At a panel discussion at the Bálványos Summer University and Student Camp in Transylvania on Wednesday, Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog said that Hungary will launch its own Erasmus programme enabling exchanges between Hungarian students in Hungary and abroad.

Mr. Balog said that the Government has asked the Ministry to complete the design of the programme by September. As a first step in the programme, the plan is to triple the number of Hungarian students studying abroad and abolish the 5,000-student limit for ethnic Hungarians studying in Hungary.

The programme will also make it possible for Hungarian university professors to teach abroad while retaining their Hungarian salaries. The Minister said that Hungarian university teachers could be instrumental in helping Hungarian universities abroad receive their accreditations. He said that beginning in February 2016, 25 to 30 Hungarian university tutors will start working at universities abroad in disciplines lacking accreditation. The Government will spend 300 million forints (EUR 969,000) towards this goal in the coming year.

Mr. Balog said that the long-term plan is for all relevant economics and social sciences disciplines to be available in Hungarian at every university which offers tuition in Hungarian in a neighbouring country. He said that these will include state-financed universities in these countries, Hungarian universities receiving civil society or church funding, and departments affiliated to universities in Hungary.

The Minister said that plans have already been completed for setting up such affiliated programmes where the local communities are unable to do so themselves.

In answer to a journalist’s question, Mr. Balog said that the Hungarian Education Office will manage the difficulties related to ethnic Hungarians’ enrolment in Masters’ degree courses in Hungary: Romanian universities delay issuing the required degree certificates, while Hungarian universities do not accept temporary certificates issued in lieu of these.

(Ministry of Human Capacities)