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The Changing Regional Structure of Hungarian Higher Education

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the regional perspectives of educational and innovation functions of Hungarian higher education between 2007 and 2012. It examines the specific role played by mid-range universities regarding the universities’ missions in the development of peripheral areas. The study also looks at the increasing demands for regional engagement of universities regarding a transformation of their training and research profiles, and it also measures the effects of the economic environment on the research profiles had by universities. Examining the regional restructuring of Hungarian higher education, the paper argues that the provincial/regional educational centres are the biggest losers when it comes to reductions in the number of HEIs’ students – while a strengthening of Budapest’s position as regards the number of students continues. The study analyses the strong connection between R&D and higher education and looks at the regional peculiarities of the innovative function of Hungarian higher education which caused its provisional closing up, followed by a losing position. It argues that Budapest’s dominance in comparison with regional higher education centres is bigger in terms of research and development than in the case of educational functions as measured by the number of HEI students. The study evaluates the most important development policy concepts related to the regional structure of higher education and it recommends specific developmental measures for regional higher education centres.

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