The government is doing all it can to make sure that Hungarian students enjoy a quality education while lessening the effect of restrictions felt by them during the coronavirus epidemic, the state secretary in charge of higher education said.
The government is also representing their interests when it comes to the Erasmus+ EU student exchange scholarship scheme, Tamás Schanda of the innovation and technology ministry told MTI.
“We want to make sure that any suspension or termination of a scholarship carries no financial loss and the least possible burden” on students, he said.
Since Erasmus+ is financed from the central EU budget, Hungary is waiting for the European Commission’s decision concerning arrangements and steps to be taken in light of the pandemic, he said, adding that national governments have no authority in this area.
“We can only hope that Brussels will not let young people down,” he said. Hungary’s Tempus public foundation, which is in charge of the Erasmus+ programme, is in touch with EU officials and the students involved, he added.
The latest information is that students will receive a reimbursement of their costs related to the epidemic on an individual basis and will have the option of rescheduling their trip to a foreign host country, he said.
Meanwhile, Schanda slammed the EU for its crisis management strategy, saying the bloc had been slow to identify and manage the novel coronavirus epidemic.
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