Newest trends of the University of Pécs’s internationalisation

As both the global and Hungarian trend is characterized by growth, the number of international students at the University of Pécs is also increasing year after year. The first breakthrough was the year of 2000, as the number of international students has then surpassed 200 (M. Császár – Németh 2006). After that, following an initial stagnation, the continuous growth which started in 2004, still holds today. In 2007, a total of 1234 international students were enrolled here, this number has increased to 1764 by the autumn of 2011. According to the latest internal data from November 2014, the international students’ current number is 2373. Similar to the national trend, their vast majority, exactly 1665 are students of the Medical School (also called Faculty of General Medicine), this is 70.13% of the total headcount. The faculty has a long tradition of teaching international students, as there is English language education since three decades, German language education since 2004, and furthermore there are specific organisations and networks directly for international students. In the last decade, the inflow rate of international students to the university was clearly characterized by growth, and as it currently looks like, in addition to the Medical School the university’s other faculties are also increasingly opening towards internationalisation, especially the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Business and Economics, the Pollack Mihály Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology and the Faculty of Sciences. In autumn 2014, a total of 428 international students were enrolled at these four faculties. If we subtract those students from the total headcount who were enrolled at inter-faculty preparatory programs at the time of data recording (174 students), we get the result that a total of 106 students were enrolled at the remaining five faculties of the university, thus the role of these faculties in the internationalisation is for now small. The large number of students who came here in a short space of time in the framework of inter-faculty preparatory programs, as well as the increasing number of students at the four above-mentioned faculties are the reasons behind the fact that the proportion of the Medical School has decreased from 85%

measured in the previous years to 70%.

As regards the geographical distribution of the international students’ countries of origin, Germany is at the top with 691 students in November 2014, Norway is the second, and Iran is placed at third position. German students are representing the largest proportion for a long time among the international students of UP, most of them (664 in autumn 2014) are

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enrolled at the German language program of the Medical School. As regards the Hungarian minorities abroad, which are a unique aspect of the internationalisation of Hungarian higher education, the University of Pécs still can not compete with the cities of Debrecen, Szeged and Budapest. The total number of students from Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine and Slovakia was only 148 in November 2014. This is largely due to geographical reasons, since Budapest, Debrecen and Szeged are more accessible from areas with the largest Hungarian minorities than Pécs.

Figure 1 Countries of origin of the University of Pécs’s international students, November 2014

Source: University of Pécs

195 Figure 2 Countries sending more than 20 students to the University of Pécs, November

2014

Source: University of Pécs

The last one and a half year has brought significant changes into the University of Pécs’s internationalisation, since new, untapped markets have emerged among the countries of origin. Suddenly a large number of students came from some countries which previously have not sent any, or sent just a few to the university. These countries are by name Brazil, Jordan, China and Turkey. According to November 2014 data, a total of 60 Brazilian students are enrolled at the university, of whom 34 are studying at the Medical School, 16 at the Faculty of Sciences, eight at the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, and two at the Faculty of Health Sciences. The Brazilian students came to the university in a framework of an inter-governmental agreement named „Science Without Borders”. The contract was managed by the Hungarian Rectors’ Conference. The students are enrolled at a 12-month period partial study, in which they have to collect 40 credits and complete an eight-week long practice. The Hungarian state pays 9000 USD per student in this agreement. Another inter-governmental agreement named „Stipendium Hungaricum” has been found with several Asian countries (Vietnam, India, Japan, Jordan) under the coordination of the Balassi Institute. Within the framework of this, a large number, according to November 2014 data, a total of 105 Jordanian students came to Pécs, and the arrival of further 200 is expected. Since the capacities of the Medical School seem to filling up, so in terms of receiving new waves of international students, a greater role is expected

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to the other faculties in the near future, primarily to the Faculties of Humanities, -Business and Economics, -Engineering and IT, and -Sciences.

Currently, apart from the Medical School, 15 Bachelor courses, eight Master courses and eight Doctoral programs are advertised in English language on the university’s English website, description and informations for application are attached to each one of them. At the Medical School, there are four courses to apply for, three of them undivided and one Master program. In German language, besides the two undivided medical programs, two Bachelor and three Master programs are advertised. In addition, the website contains informations about different mobility programs, summer and winter universities, preparatory programs, language learning opportunities, and the presentation of university life. So, the University of Pécs definitely continues to open towards internationalisation. The big question of the near future is that after the capacity of the Medical School is nearly full, how the other faculties can increase the number of international students, or whether there will be some kind of capacity-increasing development at the MS in order to be able to receive additional students.

3. Presentation of our empirical research on the University of Pécs’s