Hungary needs to make some changes in its higher education system in order to make it sustainable, State Minister for Higher Education László Palkovics said on national TV channel M1 on Thursday night. He said that systemic problems had prompted the Ministry of Human Capacities to initiate changes in 2013, and the higher education strategy for 2014 had also recognised the need for change.
Mr. Palkovics said that the Ministry has established joint working groups – involving higher education institutions and student bodies – in order to identify the necessary changes, and the results of their findings will be finalised by this August. He said that the goal is to raise the standard of higher education and to tackle the problem of low student numbers where required.
He mentioned some of the structural and operational changes, such as creating an independent veterinary university, a separate faculty of forestry at Sopron University, and relocation of Budapest Corvinus University’s horticultural and food industry faculties to Szent István University.