LMP slams government for ‘disappearance’ of resources, students from higher education

Green opposition LMP on Friday slammed the government for what they see as the “disappearance of resources and students” from higher education.

Young people oppose the privatisation of universities and the introduction of tuition fees, Máté Kanász-Nagy told a press conference.

More than 50 billion forints required for undisturbed day-to-day operations are “missing” from higher education, he said.

Hardly more than 100,000 students applied for university and college courses and 70,000 were accepted this year, as against 140,000 applications and 100,000 admissions in 2010, he added.

Demographics alone do not justify the drop, Kanász-Nagy said.

Part of young people prefer to choose universities abroad to those in Hungary because of government policies, the withdrawal of resources, privatisation, and the introduction of tuition fees.

Resources earmarked for education should be doubled in the medium term, and raised to 20 percent of the central budget. Additionally, LMP would make higher education free of charge, he said.

Source: MTI