For the 2025/2026 academic year, the University of Debrecen (UD) offered over 100 English-language courses in preparatory, BSc, MSc and PhD programs. The Coordinating Center for International Education (CCIE) registered almost 36,000 applications during the admission process and conducted more than 7,000 admissions.
- The admission data, in terms of the number of applicants, were in line with the plans we formulated in the autumn of 2024. At the same time, the experiences of recent years show that the programs, which are less attractive to young people in the domestic education system, cannot be truly competitive at the international level, even though they are offered in English language. That is why it is important to raise the standard of the programs, as our goal is to advertise English-language programs that provide up-to-date knowledge valuable in the labour market and that promote the quick, successful placement and employment of our students,” Attila Jenei told hirek.unideb.hu.
The head of the Coordinating Center for International Education added that in order for UD to continue to keep up with the international education market, a quality assurance system needs to be introduced in addition to the development of the training.
- During enrollment, we continued our intensive marketing campaign while continuously monitoring our target groups. We have opened up to new markets, restructured the system of our recruitment agencies and are continuously establishing local offices-said Attila Jenei.
Even in this academic year, a significant number of foreign students have come to our university in the framework of the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship program. Compared to the record number of applications in 2024, more than 10 percent more, nearly 31 thousand applications were received by UD, which is almost 40 percent of the total number of applications to Hungarian institutions.
- Based on the decision of the Board of Trustees of the Tempus Public Foundation, 756 students began their studies at UD with the support of the State. A significant increase can also be observed in our paid courses: we registered 30 percent more applications this year compared to last year. Summarizing the data, more than 2,300 foreign students began their first year at the university in the 2025/26 academic year, so the number of our international student community increased to approximately 7,800, which represents a 2 percent growth compared to the previous year- the director of the CCIE said.
The University of Debrecen launched the UD International Scholarship program in 2024 to support students, offering applicants a 30-90 percent tuition discount.
-In addition to unfavourable international demographic trends and the global political situation, the limited availability of rentable apartments and dormitory places at the local level is the biggest challenge. Approximately 1,500 affordable dormitory places are still needed to bolster the growth-said Attila Jenei.
In the 2025/2026 academic year, medical and health programs were the most popular among foreign students applying to the University of Debrecen, with almost a third of them choosing the programs of the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Dentistry, the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Faculty of Health Sciences. Among non-med programs, i.e. non-medical and non-health programs, the most people applied to the English-language programs announced by the Faculty of Informatics, the Faculty of Science and Technology, and the Faculty of Engineering. The most popular programs were oversubscribed by eight to twelve times.
Press Centre - ÉE