Hungarian Conservative

As Hungary’s premier higher education institution covering the full spectrum of teacher training, it is particularly important for ELTE that 20 per cent of those admitted will start their studies as teacher trainees. Numerically, this means that ELTE admitted the highest number of applicants (2,500) to teacher training in the last 15 years.

‘The education system has complex social functions, and it may only fulfil its purpose if it sees the child as a whole person. Although its competences as a set of institutions are, and shall be, limited, teaching and education must be more than transmitting knowledge that certain groups of influence find important. With traditional communities having weakened in modern society, and plenty of new challenges continually arising, education should strive to pass on not only factual, but also abstract knowledge accumulated by our culture. The stakes are high; if education fails to accomplish this twofold task, we may face a rapid decline of our civilization.’

As of this May, the National Graphical Programming Competition, established by the John von Neumann Computer Society, will bear the name of Mihály Kovács (1916⁠–⁠2006), Hungary’s first secondary school computer science teacher and a Piarist monk.

This is the year of developments concerning Hungarian vocational education. The success of the renewed vocational education is due to its focus on practical training and dual education as well as the fact that it simultaneously provides a trade, a diploma, and a livelihood.

The Career Orientation Measurement and Support Tool (POM) can be accessed on the website of the Education Office. On the online platform, students can complete various questionnaires, and based on their answers, the programme shows the fields of expertise and occupations that best suit each student’s personality, interests, and competencies.

Viktor Orbán emphasised at the event organised by the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry that six out of ten students who finish their primary education continue their studies in vocational education in Hungary, with technical schools being the most popular choice.

German journalist Mariam Lau finds it very difficult to deal with the fact that talented young people, open to modernity, are interested in Orbán’s policies. It is certainly not easy for a German journalist to acknowledge that there are young people who identify openly and firmly as conservative and patriotic. Frank Spengler reflects. Review.