The network of higher education institutions is quite extensive in proportion to the country’s terrain, population and the number of students enrolled in higher education, but, compared to other countries, it is of medium size.
Higher education institutions can be basically categorised in the following two ways.
On the one hand, there is a clear distinction between state and non-state regulated institutions. Non-state institutions can be founded by churches, business organizations or foundations, and as of 2019, a new type of institution exists, in which the maintainer and the operator is a public-interest trust foundation, which takes over the maintenance responsibilities from the state. The aim is to strengthen the Hungarian Higher Education institution system and its environment to support innovative enterprises. As of July 2019, only one institution is operating in this form, but it is expected that other institutions will operate in a similar maintainer model in the near future. The foundation and operation of non-state institutions is subject to the same input (quality) criteria as the foundation and operation of state institutions. Compliance is checked in the course of accreditation at the time of foundation. Institutions meeting the criteria are granted state recognition by the Parliament. State and non-state institutions recognised by the state are listed in Annex I. of the Higher Education Act. Only institutions included in the list can provide higher education. The establishment and operation of non-state higher education institutions are regulated by the Higher Education Act and related regulations. Non-state institutions also receive state funding based on an agreement with the government. However, the budget of both state institutions and non-state institutions is only partly financed by the state.
The state grant provided for institutions maintained by the Roman Catholic Church is governed by a concordat concluded between Hungary and the Vatican. The Hungarian government has concluded similar agreements with other historical churches (the Protestant Church and the Israelite Church) for ensuring funding for their higher education institutions.
On the other hand, according to the Act on Higher Education, with regard to academic profile, there are universities, universities of applied sciences and colleges (non-university higher education institutions). The main difference lies in capacities. Universities are higher education institutions authorised to provide at least eight Bachelor and six Master programmes, offer doctoral programmes and award doctoral degrees, provided that at least sixty percent of their teaching and research staff employed directly or on a public service employment basis have a doctoral degree, operate students' academic workshops and are able to provide studies in foreign languages in some of the programmes. Universities are authorised to offer programmes in every educational cycle.
Universities of applied sciences are tertiary institutions with at least four Bachelor’s programmes and two Master’s programmes and with at least two dual trainings (if its accreditation includes engineering, IT, agriculture, the natural sciences or business studies), having at least 45% of their teaching and research staff employed directly or on a public service employment basis have a doctoral degree, operate academic student workshops and are capable of offering foreign language courses at some of the departments. The large former colleges have recently been transformed into universities of applied sciences.
Colleges are tertiary institutions having at least one-third of their teaching and research staff employed directly on a public service employment basis and have a doctoral degree. Colleges are entitled to operate students' academic workshops. No differentiation is made by law but colleges and universities of applied sciences are usually more active in practical education due to historical reasons. Their portfolio mainly offers first-cycle programmes and shorter programmes and applied research. By contrast, universities usually offer more theoretically oriented degree courses; they have more Master programmes than colleges and are especially active in basic research.
With a few exceptions, state universities are large institutions with several faculties while colleges are rather smaller institutions. Non-state institutions are usually smaller than state institutions (in terms of the number of faculties and students). The majority of them are theological colleges of different churches and religious communities. According to the database of the Educational Authority, there have been 15 state funded and 13 non-state maintained universities, 4 state-funded and 6 non-state maintained universities of applied sciences, 1 state maintained and 24 non-state funded colleges operating in Hungary (out of which 19 are operated by a church).
Foreign higher education institutions may also operate in Hungary. In Hungary, foreign higher education institutions may offer study programmes resulting in a degree if there is a bilateral agreement between their home government and that of Hungary. They maintain a campus in their home country, their state-recognition in their home country has to be approved as well as the operation in Hungary by the Hungarian Educational Authority. The Educational Authority recognises the foreign decision if the principles of the higher education system of the respective state are in line with the fundamental educational principles of the European Higher Education Area. At present, there are 17 such institutions. According to the database of the Educational Authority, the countries of origin include: the USA, Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Poland, Romania, China, Malaysia, and Thailand.