Education in Hungary

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Education in Hungary

Educational oversight

Minister
Deputy Secretary

Ministry of Education and Culture
István Hiller

National education budget

272.86 million Ft (2006)

Primary languages

Hungarian

Central system
Established
Activated

October 26, 1995
September 1, 1998

Literacy (2003)
• Men
• Women

99.4%
99.5%
99.3%

Enrollment
• Primary
• Secondary
• Post-secondary

1,877,500
886,500
570,000
421,000

Attainment
• Secondary diploma
• Post-secondary diploma

86
14

In Hungary most schools are owned by the governament, although since the 1990s there are also church owned and private schools.

Students attend school five days a week, from Monday to Friday and usually have 5-8 classes a day. School holidays are from the first or second week of June until the end of August. The week around Christmas and Easter, and official holidays are also designated as school holidays.

Classes last for 45 minutes, and there are 5 to 25 minute breaks between them.

1 Basic education
2 Secondary education
- 2.1 New secondary form until the school year of 2004/2005
3 Higher education
4 See also
5 Sources
6 External links

[edit] Basic education

Primary school is usually preceded by kindergarten where children spend 3 or 4 years. Children start primary school in the year in which they have their 7th birthday (6th if they were born before May 31).

Primary education can last for 4, 6 or 8 years. 8-year education is the most widespread; the other two options were introduced in the early 1990s.

Subjects include literature, grammar, mathematics, music, art, Physical education, environmental studies (from 1st to 5th grade), biology (from 6th grade), geography (from 6th grade), history (from 5th grade), history of art, physics (from 6th grade), chemistry (from 7th grade), one or two foreign languages (usually English, German or French. Before 1990 Russian was compulsory.

[edit] Secondary education

Secondary education usually lasts for 4 years. In gimnáziums it can also last for 5, 6 or 8 years depending on how many years did the student spent in primary school. Since 1997 the numbering of years in secondary school are following that of primary school (i. e. after the 8th grade of primary school the student goes to 9th grade, which is actually the 1st year of secondary school.)

There are three kinds of secondary schools:

Gimnázium (non-vocational; prepares students for higher education; teaches at least 2 foreign languages)
Szakközépiskola (vocational school but also prepares for higher education)
Szakmunkásképző (vocational school)

After finishing secondary school, students take a school-leaving exam (Matura, érettségi in Hungarian). This previously consisted of exams on six subjects: written exams in mathematics, literature and a foreign language, oral exams in history, literature, grammar and a foreign language, and written and/or oral exam in a subject of the student's choice. However, this system has been modified from 2005 onward, and now also serves as an entry exam to universities and colleges. Now there are both written and oral exams in 5 subjects, except for mathematics.

[edit] New secondary form until the school year of 2004/2005

Many of the gimnáziums have begun to teach a foreign language intensively (usually 12-14 lessons a week) and IT (usually 3-4 lessons a week) in the first year. This is called nyelvi előkészítő évfolyam, literally "Language training class", or simply nulladik évfolyam. After 2005, students will have less foreign language lessons and IT.

At schools where there is no nulladik évfolyam (beginners classes), they may be required to introduce them because the majority of Hungarians do not speak more than one language, or only speak their parents language or dialect. Most students will finish High School at the age of 18 or 19, or when they complete Year 13.

Those who had at least an intermediate level language exam weren't required to pass a language exam at Matura, but has become copulsory since 2006. In language training classes, a student must pass an intermediate level language exam in the second year, and the same level Matura in the third year.

[edit] Higher education

Higher education is divided between colleges and universities. College education generally lasts for 4 years, while university education lasts for 4 to 6 years depending on the course undertaken. University PhD courses usually take 3 years to complete.

Before students get their degree, they must pass an intermediate level language exam in the foreign language of their choice. English and German are the most popular. Recently a high number of students chose Esperanto and Romani languages. The latter is said to have a relatively small vocabulary and easy grammar.