Hungary
Hungary with the official name Magyar is a republic in the middle of Europe. Its capital is Budapest and it has approximately 9.976.000 inhabitants. It furthermore has a surface of around 93.000 km² and its neighbouring countries are the seven countries Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia . The country has been part of the European Union since 2004 but has its own currency which is the Hungarian forint. Hungary has a wide variety of nature, but mostly commonly consists of stretching plains. Added to that is a huge touristic lake called Lake Balaton, which is the second most popular place in Hungary after Budapest. The official language is Hungarian, which is a language that does not look like any other language in the world whatsoever. Wanting to study in live in Hungary is an amazing experience for every person. Budapest has the essential of being a big city, where city people will quickly feel it at home. Outside of Budapest the country life begins, where there is a lot to travel and explore. The inhabitants of Hungary, called Magyars are very hospitable and welcoming which makes staying in Hungary very pleasant.
Hungary with the official name Magyar is a republic in the middle of Europe. Its capital is Budapest and it has approximately 9.976.000 inhabitants. It furthermore has a surface of around 93.000 km² and its neighbouring countries are the seven countries Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia . The country has been part of the European Union since 2004 but has its own currency which is the Hungarian forint. Hungary has a wide variety of nature, but mostly commonly consists of stretching plains. Added to that is a huge touristic lake called Lake Balaton, which is the second most popular place in Hungary after Budapest. The official language is Hungarian, which is a language that does not look like any other language in the world whatsoever. Wanting to study in live in Hungary is an amazing experience for every person. Budapest has the essential of being a big city, where city people will quickly feel it at home. Outside of Budapest the country life begins, where there is a lot to travel and explore. The inhabitants of Hungary, called Magyars are very hospitable and welcoming which makes staying in Hungary very pleasant.
When planning on going to Hungary to study and live,
you will first have to find a way to get there. Luckily, because the country is
situated in Europe there are varies way of travelling to Hungary. Firstly, you
can travel there by car. The drive is 1.354 kilometres and will take you around
14 hours if your approximate speed is 105 km/h, in which you will pass both
Germany and Austria. The advantage to
this is that you will already have a car, which is very handy in Hungary
especially in the country side. The other option is to go by plain which will
only take around one and a half hour. The prices of the flight vary from 20 to
200 euros, given the different flight companies and dates. Another option is to
travel by train, which will take around a day of traveling. You will then
probably first travel with a Dutch intercity and continue your journey with a
German Bahn. However other options are possible, like for example a night
train. A train ticket costs around 200 euros per person, again depending on the
different trains and dates.
The next important thing to figure out is where you
want to study in Hungary. Hungary has great universities for foreign students
given it’s education is of a high quality. Compared to the other countries in
the region of Hungary, they clearly spend more money concerning that matter.
When wanting to be accepted at a university in Hungary you will need a VWO-
diploma. Universities in Hungary offer three levels of degree:
alapképzés (bachelor’s), mesterképzés (master’s) and doktori
képzés (doctorate). Bachelor’s programs usually take three or four years,
master’s programs one or two, and doctorate programs three years. In some
subjects, it is also possible to complete a single five or six year course,
which combines the bachelor’s and master’s levels. The official language in
Hungary is Hungarian, which is used at the majority of the universities. There
is the option to learn this language, but there is also the option to attend a
study of which the language used is English, German or French. The most common
foreign language spoken on some universities is English. Two examples are the
BKF University of Applied Sciences in Budapest and the University of General
Medicine in Pécs. Both have a course of six years and have the requirement of a
VWO-diploma. Four universities in Hungary appear in the QS World University
Rankings® 2013/14: the University
of Szeged (ranked 501-550), Eötvös Loránd University (551-600),University
of Debrecen (601-650) and Corvinus University of Budapest (651-700),
which all offer courses in English. International students have to pay a
tuition fee which usually varies from 1000 to 3000 euros per academic year.
Added to that there may be also asked for a registration fee which varies from
40 to 700 euros depending on the course.
When wanting to stay in Hungary for more than 90 days
to study, live or work you have to register yourself officially. When
registering you will need prove of you application to the university and
optional your student card. The most ideal situation is to have an apartment
near your university, which is very realistic in the big cities like Budapest
and Pécs. Because Hungary is less developed than the Netherlands, living in
Hungary is rather inexpensive. It is not extremely cheap, but you will
definitely save money each month compared to living in the Netherlands. The
currency in Hungary is not the euro, but the forint. When converted 50 euros
equals 15.197.56 Hungarian forints. To give you a general idea of the prices in
Hungary: an imported beer costs 400 forints, 1 pair of Nike shoes costs around
20,000 forints and one kilogram of tomatoes costs around 440 forints. When
looking at apartments the costs are as follows:
· Rent per month: Apartment (1 bedroom) in city centre: 69,728.72 Ft, which equals 230 euros.
