Hungarians losing interest in higher education?

The numper of students applying for higher education instuitutes dropped by 22 % this year. A total of 109, 000 students have submitted their applications this year, 32 thousand less than in 2011. The last day of application was originally February 15th, but the government had decided that the recent enactment of the new education law should go with an extension of the deadline by nine days, so that students can reconsider their choices.

Some consider that the dramatic drop in the number of applicants can be attributed directly to the education reform, scaring students away from universities. “Those who cannot afford to financially invest in higher education on a long-term basis have refrained from submitting applications,” - said socialist education critic Ágnes Kunhalmi to Népszabadság, a Hungarian daily. She referred to the sharply decreasing amount of subsidized places in higher education from next year, an issue affecting social sciences, arts faculties, economics and law departments most intensely (more details on the new hungarian education law can be found in issue 13, at http://issuu.com/ceuweekly ).

Others blame demographic trends, the increase of the minimum score in order to apply, the theory that more people choose to study abroad or that because of the changing legislative background students rather wait one more year with their application. Although all these factors can explain a minor part of the phenomenon, it would be unreasonable to think that it can be attributed to such a sharp decrease.