The first Adult Training Act, which was influenced by European and international tendencies, was adopted in 2001 (Act CI of 2001 on Adult Education). The Act regulated labour market trainings as well as social and cultural trainings. The regulation resulted in the two-level operation of adult training organisations. The first level includes registered providers (registration was obligatory), whereas the second level includes accredited institutions. The accreditation of providers and programmes served to regulate the market and ensure quality. By 2010, 15% of training providers (about 1,500 institutions) had obtained accreditation. The volume of adult training also increased until the global economic crisis. Funding became increasingly varied: in addition to the traditional stakeholders (the state, employers, individuals) the EU has become an increasingly important source of funding.

The National Assembly re-regulated the sector (Act LXXVII of 2013 on Adult Education) with the aim of:

• focusing more on labour market needs;
• providing a more transparent regulation;
• easier supervision of the sector;
• increasing the level of knowledge acquired in adult training outside the school system to the level of knowledge obtained within the school system

In line with the above goals, regulation is now based on licensing (authorisation) instead of earlier accreditation but it was applicable only to a part of the sector – the programmes relevant to the labour market - until 2019.

In 2019, theAct LXXX on Vocational Education and Training has replaced the previous VET act (Act CLXXXVII of 2011 on Vocational Education and Training). The new Vocational Education and Training Act has significantly transformed the previous system of VET, and that has an impact on adult education and training as well. Act LCCVII of 2013 on Adult Education has been going through a major change too.

An adult training institution that is holding an official permit specified in the act and falling under the Act LXXVII of 2013 on Adult Education may provide vocational training preparing for a state-recognised vocational qualification or a partial vocational qualification falling under the Act LXXX of 2019 on Vocational Education and Training.

Due to the connection between the two laws and the complementing government decrees, it is necessary to take into account the provisions and priorities of vocational training when discussing adult training.

Long-term Government strategies

Adult training is included in the Lifelong Learning Strategy 2014-2020 adopted by the government in November 2014, the National Social Inclusion Strategy II – Persons permanently in need – children in poor families – Roma people 2011-2020. It also appears in the actions of the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme.

These documents also show that there is very little adult training activity in Hungary in international comparison. According to the Lifelong Learning Strategy, only 7.2% of Hungarian 25-34-year-olds participate in non-formal training while the European average is 19.8%. The proportion of non-formal and informal learning in the European Union was 42% in the 24-65 age group and 12% in Hungary.

The focus of the National Social Inclusion Strategy of Hungary (NTFS), "Lifelong Learning Strategy" and GINOP are very similar. The focus is primarily on the concentrated use of EU funds on low-skilled target groups; partly on the development of low-level key competences, and partly on vocational training aimed at labour market integration. GINOP also includes specific indicators: according to them, 382,000 people are enrolled in training to exit with a certificate, among whom 152,000 people have only ISCED level 2 qualifications at best before entering the programme.

In October 2016, the Government adopted the Digital Education Strategy (DES) within the framework of the Digital Success Programme (DSP), which is implemented by the Centre for Digital Pedagogy and Methodology. The main goal of the DES is to ensure that no one leaves the education and training system without the proper digital competences. The DES also has objectives for adults: ‘The vision for adult learning is to make every Hungarian citizen a member of the digital community; to significantly reduce the digital divide and the number of those who have no digital competences or who do not or rarely use such competences, while enabling people to first reach and later exceed the EU average in terms of their general digital competences. The overall strategic goals are: to enhance the competitiveness of the labour force, the active social participation of citizens and social inclusion by increasing society’s digital literacy level and the participation of adults in digital learning.’

During the development of the new Hungarian government strategy, the emphasis on human resources is paramount. Skilled labour is essential for the development of the economy, so the government places great emphasis on close co-operation with corporations in designing appropriate strategies.

The main framework of the design is given in “Industry 4.0 Strategy” and the statutory package adopted in December 2017, which, in addition to several measures, with the development of Sectoral Skill Councils helping to present the corporate demand in education and the strengthening of practical training in professional and adult education. With this strong co-operation, institutions and corporations are providing dual training, which helps young people get additional modern and useful vocational knowledge. Nevertheless, it is essential to make adult training more flexible, to evaluate and validate existing professional skills, to achieve more efficient and targeted training.

A document, titled VET 4.0- Mid-term Policy Strategy of Vocational and Adult Education Renewal, was released in 2019 and approved by Government Decree (1168/2019., III. 28), is the policy answer to the challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution. It focuses on VET based on employment needs. VET 4.0 strategy defines the systematic renewal and development of VET and adult training. Its principle is that one of the keys of the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy is the training of quality professionals. The following highlights are about the strategy’s future findings about adult education and training:

• The results of a comprehensive study from 2016, which is referred in the Strategy, showed that 32,8% of the Hungarian population aged 25-64 participated in school in out-of-school education in 2015. This is a 5.6% increase compared to data form 2011. Participation rates for both women and men increased: nearly 34% of women and 31,6% of men belonged to this group. Qualification was the most important factor in attending to a training. While only slightly more than 17% of those with up to eight-grade basic school attended some form of learning, the same can be said about one-third of those with an upper secondary school leaving examination and 55% of those with a diploma.
• In recent times, targeted government interventions and programmes based on European Union subsidies have led to an increase in the training of people with lower education level. At the same time, it can be stated that almost 1 million people are already involved in adult education, which means a good quantitative basis. In Hungary, there is not a quantitative but a qualitative problem in lifelong learning. The previously existing adult education and training did not offer flexible learning opportunities, it was not focused on the needs of the economy, its efficiency was inadequate.
• The number of participants in adult education has increased by providing a free second qualification opportunity, and this high number is stable. The structure of adult education is going through major changes and is increasingly adjusted to the needs of the economy. Training trends show that while VET is less attractive to the single structure school age population because its low social prestige, it is reversed in adulthood when it becomes a goal to acquire a “good” profession. It is also noticeable, that there are professions, which only become more interesting definitely in adulthood, by their age-specific characteristics. It is also worth monitoring this at the regulatory level.
• The Strategy states that the practice of training age groups should be avoided. There are several European examples of using qualification level instead of age groups as the basis of the training groups.

