- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
Background
As part of the VET Strategy 4.0, Hungary has launched a major modernisation programme, leading to significant developments in VET in recent years. The programme is built on three key pillars: attractive career opportunities; attractive educational environment; and up-to-date teaching skills.
To achieve these objectives and ensure high-quality vocational skills development, investments have been made in infrastructure, curriculum and training programme improvements, and digital modernisation. A key focus has also been the establishment of training and knowledge centres to enhance cooperation between VET institutions, businesses, and higher education institutions.
Objectives
Since the introduction of the new VET Act in 2019, numerous legislations, projects, and programmes have been launched to enhance the attractiveness, modernisation, and innovation of VET. VET must adapt to a rapidly changing world and the needs of the labour market, as well as new technologies. Consequently, it is crucial to increase the attractiveness of VET through innovative and modern solutions to facilitate a successful generational change. Through these measures, the VET Act in force seeks to create a modern VET system that attracts more students, meets the demands of the labour market, and supports a smooth transition from IVET to higher education and employment.
Description
This policy development focuses on enhancing the innovation, attractiveness, and modernisation of VET in Hungary. It aims to achieve this through specific initiatives such as:
Integration of modern technologies: implementing digital tools and resources in VET programmes to ensure that students gain relevant professional knowledge and soft skills needed by the industry 4.0;
Cooperation with industry: establishing partnerships with key economic actors to create apprenticeship opportunities that provide students with practical experience;
New training models: developing innovative training models that are flexible and responsive to labour market needs, including dual training formats that integrate classroom learning with on-the-job training;
Awareness campaigns: launching campaigns to promote the value and benefits of VET to students and their families, addressing misconceptions and highlighting career prospects;
New institution types and IVET programmes: one of the cornerstones of the transformation of the VET system was to turn five-year technicums into an entranceway of university education in engineering and information technology.
Linked to existing policy developments the dissemination of modern technologies, research, interconnection and impact assessment, forecasting, assessing the needs for innovative approaches, cooperation between several national and international VET and policy stakeholders can deliver results that make...
This policy development focuses on enhancing the innovation, attractiveness, and modernisation of VET in Hungary. It aims to achieve this through specific initiatives such as:
Integration of modern technologies: implementing digital tools and resources in VET programmes to ensure that students gain relevant professional knowledge and soft skills needed by the industry 4.0;
Cooperation with industry: establishing partnerships with key economic actors to create apprenticeship opportunities that provide students with practical experience;
New training models: developing innovative training models that are flexible and responsive to labour market needs, including dual training formats that integrate classroom learning with on-the-job training;
Awareness campaigns: launching campaigns to promote the value and benefits of VET to students and their families, addressing misconceptions and highlighting career prospects;
New institution types and IVET programmes: one of the cornerstones of the transformation of the VET system was to turn five-year technicums into an entranceway of university education in engineering and information technology.
Linked to existing policy developments the dissemination of modern technologies, research, interconnection and impact assessment, forecasting, assessing the needs for innovative approaches, cooperation between several national and international VET and policy stakeholders can deliver results that make VET modern, innovative and attractive.
On February 3, 2023, the TOP 100 Technicums ranking was published for the first time, based on data provided by the National Office for VET and Adult Learning (NOVETAL). Compiled by IKK, this ranking helps those who are about to select a pathway in IVET. It evaluates schools based on both input and output performance, aiming to highlight the added value of each institution in terms of educational effectiveness. The ranking considers factors such as the VET teacher-to-student ratio, the digital coverage of the institutions, and students' academic performance upon entering technicums. It also examines the ratio of repeaters to the total student population and the results of general and vocational baccalaureate examinations, using six key indicators in its analysis.
The TOP 100 Technicums ranking is published annually. The 2024 TOP 100 Technicums ranking by county was released on February 6, 2024, along with the TOP 10 Technicums in Budapest.
With the amendment of the Higher Education Act in December 2023, Parliament decided that universities may establish a pre-student status for 13th-grade students of technicums. In the second semester of the 2023/24 academic year, Széchenyi István University became the first in the country to offer this status to graduating students from nine technicums located in Gyor, Szombathely, Budapest, Zalaegerszeg, and Kaposvár, under certain conditions. Each higher education institution has the discretion to determine the conditions under which it will grant pre-student status to graduates of technicums. The programme aims to support students who wish to continue their studies at the tertiary level and are therefore willing to undertake additional courses during the final year of their IVET studies.
For example, if a student knows they want to study mechanical engineering, the agreement between the technicum and the university allows the student to pursue partial studies and earn micro-credentials in certain subject contents during their technicum studies, which will count as credits toward higher education studies. If the student meets the criteria set by the agreement between the university and the VET institution during their technicum studies, the higher education institution may admit the student on its own initiative, bypassing the central university admission procedure. This measure aims to enhance the excellence of VET and make it more attractive by facilitating progression to higher education and enriching the secondary VET programme with advanced content developed in cooperation with universities.
