Editing Economy of Hungary (section)

=== Human capital ===
[[File:Language learning among Hungarian students.png|thumb|right|180px|Language learning among students in upper secondary education in Hungary in 2007]]
[[Education in Hungary]] is free and compulsory from the age of 5 to 16.<ref name="educ">{{cite book|url=http://www.okm.gov.hu/letolt/english/education_in_hungary_080805.pdf|title=Education in Hungary|author=Ministry of Education and Culture|publisher=Department for EU Relations|pages=19–20, 25–28, 36|year=2008|access-date=25 November 2009|isbn=978-963-87399-5-7|archive-date=2 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602040059/http://www.okm.gov.hu/letolt/english/education_in_hungary_080805.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The state provides free pre-primary schooling for all children, 8 years of general education and 4 years of upper secondary level general or vocational education.<ref name="educ"/> Higher education system follows the three-cycle structure and the credit system of the [[bologna process]].<ref name="educ"/> Governments aim to reach European standards and encourage international mobility by putting emphasis on digital literacy, and enhancing foreign language studies: all secondary level schools teach foreign languages and at least one language certificate is needed for the acquisition of a diploma.<ref name="educ"/> Over the past decade, this resulted in a drastic increase in the number of people speaking at least one foreign language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tarki.hu/tarkitekinto/20050412.html|title=Foreign Language Speakers in Hungary|author=Endre Sík|publisher=Tárki Ltd.|year=2005|access-date=25 November 2009|language=hu|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718130002/http://www.tarki.hu/tarkitekinto/20050412.html|archive-date=18 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Hungary's most prestigious universities are:
* Semmelweis University with five schools (medical school, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and physical education).
* [[Eötvös Loránd University]] (''Eötvos Loránd Tudományegyetem'', or ELTE, which is among the top 500 universities in the world<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2009/results/401-500|title=2009 World University Rankings|publisher=QS Intelligence Unit|access-date=25 November 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017061643/http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2009/results/401-500|archive-date=17 October 2009}}</ref>)
* [[Budapest University of Technology and Economics]] (''Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem'', or BME) BME is considered the oldest Institutes of Technology of university rank and structure in the world. Established 1782.
* [[Corvinus University of Budapest]] (''Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem'', or BCE)
* [[Central European University]] (''Közép-európai Egyetem'', or CEU)
* [[University of Pécs]] (''Pécsi Tudományegyetem'', or PTE)
* [[University of Miskolc]] (''Miskolci Egyetem'' or ME)
* [[University of Szeged]] (''Szegedi Tudományegyetem'' or SZTE) In 2010, the QS World University Rankings put the University of Szeged as 451st–500th among universities globally.
* [[University of Debrecen]] (''Debreceni Egyetem'' or DE)

Financial sources for education are mainly provided by the state (making up 5.1–5.3% of the annual GDP).<ref name="educ"/> In order to improve the quality of higher education, the government encourages contributions by students and companies. Another important contributor is the EU.<ref name="educ"/>

[[File:Pisa2006.png|thumb|right|180px|Mathematics score in PISA 2006 of Hungary among other countries]]
The system has weaknesses, the most important being segregation and unequal access to quality education.<ref name="educ"/> The 2006 PISA report concluded that while students from comprehensive schools did better than the OECD average, pupils from vocational secondary schools did much worse.<ref name="eduoecd">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/pisa2006sciencec0001unse/page/33|title=The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)|publisher=OECD|pages=[https://archive.org/details/pisa2006sciencec0001unse/page/33 33–34]|year=2006|access-date=25 November 2009|isbn=978-92-64-04000-7}}</ref> Another problem is of the higher education's: response to regional and labour market needs is insufficient.<ref name="educ"/> Government plans include improving the career guidance system and establishing a national digital network that will enable the tracking of jobs and facilitate the integration into the labour market.<ref name="educ"/>