Hungary’s Pannónia Programme better than Erasmus with more than 3,000 applicants, says Orbán cabinet

Balázs Hankó praised the Hungarian Pannónia student exchange programme which substitutes the Erasmus programme for Hungarian foundation universities that have been excluded from Erasmus by the European Commission. He said the Pannónia Programme allows students to join courses in the world’s top universities and gives higher scholarships. Thus, it is not surprising that the number of applicants increased significantly compared to the Erasmus Programme.

“Hungary’s Pannónia Programme is better than the Erasmus”

According to 444.hu, Balázs Hankó, Hungary’s culture and innovation minister, praised the Orbán cabinet’s new Pannónia student exchange programme and compared it to the EU’s Erasmus programme. He said the government’s initiative is better and more popular than the EU’s.

The Pannónia Programme is available for students studying at foundation-run universities in Hungary. Such higher education institutions were excluded from the Erasmus programme due to rule of law problems. The European Commission believes the Hungarian government maintained control over the leadership of the foundation-run universities, which harms academic freedom. Brussels discussed the issue in December and did not change its decision about the exclusion.

Since the European Commission and the Hungarian government could not settle the controversies, students of 21 foundation-run universities can no longer apply to the Erasmus programme. The same goes for their lecturers, who cannot participate in the Horizon programme.

Foundation-run universities remain excluded

That is why the Hungarian government started the Pannónia Programme. Mr Hankó said the Hungarian version follows a better logic, and it focuses on the entire world, students can get access to the top universities, while the programme gives full credit and higher scholarships, which is why it is more popular than the Erasmus. The number of students participating in the Pannónia Programme reached 3,000, while their number was only 2,000 in the Erasmus.

He said what Brussels did with “the Hungarians” concerning the Erasmus and the Horizon programmes was “evil”. At one point, he even told Origo, a Hungarian government-close news outlet, that Brussels punishes Hungary only because we are Hungarians.

Concerning the six universities that sued the European Commission at the Court of Justice of the European Union due to the Erasmus exclusion, Hankó said that if there was justice, they would win their case.

Hankó did not share how much the new, state-funded Pannónia Programme costs for the Hungarian taxpayers, instead of paying the foreign studies of the Hungarian students from the EU coffers of the Erasmus.

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