Involving 1,500 students from various countries and drawing on data from the autumn semester of the 2016-2017 academic year, the survey showed that more than 22 billion forints were spent on accommodation, food and entertainment and nearly 21 billion forints on tuition fees.

The researchers said an estimated average 1.2 workplace was created by every foreign student in the cities surveyed. Head of the research team Zsuzsanna M Császár said international students should be regarded as “potential goodwill ambassadors” who could become “informal credit raters of our universities, cities and country after they return home.”

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.