The government is successful in reducing the number of graduates in Hungary

The rate of university graduates decreases almost only in Hungary among the 25 to 34-year-olds in the EU. Though the trend is exactly the opposite than in the EU, it is supposed to continue in the next few years – reported g7.hu.

23 thousand fewer graduates in only 3 years

The word ‘almost’ stands there because the rate of graduates is also falling in Luxemburg; however, there 50 pc of the age group in question has a diploma. This rate in Hungary is only 30 pc. In fact, the rate of graduates among young Hungarians started to fall in 2014. Then, 32.1 pc of the age group 25-34 had a diploma. However, this rate

decreased to 30.2 pc last year.

This means that if the rate of 2014 had remained (32.2 pc), there would have been 23 thousand more graduates among the 25 to 34-year-olds in 2017. In contrast, in the EU the rate of graduates rose by 1.8 pc in this age group.

As a result, the qualification level of the young Hungarians fell behind the EU standard by 8.8 pc last year. In contrast, the rate of graduates rose faster in Central-Europe than the EU average. For example, in the last three years, it increased in Slovakia by 5.3 pc, in the Czech Republic by 3.9 pc while in Bulgarian by 2.1 pc.

This trend worsens Hungary’s fallback in Europe. In fact, Hungary is only preceded by Romania and Italy in the EU where the

rate of graduates is the lowest.

Poorer students have almost no chance

This is because the Fidesz government changed the most fundamental aims of education. Firstly, they pumped out a large amount of money from the sector. Secondly, they raised the score limits, so it is harder to receive a state-financed place at a university. Thirdly, the government implemented several other measures in order to close the gates of the universities before non-elite students.

According to a recently published research, the government reached its goal. The number of university students decreases faster than the demographic decline in Hungary would explain. To make matters worse, it hinders social inclusion that enrolment in a higher education program has become more difficult for poorer students. For example, the government transformed the Corvinus University of Budapest from a state-supported institution to a foundation supported one. Thus, from 2019 autumn on there will

only be fee-paying places

at the biggest economics university of Hungary.

Finally, the exodus of the young and well-educated Hungarian workforce towards Western-European countries also worsens the qualification statistics.

Source: g7.hu