Hungarian Government Scholarships

Through the Hungarian Scholarship Board Office, the Hungarian Minister of Education and Culture offers scholarships for foreign students and professors of higher education institutions as well as research fellows who intend to gain further professional experience in Hungarian institutions of higher education or research.

Scholarships can be applied for under two systems:

BILATERAL AGREEMENTS

The Office of the Hungarian Scholarship Board (hereinafter HSB) welcomes applications by citizens of countries (and territories) that have a valid/effective educational co-operation programme with Hungary, or a bilateral agreement signed by the Hungarian Government or the Ministry of Education and Culture of Hungary and the relevant ministry of the given country (or territory). Assessment and shortlisting of applications is conducted by the relevant home country (or territory) scholarship authority or Ministry of Education, as well as dissemination of all information regarding the application procedure and deadlines. The list of countries (or territories) and contact information on the partner scholarship offices can be found on our webpage (http://www.scholarship.hu/static/angol/partners/).

Although the Hungarian Scholarship Board accepts applications from these countries (or territories) submitted directly to its Office, please note that the applications evaluated and forwarded by the home country (or territory) authorities always take precedence.

COUNTRIES WHOSE CITIZENS MAY APPLY ONLY ON THE BASIS OF BILATERAL AGREEMENTS: Afghanistan, Lithuania, Mongolia, Palestine, Ukraine, Yemen and Vietnam.

SCHOLARSHIP POOL

In 2005 the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Hungary established a “scholarship pool”, a scholarship system of various types of scholarships, allowing for applications from the following countries/territories:

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Korean Republic, Kuwait, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Romania, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom.

Citizens of Austria can also apply for Hungarian scholarships through the Stiftung Aktion Österreich-Ungarn (www.omaa.elte.hu).

SCHOLARSHIP TYPES

Applicants can apply for all scholarship types in the “scholarship pool” system. The scholarships offered in the bilateral agreements announced by the foreign partners are also categorized according to these scholarship types. In some cases the co-operation programme/bilateral agreement does not contain all the scholarships listed under the pool programme, hence they may not figure among the scholarships announced by the partner office. For citizens of countries that have a bilateral agreement and a partner scholarship office it is recommended to submit their applications directly to HSB, in the pool system, in case the bilateral agreement does not allow for a specific type of scholarship listed in the pool programme.

Applicants are exempt who gained admission to a tuition-free program at an institution of higher education (state-financed university, full-time program), where the working language is different from Hungarian.

The following scholarships are available in the Academic Year 2010/2011:

A – semester / partial studies (3-10 months)

Can be applied for by: undergraduate (BA/BSc) and graduate (MA/MSc) students, especially those majoring in Hungarian Language and Literature, as well as graduating students working on their theses, and students enrolled in “single track” university programmes (such as General Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacology, Veterinary Studies, Architecture and Jurisprudence). Before application, students are required to have completed minimum two semesters at their home institutions. For Type A scholarship, an applicant may submit an application only on one occasion during his/her BA studies, and on another occasion during his/her MA studies.

B - postgraduate studies, research (3-21 days or 1-10 months)

Can be applied for by: applicants holding a Master’s degree or an equivalent university degree, including PhD students who intend to do research for their dissertation, yet wish to stay in Hungary for less than 12 months. (However, PhD students cannot acquire credits at their host universities.)

C/1 – full PhD programme (36 months)

Only students proficient in Hungarian can apply, the scholarship is conditional upon successful entrance exam / admission to the respective doctoral school.

C/2 - partial PhD studies (12 months)

Applicants must be enrolled in a PhD programme at an accredited institution of higher education in his/her home country or in a foreign country (but not in Hungary).

D - postdoctoral studies / research (1-10 months)

Applicants must have a PhD or an equivalent degree.

E - research stay (3-21 days or 1-10 months)

For associate or higher ranking professors or for researchers holding minimum a PhD or an equivalent degree.

F – summer courses in the summer of 2009 (1-4 weeks)

Courses must be chosen only from the list of Summer Courses 2010 published on the HSB website.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

These scholarships allow for study or research in any field of arts and sciences during the granted period at an accredited Hungarian higher education or research institution to be determined in advance.

Semester, partial, postgraduate studies and doctoral programmes must be carried out in state-financed institutions where no tuition fee is required. For Type A scholarship, an applicant may submit an application only on one occasion during his/her BA studies, and on another occasion during his/her MA studies.

Type A (semester /partial studies) and type C1/C2 (full PhD and partial PhD studies) scholarships may not be extended. Type B (postgraduate studies), D (postdoctoral studies, research), and E (research stay) scholarships may be extended exceptionally, only under special circumstances, on one occasion. The scholarships are valid only for studies and research purposes in Hungary. HSB scholarships can only be used for conducting studies or research in Hungary, which means that scholarship-holders must stay in Hungary during the whole period of their studies or research.

The scholarships are awarded for the summer of 2010, or the academic year of 2010-2011, and these latter ones must be finished by 30 June 2011 at the latest.

CASES OF NON-ELIGIBILITY

1. Foreign citizens with a residence permit or in the course of applying for a residence permit in Hungary cannot apply.
2. Men and women, who have an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by the law in Hungary cannot apply.
3. Students applying for part-time or correspondence study programmes cannot apply.
4. Students applying for non state-financed universities cannot apply.
5. Students admitted to tuition fee-paying institutions of higher education cannot apply.

For further details go to: http://www.scholarship.hu/static/angol/general/