China – The next potential language training destination for the Hungarian youth

Within the framework of the annual evaluation ceremony, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán introduced the government-funded language training programme which enables high school students in their 9th and 11th academic years to participate in a two-week-long foreign language course during the summer period. Now, some further details have been revealed.

Fidesz Parliamentarian Mónika Bartos will be responsible for the management of the project mentioned above. Her tasks will include the organisation of the two-week-long overseas language training programme for the 140 thousand Hungarian students completing their 9th and 11th academic year of studying.

József Bódis, Minister of State for Education, explained that based on pre-calculations, the programme would cost 2000 EUR per student, which means that the whole project will require a budget of 90 billion HUF. This amount will cover transportation, accommodation and meals at the location, and the tuition fee of the language course.

According to Hungarian news portal Index, besides participating in 20-25 classes a week, free time activities will also contribute to the improvement of the students’ language knowledge. Furthermore, there is a great effort to house them with local families where they will have more opportunities to practice the foreign language.

Tempus Public Foundation provides the technical background of the project. The application can be realised individually or in groups, while every student’s application will be taken into consideration during the development of the tender system.

The main aim of the programme is to enable adolescents to achieve proficiency in their first foreign language.

Target countries are primarily within the European Union; therefore, negotiations have started with the UK, Ireland, Malta, France, Austria and Germany, and besides these, with the ambassador of China as well.