· Rent per month: Apartment (1 bedroom) outside of centre: 49,318.18 Ft, which equals 163 euros.
· Price per square meter to buy an apartment in city centre: 382,600.00 Ft, which equals 1,260 euros.
· Price per square meter to buy an apartment outside of centre: 247,272.73 Ft, which equals 820 euros.
What can clearly be concluded from these numbers is that it is relatively inexpensive to live in Hungary. These numbers are an taken average, which means there are also opportunities to end up in an even more inexpensive situation. The language spoken in Hungary is Hungarian, so the big part of the media will be in that language. However with the help of a dictionary you will quickly understand what is being said and learn a lot of new words at the same time. With television, there is even the opportunity to get the Dutch channels. This will mean you will still be able to watch your favorite programs, as well as being up to date on the events in the Netherlands. When you are living in Hungary you will gradually learn the language, which will mean that it is just a matter of time before you will understand the media throughout the whole country.
· Rent per month: Apartment (1 bedroom) in city centre: 69,728.72 Ft, which equals 230 euros.
· Rent per month: Apartment (1 bedroom) outside of centre: 49,318.18 Ft, which equals 163 euros.
· Price per square meter to buy an apartment in city centre: 382,600.00 Ft, which equals 1,260 euros.
· Price per square meter to buy an apartment outside of centre: 247,272.73 Ft, which equals 820 euros.
What can clearly be concluded from these numbers is that it is relatively inexpensive to live in Hungary. These numbers are an taken average, which means there are also opportunities to end up in an even more inexpensive situation. The language spoken in Hungary is Hungarian, so the big part of the media will be in that language. However with the help of a dictionary you will quickly understand what is being said and learn a lot of new words at the same time. With television, there is even the opportunity to get the Dutch channels. This will mean you will still be able to watch your favorite programs, as well as being up to date on the events in the Netherlands. When you are living in Hungary you will gradually learn the language, which will mean that it is just a matter of time before you will understand the media throughout the whole country.
Transport is also an important subject to think about
when you have decided you want to live in Hungary. The best use of transport
would be the car, especially when not living in the city centre. With the car
you can travel when and to where you want, which is very essential in a country
where towns often are located far from each other. However if you are planning
on mainly staying inside the city, you can chose to use the public transport.
The advantage to this it that you will easily get to any place in the city on
one of the three metro lines or the major tram lines. The bus and the trolley
also have a wide variety of destinations. A single tickets costs 350 HUF and a 7-day
travel card costs 4950 HUF. You will then be able to use every form of public
transport, such as the bus and metro.
Because
Hungary has a wide variety of natural and manmade attractions, combined with
relatively low living costs and a strong focus on internationalization, Hungary’s
popularity as a study destination will only grow in the future. It is seriously
an amazing experience to study and live there, added to the fact that
everything will be very well organized for you. To give you an overview of the
most important reasons to choose Hungary as country to study in the following
terms are important to remember:
Ø The lower costs of studying and living, especially compared to other countries.
Ø Life facilities in Hungary are very well taken care of, which makes staying there very pleasantly.
Ø The Hungarian higher education has an interesting considerable history. More than 600 years ago the first university was established in Hungary. Today the number of universities and college has grown to over ten in only Budapest, many of them offering an English course.
Ø The Hungarian diplomas are accepted and are of high quality all over the world.
Ø Fees and living costs are lower compared to the rest of Europe.
As you can notice studying in Hungary has many advantages. Also the living is easy, the housing is cheap, the education is of a high level and it is only a one and half hour flight from Amsterdam. Added to that is the fact that this country has friendly people and low crime rates, which creates a pleasant living environment. It’s also one of the best countries to explore given it beautiful nature and wide variety of touristic locations. To sum up, going to Hungary to study and to live would be a very wise choice that you will definitely not regret.
Ø The lower costs of studying and living, especially compared to other countries.
Ø Life facilities in Hungary are very well taken care of, which makes staying there very pleasantly.
Ø The Hungarian higher education has an interesting considerable history. More than 600 years ago the first university was established in Hungary. Today the number of universities and college has grown to over ten in only Budapest, many of them offering an English course.
Ø The Hungarian diplomas are accepted and are of high quality all over the world.
Ø Fees and living costs are lower compared to the rest of Europe.
As you can notice studying in Hungary has many advantages. Also the living is easy, the housing is cheap, the education is of a high level and it is only a one and half hour flight from Amsterdam. Added to that is the fact that this country has friendly people and low crime rates, which creates a pleasant living environment. It’s also one of the best countries to explore given it beautiful nature and wide variety of touristic locations. To sum up, going to Hungary to study and to live would be a very wise choice that you will definitely not regret.
Written by: Carine van den Heuvel