At the press conference held today at the ITM (10/02/2020), Marc Dillard, Deputy Ambassador of the United States, Zsigmond Perényi, State Secretary for European Affairs of the ITM, and Károly Jókay, Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission, announced the strong support of the Hungarian government. At the end of 2019, the Hungarian government approved the largest grant to date since the Fulbright Commission was established in 1992. In 3 years, the previous 50 million forints per year will increase fourfold, reaching 200 million forints for the 2022 budget year.
The immediate effect is that the amount that can be used for the tuition fees of Hungarian students traveling abroad will be 33% higher already in the 2020-21 academic year, and the monthly amounts of American and Hungarian faculty and student scholarships will rise to a more competitive level.
In the past nearly 30 years, due to a large number of excellent applicants, a waiting list was formed every year, which could have increased the number of scholarships awarded by 30-50%. We expect that in 2020 and every year after that, this waiting list will get shorter and shorter, and more excellent applicants will be able to get to the United States.
Thanks to the contribution of Hungarian and American universities and research institutes, the number of scholarship recipients will increase from the usual 40 per year to 50 in 2020 and is expected to exceed 60 in 2022.
We continue to adhere to strict selection based solely on quality. The evaluation process consists of several rounds, during which 5-10 specialists evaluate each application and participate in personal interviews.
Our important principle is that we welcome applicants from all fields of expertise, from all Hungarian universities, research institutes, and cultural organizations. So far, a third or half of our scholarship recipients have not been from the capital, and we continue to do so. We divide the scholarships roughly equally between American and Hungarian applicants.
Hungary competes with 160 countries for American Fulbright teachers and students, and in this competition, there is a two- to three-fold oversubscription among applicants interested in Hungary.
We will continue to welcome applicants from all fields of expertise, but already in the 2020 academic year, we will place more emphasis on the fields of technology, innovation, and natural sciences.
The 2021-22 announcement has been published, see: https://www.fulbright.hu/for-hungarians/
We are waiting for even better applications for 2021-22!
Károly Jókay
