Fulbright Scholarship Program to Expand

The funding for the Hungarian-American Fulbright scholarship program will be increasing from the current HUF 250 million (EUR 740,000) to HUF 400 million (EUR 1.2 million) by 2022. The increase is due to the fact that the Hungarian government will increase its contribution to the same level as that of the United States: from HUF 50 million to 200 million by 2022.

“It is characteristic of the effectiveness of the Fulbright program that 60 Nobel prize winners have taken part in it. On Hungary’s part, four former ministers and twenty former ambassadors have received funding from the program”, Zsigmond Perényi, State Secretary for European Union Development Projects at the Ministry for Innovation and Technology stated. “In addition to political relations, this also contributes to reinforcing social relations between the two countries”, he added.

Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest Marc Dillard emphasized that Hungarians and Americans who receive scholarships study in each other’s countries, and during the course of their studies they “fall in love” with the host country and further reinforce relations between the two peoples. He pointed out that the United States provides USD 850,000 in contributions towards the joint scholarship program, and that thanks to the increased funding being provided by the Hungarian party, the total annual funding available for paying tuition fees and grants will be increasing to over 1.5 million dollars by 2022. He recalled that the scholarship program was launched following the Second World War in the interests of reinforcing stability. It has been affording scholarships in Hungary since 1987, and the two countries have been operating the program jointly since 1992, he explained.

The Director of the Fulbright Hungarian-American Commission for Educational Exchange Károly Jókay said that thanks to the increased funding the organization will be able to provide more competitive scholarships, and the waiting list for applicants will become shorter. “In addition, we will be able to increase the tuition fee budget for Hungarian students travelling to the United States by one third”, he said. He drew attention to the fact that thanks to the increase in contributions, including contributions from institutions, universities and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, it will be possible to increase the number of annual scholars from the current 40 to over 60 by 2022.