CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Esztergályos, Károly |
|---|---|
| Title | HUNGARIAN HIGHER EDUCATION: How did the introduction of the "student contract" affect the number of applications to Hungarian universities? |
| Summary | In 2012 the Hungarian government introduced the policy measure of the “student contract”. It had to be signed by every student who wanted to pursue his/her studies in the Hungarian universities (on a fully-funded or partially state-funded status). The reason behind the introduction of the policy action was that the government wanted to decrease the number of those people who leave the country after finishing their state-financed studies. The main point of the contract was if one attends a university in Hungary in a not self-funded form, he/she has to work in Hungary after the studies for a certain period and if one refuses this condition and wants to work abroad he/she has to pay back the cost of studies. Meanwhile, the government implemented another action at the same time. It cut down the number of state-financed programs which was an incomprehensive action not only for the future university students and for universities as institutions either. The paper examines the period between 2006-2016. In my paper, I examined the effect of the two abovementioned policy measures. I looked for the answer to my hypothetical questions: 1. Was there any effect on the number of applications when the Hungarian government introduced the student contract and reduced the number of fully-funded places at the university? 2. Were there different effects on the different programs? 3. Was there any difference in the number of applications among students with a different background? For the analysis, I used the database of “Felvi” which I received from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. I found that the two measures affected on the applications. The number of applications to the state-financed places was decreased from 2011 to 2012 and this declining trend could be also observed in the number of applicants. Based on my analysis I formulated 3 recommendations. The first, Hungary should invest more in its higher education system. My second finding is that students should apply where they would like to. The system should not restrict them in their choice. My last finding is, there has to be done some modification to the language exam system because this source of extra admission points increases the differences among applicants with a different socio-economic background. |
| Supervisor | Bokros, Lajos |
| Department | Economics MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/esztergalyos_karoly.pdf |
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