Dilemmas in Hungarian higher education

Herneczky, Andrea – Marselek, Sándor

Keywords: higher education, Bologna process, innovation, research, labour market

Higher rates of employment are essential to economic growth. The best way to increase the rate of employment is through training and education. Transforming education to mass education, as well as the weakening of the previous knowledge of students has caused a quality decay among job-seekers. The motivation behind education is not sound; the number of majors in higher education is higher than necessary and is not adjusted to the requirements of the labour market. Hands-on training has been forced into the background. Career offices at large colleges and universities may improve the entrants’ chances of finding a job.
Higher education institutions are also responsible for the continuous further training of their graduate students with BSc degrees, which is indispensable to life-long learning. It is important to promote R&D activities and innovation capabilities associated with the world of academics as a way to strengthen cooperation and ties between universities, research institutions and innovative enterprise. We have serious arrears to make up in this field. It seems that BSc graduates have a hard time finding a job as their three-year course does not make it possible for them to acquire in-depth theoretical knowledge, and their six-month placement does not provide them with sufficient professional knowledge or skills either. Our paper concentrates on exploring the opinions held by agricultural professionals with both a tertiary degree and work experience of higher education. It also examines the requirements of the labour market for graduates just starting their careers. Analysis of our findings so far has led us to believe that it is necessary to re-think tertiary education in its entirety, to strengthen practical training and to make sure that the minimum level of professional resources is made available.

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