From the 2026 budget audit
Student mobility scholarships: the right architecture, held at current scale.
19.3 milliárd Ft including the Pannónia Scholarship — a student-side transfer that the framework endorses in form, frozen rather than expanded pending the broader student-side-financing reform.
Roughly 4,832 Ft per taxpayer per year — 19.3 milliárd Ft in mobility scholarships and international programme co-financing, with the Pannónia scheme (10 milliárd Ft) carrying the correct student-side architecture.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: Hungarian students on mobility scholarships studying or training abroad. The unseen: the full student-side-financing reform that would make every student's higher-education funding portable across providers — of which these mobility programmes are a small preview — and that is not yet in place.
Objection
"International mobility helps Hungarian graduates compete globally — this is exactly the kind of investment Hungary should make."
Answer
Student-side scholarships are the right form — the money follows the student's choice rather than flowing to an institution regardless of enrolment. The Pannónia scheme already demonstrates this architecture. A nominal freeze holds it in place while the broader conversion from institution-side block grants to portable student entitlements is designed and implemented.
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The analyst's verdict
Higher-Education International and Mobility Programmes
Rationale
The Pannónia Ösztöndíjprogram (10,007.0 millió Ft) is a student-mobility scholarship — a student-side transfer, which is precisely the financing form the framework recommends for higher education generally. Student mobility is a contested discretionary activity, so it is not a Keep, but a student-side scholarship is the right architecture and a nominal freeze is the proportionate posture. The Erasmus+-related line (172.3 millió Ft) is Hungary's co-administration contribution to an EU mobility programme bound by EU obligation for its term; nominal freeze. The remaining lines — special higher-education tasks, cross-border and international programmes — are modest and follow the same nominal-freeze posture.
Transition mechanism
Hold all components nominal.
Affected groups
Mobility-scholarship students; partner institutions.
Free Society Institute
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