Big promises: doctoral students in Hungary could find themselves in a much better financial situation

Balázs Hankó, the Minister of Culture and Innovation, spoke about the beginning of a new era in doctoral studies in Hungary at a press conference. He promised more money for talented young people who “create and shape” the country’s future.

According to index.hu, Hankó suggested that their success is the success of the entire Hungarian nation. Therefore, the government plans to take a step forward, creating a win-win situation for universities, researchers and doctoral students.

He announced that the doctoral education in Hungary will have three levels:

• research excellence,
• cooperative doctoral training,
• traditional doctoral training.

The minister said about the research excellence doctoral program that the funding of the National Research Excellence Program has been increased to 40 billion forints, creating 300-350 positions. “The most outstanding researchers will participate here, and their minimum guaranteed monthly income will be a gross HUF 600,000.”

Number of students in doctoral studies will increase significantly

He said that currently, there are 6,500 researchers and developers per one million inhabitants in Hungary. However, since the government would like to see Hungary among the top 10 most innovative nations in Europe by 2030, they would like to increase that number to 9,000 per one million inhabitants. He did not forget to mention “the unjust exclusion of Hungarian researchers from the Erasmus and Horizon programmes”.

He also talked about launching the so-called V4 VIP doctoral program (Visegrád 4: Czechia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary), which the minister says will simultaneously benefit candidates, research communities, and universities. He said the government’s plans were “not just a reform, but a scientific breakthrough.”

In a Facebook post, he talked about transferring the scholarship for four years, even if 4-year-long doctoral studies are finished in 2-3 years.