Demonstrations by and against them, election, rejection, silence, declarations – these things characterize the past few weeks of the students self government of the University of Debrecen.
The series of demonstrations began with the balloon action of students against the new draft law on higher education. The bills contain plans for increasing the tuition fees and a law that students who study with state subsidy must not to leave the country for a definite time after graduation. Students say that in this economic condition of the country fewer and fewer families can afford to finance the university education, so universities will be depopulated. They also state that to bond students to the country is unfair if the government does not ensure workplaces here.
They do not like that the government want to reform the higher education without the students who are the most affected. About 1000 university students participated in the demonstration at the main building. They let red, white and green balloons to the air, symbolizing the emptiness of the draft laws.
This demonstration was only a local event. There will be a central demonstration in front of the State Secretariat for Education in Budapest on 27 October, between 5 and 7 pm. The student government of the University of Debrecen ensures a special train for the participants so that getting there will not mean a problem.
In the meantime, inner problems have also occured in the student governemnt of UD. As you may have noticed it, there have been student government elections on all faculites. At the Faculty of Economics, former members (who did not succeed in this year’s election) attacked the results of the elections.
The former president of the faculty students’ government wrote a Reader’s Letter to a local news site. The letter has generated almost 500 Facebook likes and more than 180 comments. The discussions have got over the Faculty of Economics, and the interest has turned towards the central students’ government of the University of Debrecen and its president, Péter Körösparti). Comments are about embezzlement, subsidies, personal incomes, influence, connections, and universities of other cities with the similar situation.
Among others, a nationwide news channel is interested in the issue.
