Reform in Hungarian Higher Education

Anthony Morgan

doi:10.6017/ihe.2000.19.6866

Abstract

proximately 10 percent, to 352,000, and are expected to drop even more in the next couple of years. The HDIs have borne the brunt of these declines, as far fewer black students are qualifying for university admission. Moreover, the black students who do qualify are deserting the HDIs and enrolling at the historically white institutions—especially the more research-oriented universities whose degrees are perceived (correctly, by almost any measure) to be of higher quality. Increasingly, South Africa’s more research-oriented universities are being called upon to educate the nation’s black elite while providing the technical expertise and research required for economic growth. South Africa needs to find a way to provide these universities with the support necessary to maintain their critical missions and to keep at least a few South African higher education institutions near the center of the knowledge system.

Highlights

Hungarian universities, like those in other Eastern European countries, have roots in the Prussian model of a strong state apparatus and a semiautonomous professoriate
A second important structural characteristic of Eastern Europe generally and Hungary in particular is a relatively high level of institutional fragmentation—that is, the existence of many small institutions offering a limited number of programs
The second driving force is a reform platform formulated by reformers in both Hungary and the World Bank

Summary

Introduction

Like those in other Eastern European countries, have roots in the Prussian model of a strong state apparatus and a semiautonomous professoriate. South Africa needs to find a way to provide these universities with the support necessary to maintain their critical missions and to keep at least a few South African higher education institutions near the center of the knowledge system. These legacies of state dominance and institutional fragmentation have important implications today for the shape of reform.

Results

Conclusion