Overview
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, where as 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.