University
Hungary today has 65 higher education institutions, ranging from minor universities of applied sciences to top research universities.
There are 28 statefunded, 11 privately-funded and 26 church-funded institutions to choose from, and students can find what fits their interests the best: institutions offer more than 500 courses in English, German, French and other languages. The foreign language programmes are of a high standard and tuition fees are not very expensive comparing with other countries. The largest institutions offer courses in all study fields while smaller institutions have programmes in a few specific areas. Students can earn double degrees at many universities through joint degree programmes in which the Hungarian university works together with another European higher education institution.
Higher education studies are offered at two types of higher education institutions, egyetem (university) and főiskola (college), both of them may offer courses in all three training cycles: Bachelor course, Master course and Doctoral course.
The three-cycle degree structure, in accordance with the Bologna Declaration (signed in 1999), was introduced in September 2006.
The multicycle system offers education within the Qualifications Framework of the European Higher Education Area and the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF) at Bachelor (BA/BSc) level that lasts for 6-8 semesters (EQF level 6), which can be followed by Master (MA/MSc) level courses of a maximum of 4 semesters (EQF level 7). The third cycle provides doctorate programmes (EQF level 8). Prerequisite for participating in a doctorate programme is a Master degree or equivalent. Besides multicycle courses, there are a few study fields where education remained undivided (long-cycle) leading to a master degree. Prerequisite for participating in a doctorate programme is a university, or Master degree.
There are also post-graduate specialist trainings for graduates holding a Bachelor or Master degree, launched by higher education institutions, which do not lead to another degree. Within a Doctoral programme, students need to complete 240 credits within 4 years of study. At the end of the fourth semester, a final examination must be taken. After a successful examination, the last 2 years of the doctoral programme are about conducting the research and writing your dissertation, which can be extended with one more year.
The Study Finder database on the national website Study in Hungary, provides information about study programmes in English and other foreign languages offered by Hungarian higher education institutions.
Here you can browse through more than 500 programmes to get an overview on the courses available. This database provides information about study programmes in English and in other foreign languages, offered by Hungarian Higher Education Institutions.