The 2020/2021 school year started with traditional classroom education in institutions for initial and vocational education. Tertiary educational institutions launched the academic year with digital learning outside the classroom.
Following the protective measures introduced owing to the Covid19 pandemic in November 2020, secondary schools changed to digital education again, while primary schools changed in March 2021. During the spring of 2021, after the gradual easing of protective measures, educational institutions, except for tertiary education, closed the school year in the traditional form.
In the 2020/2021 school year 1.8 million children and young people participate in the different levels of initial, vocational and tertiary education in Hungary. Compared to the previous school year, the number of kindergarten children (323 thousand) and students in secondary educational institutions (469 thousand) decreased, while that of students in primary schools (729 thousand) and in a tertiary educational institutions (287 thousand) increased. Similarly to the previous school year, 2.5 thousand children with severe and multiple disabilities fulfil their compulsory school attendance in schools within developmental education.
In the 2020/2021 academic year 287.5 thousand students continue their studies in 62 tertiary educational institutions. Out of this, 249.2 thousand students attend tertiary BA/BSc, MA/MSc or undivided training, 11.8 thousand students tertiary level vocational training, 16.3 thousand students postgraduate specialisation, and 10.2 thousand students PhD (DLA) training. A total of 205 thousand young people continue their studies in full-time form; 1.1 thousand more than a year earlier. The number of foreign students kept increasing.
47 thousand applicants to BA/BSc training and 22 thousand to MA/MSc and undivided training in 2020
In 2020 there were a total of 69 thousand applicants to tertiary BA/BSc, MA/MSc and undivided training in full-time form, which was over 10 thousand persons fewer than in the previous year. The decline in the number of applicants is related to the BA/BSc training for the most part, with 47 thousand applicants, 17% fewer than in the previous year. A total of 22 thousand persons submitted their applications for MA/MSc and undivided training, which figure is nearly the same as a year earlier. In 2020, a total of 51 thousand applicants were admitted to the above-mentioned training levels, 4.4 thousand fewer than a year earlier. Among students admitted in the first round, the proportion of admitted students was 76% for BA/BSc, 68% for MA/MSc and undivided training in 2020, which is 4.4 and 4.0 percentage points higher, respectively, compared to the admission rates of the previous year.
21% of applicants applied to economic science training programmes, while 13% applied to engineering, manufacturing and construction courses; however, similarly to earlier years, majors in liberal arts (12%) and computing (10%) were also popular.
Similarly to the previous year, the rate of admitted persons among the persons applied for the first place was the highest in natural sciences training (85.5%), followed by field in social sciences (85%) and teacher training (82%). The most difficult majors to enter into are the one in arts, with the lowest rate of admitted students (36.5%).
In 2020 the rate of admitted students increased in all fields of training, compared to 2015.
1.1 thousand more students in the full-time training of tertiary educational institutions
In the 2020/2021 academic year, 205 thousand young people – 1.1 thousand persons more than a year earlier – go to the full-time courses of tertiary educational institutions.
91.5% of the students (187 thousand persons) attend BA/BSc, MA/MSc and undivided training in tertiary education. While a 5.0% and a 1.5% increase can be observed in MA/MSc training and undivided training, respectively, the number of participants in tertiary BA/BSc education fell by 0.9%.
3.9% of students (8 thousand persons) continue their studies in tertiary vocational education; 3.0% more than in the previous year.
9.3% more, i.e. 9.0 thousand students do their studies for a doctorate degree. Participants in the PhD (DLA) training comprise 4.4% of all students.
The number of participants in postgraduate specialisation kept decreasing; their number does not reach 450 persons in full-time form in the closing academic year.
Similarly to earlier years, more than half of the students participating in tertiary BA/BSc, MA/MSc and undivided training study in 4 fields of training:
- engineering, manufacturing and construction (15%),
- business and administration (15%),
- health and welfare (14%),
- social sciences(10,5%).
In tertiary educational institutions, the number of teachers totals 23.5 thousand, which is nearly the same as the figure in the previous school year. 63% of teachers are employed full-time, 8.2% part-time, and 28% work with contract.
The number of foreign students has doubled in full-time BA/BSc, MA/MSc and undivided training in the past ten years
Between the 2010/2011 and the 2020/2021 academic years, the number of foreign students in BA/BSc, MA/MSc and undivided training in full-time tertiary education increased from 15 thousand to 32 thousand, their rate within all students rose from 6.9% to 17%. Most foreign students continue their studies in the field of health and welfare (32%); besides this, engineering, manufacturing and construction (12%), and social sciences (10%) training courses were the most popular among them in the 2020/2021 academic year.
Among foreign students, full-time PhD (DLA) training courses are becoming more and more popular, too; there has been a sevenfold increase in the number of foreign students since the 2010/2011 academic year. At present almost 2.8 thousand foreign students go to PhD (DLA) training, which means that nearly one-third of students in full-time PhD (DLA) training are foreign citizens.
More and more students choose part-time training in tertiary education
In the closing academic year, 29% of students participating in tertiary education, i.e. 82.8 thousand persons continue their studies in part-time education. The number of part-time students rose by almost 1.3 thousand compared to the previous academic year. The proportion of students in correspondence courses (91%) kept increasing, as opposed to students in distance learning (4.8%), while the proportion of students at the evening training (4.4%) has been unchanged for several years.
At the part-time training of tertiary educational institutions, 36% of students (29.7 thousand) belong to the 23–29 age group. Nearly 6% of students (4.7 thousand) are 50 years old and over.
While in full-time training the male-female ratio is nearly the same, in part-time training considerably more women do tertiary studies: 6 out of 10 students are female.
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