Higher education mobility of ethnic Hungarian students from Slovakia: a motivational survey

Abstract

The study analyses Slovak-Hungarian higher education relations, in particular the participation of ethnic Hungarian students from Slovakia in Hungarian higher education. It provides an overview of Slovak cross-border higher education, with special emphasis on universities in the border region offering courses in Hungarian. The paper aims to identify factors that influence cross-border higher education and inter-institutional relations, in particular the participation of Hungarian speaking students in Hungarian tertiary education.

The study investigates the choices and preferences of ethnic Hungarian students on the basis of a survey collected at Széchenyi István University. The first part of the study reviews the institutional background of higher education for foreign students in Hungary, and the concept of higher education mobility in a cross-border context, where the decisive factor is a choice of education in the mother tongue. This section will also discuss the educational provisions of Slovak universities offering courses in Hungarian that can be alternatives to Hungarian universities in the border region. The second part of the study presents the results of a quantitative survey based on principal component analysis and a test of homogeneity.

Research findings indicate that the educational agglomeration of Széchenyi István University is significant in the Hungarian-Slovakian border region. Students from Slovakia who study here come from ethnic Hungarian middle-class families, living in small Slovakian towns and rural settlements, and attained secondary education degrees in Hungarian. Daily commuters comprise only 36% of the student body, a significant number of people live in dormitories or rented flats in Győr. Since many ethnic Hungarian students from Slovakia receive full-time scholarships funded by the Hungarian state, they do not contribute to the university budget by paying tuition fees. Their preferences for Széchenyi István University was explained by the variety of its programs (48%) and its extended industrial relations (30%).

The city of Győr and Széchenyi University are closely connected, but also the Hungarian speaking region of Slovakia is closely embedded in the Western Transdanubian regional labour market, which would employ 66% of ethnic Hungarian students after graduation. Findings suggest that it may be appropriate to involve more Slovak students in Hungarian higher education, particularly in self-financing training schemes.