The eight-point pact includes setting up a roundtable for higher education reform and a promise to offer state-financed places for courses in faculties where the Government had previously planned to terminate state subsidies. Consequently, under the current agreement, the quota system shall be abolished and all university courses will involve state-financed places, as demanded previously by students.

It was also agreed that the roundtable would look into ways in which higher education financing and the entire educational structure could be improved, and would also review student and rector competences.

Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog said that the text of the agreement stated, the Government respects the voice and opinion of students and wants to include them in decision-making concerning changes in higher education.

At the same time, it declares that higher education in Hungary is in an untenable condition and therefore needs to be replaced by a better, more competitive and transparent system, he said. Student council president David Nagy welcomed the agreement and said that it was a milestone that the Government had accepted the students’ demands.

Under the Government’s education endeavours, discussions have been going on for months with teachers’ representatives as well on the comprehensive reform of public education. Today, Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog and Education State Secretary Rózsa Hoffmann sealed a pact with the strike committees of three teachers' unions on the modalities of future cooperation.

The Minister called the pact significant at a press conference afterwards, underlining that the unions had agreed to form a partnership with the Government. He said the pact would make life better for children and teachers by raising education standards and allowing teachers to plan their professional careers more predictably.

President of the Trade Union of Teachers, Mrs. István Galló, welcomed the agreement saying that it provided an opportunity for trade unions to play a monitoring role in the Government’s public education reform.

Source: kormany.hu