Tenfold pay gap between teachers at Hungarian universities?

It is a great career choice to be a guest teacher in Hungary. While Hungarian teachers earn small amounts of money, some foreign educators can enjoy all types of benefits.

Foreign guest teachers can get as much as 10,000 euros as a stipend at Mathias Corvinus Collegium, an institution close to governing political party Fidesz. Younger educators under the age of 35 may get 5,000 euros, wrote Telex. Free travel, health insurance, visa, accommodation, an office, participation at conferences abroad, and some money to spend are included in the stipend. The stipend can be given for a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of 4 years.

The stipend that foreign guest teachers get is considered an extremely large sum of money in comparison to the pay that a Hungarian teacher receives. A month ago, Telex reported that Urkom Aleksander, an assistant professor at ELTE, disclosed the information that

in Hungary, an assistant teacher with a PhD and obligations to do research and have publications earns as little as 542 euros a month at a university.

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In his Facebook post, he also posed some very serious questions. “I had to ask myself, why are most of my colleagues in a bad mood? Why are there any drop-outs at all when this [teaching] is already such a “glorified” profession? And why does an assistant professor in Hungary have to take on 3 part-time jobs to be able to make a living at all? Do you think this is the shame of university lecturers or the shame of the country? University education should finally be appreciated!” he wrote.

Recently, Sándor Dráviczki, the President of the Higher Education Workers’ Trade Union, spoke about the pay gap issue. A university assistant professor takes home a net of 538 euros, college assistant professors earn 481-510 euros, and teaching assistants earn 416 euros, wrote eduline.hu

The Hungarian government is planning to raise salaries in the field of education by 15% in September. Another 15% raise is planned for January 2022, but this second raise will not apply to everyone who works in education.

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Source: eduline.hu, Telex