Suggestions made in VET 4.0 Strategy:

• The numbers of vocations in the National Vocational Qualifications Register is several times higher than the EU average. Thanks to that, the Hungarian training system is characterized by fragmentation and specialization. Therefore, a radical reduction of the numbers of vocations on the NVQR is recommended, in order to make the trainings transparent and to adapt the content of the training to the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
• In international comparison, the rate of companies, which trains their own employees, is low. The rate of companies that train their own employees shall be increased within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Internal trainings are organised on site, and based on the company’s manufacturing and service processes, and as a result of accelerating technological revolution, these are expected to be further appreciated in the future.
• A greater proportion of the VET contribution, which is one of the incomes of the National Employment Fund, shall be returned to training tasks. The vet contribution is paid to develop professional training. In view of the increase in government revenue from the VET contribution, it is proposed that a greater proportion, preferably the whole, of the VET contribution should be invested in the development of VET.
• Scarce and specifics of labour reserves request focused and target group centralised solutions. Trainings should be based on competence assessment and development, rest on labour market expectations, in order to make the target group with competence shortages suitable for employment and retraining.

The strategy identifies intervention points that respond to the challenges of Industry 4.0. Its statements about adult education and training are the following:

• Based on the Digital Labour Force Programme, a demand-driven, output-regulated adult education and training system is needed. The school system should answer the needs of the medium- and long-term labour market, while short-term expectations related to new investments, capacity expansion and modernization should be solved by adult training.
• VET and adult training system should provide professionals with the knowledge and competences expected of companies in the occupational structure required by the economy. According to the principle of the new structure, the school system is supposed to provide a wide range of sectoral, professional knowledge and competencies that employers expect. With this basic sectoral knowledge, the special professional skills in dual practical training can be effectively acquired. With this steady basic professional knowledge and the ability to learn, professionals finishing school will be able to renew their knowledge through their career in the system of adult and company training.
• The development of digital skills in two different target groups appears in adult education. The knowledge of professionals working in companies needs to be renewed in large numbers (in connection with the renewal of technologies), to be able to design, install, operate and maintain robotic processes. Besides, the knowledge of disadvantaged job seekers needs to be improved as well, since it has become a requirement in semiskilled operator jobs to be able to work in a digitalized environment.
• A uniform labour market forecasting system should be established and operated, which enables data-driven decision-making processes.
• In recent times, employment pacts have been established at the county level, in cities with county rights and in micro-regions. Connected to that, it is also important that county chambers should integrate the needs of local companies. Adult training has a major role in meeting short-term labour market needs.  The Employment Pacts (founded in 2018, at the county level, in cities with county rights and in micro-regions) needs can be used to plan the resources available and based on this, state-funded and market-based adult training institutions can develop their training programmes.
• A uniformly elaborated quality management system must be established, which makes the results of processes transparent and provides a basis for improving quality at the level of VET centres.
• Support for short-cycle company trainings that respond to the needs of Industry 4.0 is desirable, with reducing training time in adult education and training, including previously acquired qualifications or knowledge gained in practice. Blended learning, which merges benefits of contact and distance education is recommended to emphasize in adult education and training.
• One of the keys to the competitiveness of the national economy is to improve the production and the service efficiency of Hungarian SMEs and to give innovation a greater role in their operation. Therefore, training programmes should be specifically built upon the needs of SMEs and be specialized in their development.
• It is suggested to move from a process-controlled adult training system to an output-controlled one. Output-controlled operation of adult training is interconnected to the establishment of independent examination centres and examination in a standardized manner.
• The real efficiency and effectiveness of the training can be examined on the score of the rate and success of those who complete the training with the acquired qualification in the labour market. The Digital Labour Force Programme is an IT system that follows the path in the labour market of those who acquired state-founded qualifications, based on an already existing digital data collection and records.

According to the findings of the strategy, there are two segments in the adult training system that require stronger output control:

1. NVQR trainings and other allowed vocational trainings: in the case of public school-based training, it should be strengthened that, when evaluating output, it can be established that the person acquiring the qualification has the professional capacity and the competencies that employers expect. In the case of non-governmental vocational training courses, it is reasonable that, in the interests of uniform assessment, exams are carried out by independent examination centres.
2. Out-of-school vocational courses that do not provide qualifications and certification, and on-the-job trainings may require output control when the amount of state funding reaches 50%. In these cases, it is also important to operate a cost-effective and professional control system.

Strategy-based provisions in the field of adult training

Based on the document entitled Vocational Education 4.0 – Mid-term Policy Strategy of the Vocational and Adult Education Renewal, in 2019 the National Assembly created the new Act LXXX of 2019 on VET and modified the Act LXXVII of 2013 on Adult Education.

The Government adopted the Government Decree 12/2020 (II.7) on the implementation of the VET Act and the Government Decree 11/2020 (II.7) on the implementation of the Adult Education Act.

In accordance with the laws and the implementing regulations, a systemic transformation of vocational and adult training has begun in 2020. In agreement with the transitional rules, the trainings started in the old system and the trainings started in the new system will continue in parallel for a few more years.