The largest foreign student community of Central and Eastern Europe at the UD

The number of foreign students at the University of Debrecen continues to grow. In September, more than two thousand students will begin their studies on the university’s English language courses. In the academic year 2022/23, it is expected that more than 7,200 people, more than a fifth of the foreign students studying in Hungary, will be studying at the University of Debrecen.

The admission procedure of the 2022/23 academic year the Coordinating Center for International Education saw the registration of applications by close to 28.000 foreign students to over 70 forms of training offered by the University of Debrecen. This accounts for a 20% increase compared to last year.

- Our medical and health sciences courses continue to be the most popular ones with foreign students but at the same time the number of applicants to the Faculty of Technology and Information Technology, as well as preparatory courses, is gradually increasing. The fact that 21.900 people, about approximately 8 per cent more than the number of applications in 2021, have applied to the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship program has also contributed to the increase. We consider this an outstanding achievement, since students chose UD from among almost 30 Hungarian higher education institutions - Attila Jenei, director of the Coordinating Center of International Education told hirek.unideb.hu.

Based on the decision of the Board of Trustees of the Tempus Public Foundation, 927 students have received the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship and can now begin their studies at the University of Debrecen.

- About two thousand foreign freshmen are expected to enroll for the fall semester. Together with the Stipendium students the total number of UD’s international student community is expected to increase to close to 7.200, which continues to be the largest international student group in Central and Eastern Europe, Attila Jenei pointed out.

The Director of the Coordinating Center for International Education added that the epidemic situation and the Russia-Ukraine conflict made the recruitment of international students and the implementation of the admission process difficult.

A further significant problem is that there is not enough rental accommodation in Debrecen, which, in turn, can determine the number of students starting their universities this year and can pose an obstacle to further development. According to our current calculations, 500-1500 affordable accommodation establishments would be needed to be able to accommodate our existing and new foreign students - Attila Jenei said.

The director of the Center added that the university also places great emphasis on further developing the quality assurance system based on student feedback and evaluations on the English-language courses.