10 interesting things about Hungary
- The 1st subway line of continental Europe was built in Budapest.
- The beautiful city of Budapest is made up of 2 parts – Buda and Pest – which are separated by the Danube river.
- The Hungarian Parliament is the 3rd largest parliament building in the world, with 691 rooms and 20 kilometres of stairs.
- Hungary is one of the best birding areas in Europe: almost 400 bird species breed here.
- Amongst the many Hungaricums 5 are related to Hungarian gastronomy.
- Covering almost 600 square kilometres, Lake Balaton (nicknamed “the Hungarian Sea”) is the largest lake in Central Europe.
- Each day, 70 million litres of thermal water rise to the surface in Budapest.
- Hungary ranks 8th in the world for medallists at the Summer Olympic Games.
- The oversized snail-shaped egg noodles (csiga) that Hungarians use in many recipes are thought to date back to the 9th century.
- Hungary has 10 national parks, 145 minor nature reserves and 35 landscape protection areas
Higher Education system in Hungary
The Hungarian higher education is split to a system of colleges and universities, where colleges are directly affiliated with a university and operate as college faculties of the university. Universities generally award both college and university level courses. In the old system, college level training lasts three to four years, whereas a university degree takes at least four years to complete and at most 5 years with the exception of the six year long medical program. Further, university studies were split in three stages roughly corresponding to the bachelor, master and PhD courses but with longer study periods.
Starting in 2005 and 2006, Hungarian institutions of higher education have started the transformation toward the regulations of the Bologna system. In the new system, both colleges and universities may launch bachelor, master and PhD programs provided that the necessary requirements are fulfilled. This also means that all awarded degrees are equivalent and transferable throughout the EU and many other countries.
As in other countries, some qualifications will not be available at bachelor level, but instead start with the award of a master degree. Examples of such qualifications are: medical studies, veterinary science, pharmaceutical studies and architecture to name a few.