Student quarter coming soon?

The Budapest leader of Fidesz, Alexandra Szentkirályi, also announced a campus with 12,000 dormitory places in the capital on social media on Monday. The ruling party’s parliamentary group in Budapest (where they are in opposition) submitted the proposal to the government, which immediately responded with a decision, according to Szentkirályi. To a certain extent, the doors were left open. Of course, the housing shortage is not a new problem; rents have been rising steadily for years and are hardly affordable for families, let alone young students, especially in other large cities and in Budapest.

Minister Hankó explained that, according to surveys, eight out of ten students were generally satisfied with the infrastructure at the universities, but most criticism was levelled at the outdated halls of residence. The government is currently seeking confirmation from the national consultation as to the extent to which citizens are concerned about this problem. If so, it is prepared to ‘undertake a massive quantitative and qualitative increase in the number of halls of residence as the next major measure in the comprehensive modernisation of the higher education system’.

What is less well known is that the state has spent a total of 140 billion forints in more than 40 locations since 2010 to provide universities with a total of 14,500 places in halls of residence. At the same time, more than 8,000 places have been modernised. Most recently, around 110,000 students applied for 46,000 places in halls of residence outside Budapest; in the capital, demand more than quadrupled the supply of 17,000 places.