Three Hungarian universities to launch a new IT bachelor program

According to Magyar Idők, the overall aim of the program is to train IT specialists more adequate to the needs of the market. As we already reported, there are tens of thousands of unfilled positions in the IT sector in Hungary. One of the reasons is that skilled workforce abandons the country. However, many do not even get a degree because of e.g. harsh maths requirements. Experts say that informatics education needs flexibility, less maths, and more English. Thus, starting such an IT bachelor program is reasonable.

Less maths, more practice

László Palkovics state secretary for higher education cleared on a press conference that the new, practice-based bachelor program will start

in Veszprém, Nagykanizsa (Pannon University) and Budapest (University of Technology and  Economics).

He added that there will be less maths but more practice included in the program because that is what employers need. They would like to train IT specialists who can maintain and develop enterprise information systems. He said that the idea came from Nagykanizsa, Zala county, where Pannon University has a campus.

Palkovics added that unlike traditional BSc programs students will learn less theoretical and maths background. In fact, emphasis will be on practice and

students will be able to work for companies during their studies.

Furthermore, the dual study program can encourage secondary and vocational school students to continue their studies in informatics and gain marketable knowledge quick.

According to Palkovics, the new IT bachelor program is not designed to be a dead in higher education. Clearly, students can continue their studies provided they accomplish some additional modules.

Labour shortage critical in the IT sector

According to Palkovics, the number of students studying informatics has risen from 7% to 9% lately. Clearly, they hope that the new program will boost further growth. In fact, demand for IT specialists is rising so finding a job in this sector is now easy. Therefore, the “investment” is worth both for the state and for the students.

Péter Cseresnyés, State Secretary for Labour Market and Training added that students graduating in Veszprém and Nagykanizsa are likely to remain and work there. He reminded that industry has the biggest demand for IT specialists because of digitalization.

In fact, there were 22,000 unfilled positions in Hungary’s IT sector in 2015. Counting positions indirectly affected by the labour shortage in the sector,

altogether 72,000 spots were vacant then.

This number has probably risen in the last two years.

New IT bachelor program: no enrolment limit

András Gelencsér, rector of the Pannon University said that one of the flagships of their university is technology and informatics. Furthermore, he added that their programs are strongly connected to the needs of the local employers. According to their experience, the dropout rate of IT students is high. Moreover, many students cannot finish their studies in time. Therefore, he hopes that with the help of the new IT program

they can reduce dropout rates and students can start to work earlier.

Palkovics cleared that there will be no limit regarding the number of students enrolled in the new IT program. Based on their estimates, 3-400 students can apply in February. According to him, even those can start their studies who only reached the minimum 280 points during the application process.

Source: Magyar Idők