“The funding for the Hungarian-American Fulbright scholarship program will by increasing from the current 250 million forints (EUR 740,000) to 400 million forints (EUR 1.2 million) by 2022”, the Ministry for Innovation and Technology’s State Secretary for European Union Development Projects Zsigmond Perényi announced at a press conference in Budapest on Monday.
“This is thanks to the fact that the Hungarian government would like to increase its contribution to the same level as America’s, from 50 million forints to 200 million forints by 2022”, he State Secretary said.
“It is characteristic of the effectiveness of the Fulbright program that 60 Nobel prize winners have taken part in it. On Hungary’s part, four former ministers and twenty former ambassadors have received funding from the program”, he stated. “In addition to political relations, this also contributes to reinforcing social relations between the two countries”, he added. “This is one of the reasons why the government has decided to increase its funding”, the State Secretary said.
Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest Marc Dillard emphasised that Hungarians and Americans who receive scholarships study in each other’s countries, and during the course of their studies they “fall in love” with the host country and further reinforce relations between the two peoples.
He pointed out that the United States provides 850 thousand dollars in contributions towards the joint scholarship program, and that thanks to the increased funding being provided by the Hungarian party the total annual funding available ú for paying tuition fees and grants will be increasing to over 1.5 million dollars by 2022. He recalled that the scholarship program was launched following the Second World War in the interests of reinforcing stability. It has been affording scholarships in Hungary since 1987, and the two countries have been operating the program jointly since 1992, he explained.
Director of the Fulbright Hungarian-American Commission for Educational Exchange Károly Jókay said that thanks to the increased funding the organisation will be able to provide more competitive scholarships, and the waiting list for applicants will become shorter. “In addition, we will be able to increase the tuition fee budget for Hungarian students travelling to the United States by one third”, he stated.
He drew attention to the fact that thanks to the increase in contributions, including contributions from institutions, universities and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, it will be possible to increase the number of annual scholars from the current 40 to over 60 by 2022.
Qualitative criteria will continue to be kept in mind in future, meaning that a committee of 5-10 experts will decide on the awarding of scholarships, he added. He also stated that in addition to Budapest institutions, the organisation would increasingly like to also involve rural universities in the program.