The most popular Hungarian universities among international students
There are almost 37,000 international students in Hungarian higher education. It is mainly because Hungarian universities are regarded as top educational institutions offering high-quality training in various different fields. Furthermore, studying in Hungary is relatively inexpensive in an international comparison. Moreover, the government offers scholarships to African, Asian, and South American countries in the framework of the Stipendium Hungaricum Programme.
Based on the data of Erudera, a higher education search platform, 35,579 foreigners were studying in Hungarian higher education in the 2021-2022 academic year. This number is almost three times more than the number of Hungarians studying abroad. The exact number is 13,038 – napi.hu wrote.
Based on the data,
there are more than 100 countries sending students
to Hungarian universities in the following distribution:
- Germany: 3,430
- China: 2,377
- Iran: 2,216
- Serbia: 1,269
- Slovakia: 1,750
- Ukraine: 1,202
- Turkey: 1,138
- Nigeria: 970
- Norway: 906
Interestingly, a large number, probably the majority of the students coming from Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia, are Hungarians living in these countries. They come to study in Hungary because there are limited or no opportunities for them in their birth country if they want to pursue higher education in their mother tongue.
The difficulty, in this case, is to convince them after graduation to return to their sending countries.
Transcarpathian or Transylvanian students rarely go back to Ukraine or Romania to start their professional career
after finishing their studies in Hungary. Therefore, the Hungarian higher education system “brain drains” these communities, which is bad news regarding their future development.
Here is the number of international students at the biggest Hungarian universities:
- University of Debrecen: 6,297
- University of Pécs: 4,156
- University of Szeged: 4,020
- Eötvös Lorán University, Budapest: 3,437
- Semmelweis University, Budapest: 3,274
Alma Miftari from Erudera said that Hungary is among the most popular destinations for foreign students for many reasons, for instance, for the respectable traditions of its higher education system, especially in the case of medical studies. Apart from the high standards,
Hungary offers a happy and friendly culture, a rich and astonishing history, and beautiful cities,
Mrs Miftari highlighted.
In a 2014 global survey, Hungarian higher education was ranked 44th on the list of 148 countries. There are currently 67 universities and colleges in Hungary, both state-funded and private; 37 of them are in Budapest, offering 428 different study programs.
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Source: napi.hu, DNH