Education in Hungary

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

Students go to school five days a week, from Monday till Friday and usually have 5-8 classes a day. School holidays are from the 1st or 2nd week of June till the end of August; a week around Christmas and Easter; and on official holidays.

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

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, drawing, PE, 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.)

Secondary education

Secondary education usually lasts for 4 years. In gimnáziums it can also last for 6 or 8 years depending on how many years did the student spend in primary school. Since 1997 the numbering of grades 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 grade 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 used to consist 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 it also serves as an entry exam to universities and colleges, also, now there are both written and oral exams in 5 subjects, except for mathematics.

Those who had at least an intermediate level language exam didn't need to pass a language exam at Matura, but from 2006 they will have to.

Higher education

Higher education is divided between colleges and universities. College education lasts for 3 or 4 years (usually 4), while university education lasts for 4 or 5 years (usually 5; 6 for medical universities.) Universities organize PhD courses (3 years).

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 because it is said to have a relatively small vocabulary and easy grammar.

Sources

on number of enrolled students
on educational attainment (data from 2000)
on budget (Hungarian only)

External links

Ministry of Education (in Hungarian and English)
Hungary's profile at EuroEducation.net