Top career choices for university students in Hungary revealed

Engineering, programming, and medicine are the careers that STEM (science and technology) students would most like to pursue, according to a recent, local survey. In addition to the above, university students consider a managerial career, professions related to data science or artificial intelligence, and a career in healthcare to be ‘cool’. Nearly half (49%) of the students foresee their career at a foreign-owned multinational company or at a large domestic company (44%) after completing their higher education. Meanwhile, two-fifths (39%) of the respondents would like to get a job at a domestic small or medium-sized enterprise.

Siemens Zrt. and the UNIside higher education portal conducted an online survey on the career profile and future career plans of university students in Hungary. More than two hundred undergraduate students participated in the survey, including those studying in the fields of computer science (28%), engineering (42%), and natural sciences (30%). Most respondents (55%) are studying in an educational institution in Budapest, more than a quarter in a county seat (28%), and nearly a fifth (17%) in other cities.

The research shows that two-thirds (64%) of the students decided where to study independently, a third (32%) were influenced by their parents or a family member, and only 3% were encouraged by their teachers. In terms of career orientation, most of the respondents (32%) were guided by their career aspirations and professional interests, followed by expected salary (24%), and then university rankings (11%).

According to Lívia Pintér, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the UNIside portal, the results show students’ awareness in STEM fields.

‘Our own previous research on pupils across the whole educational spectrum tends to show a more mixed picture: they are more likely to rely on their friends and other less specific information to make decisions. Here, we can see how much the study area determines pupils’ approaches to decisions.’ – she said.

Mathematics and IT: both the most and least popular subjects

The survey also ranks students’ favorite and least favorite subjects. Responses show that mathematics and IT divide students, with both subjects ranked among the top three most and least popular subjects. The top three favorite subject groups were computer science and programming (27%), management and economics (15%), and mathematics and statistics (14%). The least favorite subjects also included mathematics and statistics (29%), followed by physics and mechanics (17%), and then computer science and programming (12%).

Coherence between what you learn at university and your initial expectations

59% of those who completed the questionnaire consider the topics and subjects they study at university to be fully in line with their initial expectations. In relation to their own abilities, three quarters of respondents (77%) think that initial expectations are more or fully in line with those they experienced at university. Almost half of students (42%) feel that it is easy to cope and meet the requirements of higher education, but a third (34%) find it much harder to do well, and around a quarter (24%) think that it is challenging to complete university.