some offering unconditional entry. Competition for students in 2020 has been further fuelled by a demographic trough in the number of school leavers. So in short, the supply of UK university places is greater than the demand, but for entirely different reasons to those in Hungary.