66 719 students were admitted to higher education in 2023 under the general admission procedure for undergraduate studies, of which 20 615 (30.90%) were enrolled in IVET. There were 5 489 students enrolled in higher VET (which falls under the Higher Education Act in Hungary), of which 2 157 (39.30%) were enrolled in IVET. The table below shows comparable data on student enrolment in higher education for the years 2021-23.
| Students admitted under the general admission procedure, courses starting in September | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Number of applicants for undergraduate studies (BS or BSc) | 72 060 | 70 714 | 96 376 |
| Number of admitted students for undergraduate studies (BS or BSc) | 47 691 | 47 450 | 66 719 |
| Number of applicants from IVET for undergraduate studies (BS or BSc) | 19 027 | 18 507 | 32 041 |
| Number of admitted students from IVET for undergraduate studies (BS or BSc) | 11 183 | 11 092 | 20 615 |
| Number of applicants for higher VET studies | 11 004 | 11 351 | 12 009 |
| Number of admitted students for higher VET studies | 6 763 | 6 791 | 5 489 |
| Number of applicants from IVET for higher VET studies | 3 953 | 4 153 | 4 874 |
| Number of admitted students from IVET to higher VET studies | 2 490 | 2 538 | 2 157 |
In the framework of the Strategy 4.0 and its Action Plan, five sectoral Knowledge Centres are to be established by 2030 to promote excellence in VET, linking VET with higher education and key economic actors in the region. So far, there is one Knowledge Centre in Hungary, the Forestry Sector Knowledge Centre. Its main activities include organising dual vocational training and supporting IVET institutions in delivering modern theoretical and practical education based on state-of-the-art equipment, as well as promoting effective cooperation between secondary and higher education to foster innovation. In 2024, the Ginop Plusz 5.1.1 project, entitled Establishment of Vocational Sectoral Knowledge Centres, was launched. Under this project, VET centres managed by the Minister responsible for VET can apply for non-refundable support to establish Vocational Knowledge Centres
The excellence of agricultural VET is also promoted by the Széchenyi 2020 programme's call for proposals, VP1-1.2.1-23 Support for demonstration farms. This initiative is co-financed by the European Union's European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the budget of Hungary with a financial support of EUR 2 366 960.83 (HUF 968 109 854) and a co-financing of EUR 258 359.19 (HUF 105 671 404). The project is being implemented from 1 March 2024 to 1 August 2025. The aim of this project is to encourage participation in lifelong learning through the development of demonstration farms, school workshops in agricultural IVET institutions affiliated with agricultural VET centres, and experimental farms in research institutes and higher education institutions.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Culture and Innovation
- Ministry of Agriculture
- IKK Innovative Training Support Center (IKK Nonprofit Plc.)
Target groups
Learners
- Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
- Adult learners
Education professionals
- Trainers
Entities providing VET
- Companies
- VET providers (all kinds)
Other
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Modernising VET offer and delivery
This thematic category looks at what and how individuals learn, how learning content and learning outcomes in initial and continuing VET are defined, adapted and updated. First and foremost, it examines how VET standards, curricula, programmes and training courses are updated and modernised or new ones created. Updated and renewed VET content ensures that learners acquire a balanced mix of competences that address modern demands, and are more closely aligned with the realities of the labour market, including key competences, digital competences and skills for green transition and sustainability, both sector-specific and across sectors. Using learning outcomes as a basis is important to facilitate this modernisation, including modularisation of VET programmes. Updating and developing teaching and learning materials to support the above is also part of the category.
The thematic category continues to focus on strengthening high-quality and inclusive apprenticeships and work-based learning in real-life work environments and in line with the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships. It looks at expanding apprenticeship to continuing vocational training and at developing VET programmes at EQF levels 5-8 for better permeability and lifelong learning and to support the need for higher vocational skills.
This thematic category also focuses on VET delivery through a mix of open, digital and participative learning environments, including workplaces conducive to learning, which are flexible, more adaptable to the ways individuals learn, and provide more access and outreach to various groups of learners, diversifying modes of learning and exploiting the potential of digital learning solutions and blended learning to complement face-to-face learning.
Centres of vocational excellence that connect VET to innovation and skill ecosystems and facilitate stronger cooperation with business and research also fall into this category.
VET standards and curricula define the content and outcomes of learning, most often at national or sectoral levels. VET programmes are based on standards and curricula and refer to specific vocations/occupations. They all need to be regularly reviewed, updated and aligned with the needs of the labour market and society. They need to include a balanced mix of vocational and technical skills corresponding to economic cycles, evolving jobs and working methods, and key competences, providing for resilience, lifelong learning, employability, social inclusion, active citizenship, sustainable awareness and personal development (Council of the European Union, 2020). The thematic sub-category also refers to establishing new VET programmes, reducing their number or discontinuing some. It also includes design of CVET programmes and training courses to adapt to labour market, sectoral or individual up- and re-skilling needs.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET agile in adapting to labour market challenges
- Flexibility and progression opportunities at the core of VET
- VET as a driver for innovation and growth preparing for digital and green transitions and occupations in high demand
- VET as an attractive choice based on modern and digitalised provision of training and skills
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Programmes and measures supporting innovation, attractiveness and modernisation of VET: Hungary. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/48443