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1. Programmes specific for vulnerable young people

2. Funding

3. Quality assurance

Programmes specific for vulnerable young people

'Útravaló' Scholarship Programme

'Útravaló' Scholarship Programme (Útravaló Ösztöndíjprogram) started in 2005; its aim is to help to create opportunities for disadvantaged students with providing personalised support and bursaries and to prevent school drop-out and to support further learning. Its main provisions are to:

• increase young people's opportunities for continuing their studies and learning a profession, gaining a school-leaving certificate or a degree, and
• support talents among students who are interested in science.

There are currently four sub-programmes associated with these scholarships:

• 'Road to Secondary School' ('Út a középiskolába'),
• 'Road to the Secondary School Leaving Exam' ('Út az érettségihez'),
• 'Road to Degree’ ('Út a diplomához') and
• 'Road to Profession' ('Út a szakmához').

Each of them supports different target groups based on age and career choices. The programme provides mentoring and financial support. In the school year 2015-16, the number of disadvantaged students was 3 392 out of which 2 127 declared themselves Roma. The authority responsible for operating the programme is the Human Capacities Grant Management Office (Emberi Erőforrás Támogatáskezelő). 

The sub-programmes 'Road to Secondary School' and 'Road to the Secondary School Leaving Exam' became EU-funded programmes for the years of 2015, 2016 and 2017, with an annual budget of about EUR 4.851 million (HUF 1.5 billion). Due to the financial rearrangement of the sub-programmes, they could not launch in 2015. [2016 Follow up report on National Social Inclusion Strategy (2016 MNTFS nyomonkövetési jelentés)].

These programmes are financed from the domestic budget from the 2019/2020 school year.

Currently, the Directorate-General for Creating Social Opportunities (Társadalmi Esélyteremtési Főigazgatóság) under the Ministry of the Interior (Belügyminisztérium) is responsible for implementing the application.

The number of participants in the programmes was

• 10 811 in the 2019-2020 school year,
• 13 829 in the 2018-2019 school year, and
• 13 270 in the 2016-2017 school year.

According to the Ministry information, 9 827 students participated in the four sub-programmes in the 2021-2022 school year.

Arany János Programmes

The Arany János Talent Programme [Arany János Tehetséggondozó Program (referred hereinafter to as AJTP)] started in 2000. The Ministry of Interior (Belügyminisztérium) are responsible for the calls for applications, the application and grant management are implemented by the Arany János Programme Office.

The aim of AJTP is to support of disadvantaged students for entering secondary education. The awarded students - during a preparatory year - receive support to gain all the missing knowledge in different fields necessary to catch up with and for continuing their studies in one of the highest standard secondary schools or boarding schools. The target group of the programme are youngsters who

• hold a student status,
• have a disadvantaged background and
• are about to start grade 9 of secondary school during the year of the application.

The aim of the Arany János College Programme (referred hereinafter to as: AJCP) and the Arany János College-Vocational School Programme (referred hereinafter to as:  AJCVP) is to improve the qualification level of vulnerable groups of students, prevent them from drop-out, to support receive higher educational qualifications, pass the final examination at secondary schools and learn a profession by providing complex support (pedagogical, social, health-related and cultural).

Residential schools, secondary schools and vocational schools involved in the programmes should recruit disadvantaged students, and organise support programmes for them. Students have individual development plans signed by them and their parents. Students are assessed regularly; the results of the assessments are included in the individual development plans. The measure systematically promotes the objectives set out in the ESL strategy (prevention and intervention measures).

Altogether about 4 000 students took part in the three programmes per year since 2016 which is reported in the follow up reports on National Social Inclusion Strategy; the latest is from 2020 [2020 Follow up report on National Social Inclusion Strategy (MNTFS 2020 nyomonkövetési jelentés)].

National Talent Programme

The National Talent Programme (Nemzeti Tehetség Program) is not specifically aimed at the integration of youth or vulnerable groups of young people, still it reaches disadvantaged students successfully. Its goal is to provide talent support in Hungary and in regions abroad with Hungarian minority population. The former Ministry of Human Capacities has assigned the responsibility for the implementation of the application and grant management process to the Human Capacities Grant Management Office (Emberi Erőforrás Támogatáskezelő) which is supervised and monitored by the National Talent Coordination Forum.

In the new government, formed in 2022, the Department of Talents, under the Deputy State Secretariat for Youth Affairs is responsible for the implementation of this programme.

The National Talent Programme consists of several, yearly changing sub-programmes for students participating in public education. The different calls for applications specify the particular target groups. Since its launch, this programme has helped 300 000 - 350 000 young people in every year (MTI, 2019).

The action programme 2021-2022 for the implementation of the National Talent Programme is regulated by a Government Decree [1894/2020. (XII. 9.) Korm. határozat a Nemzeti Tehetség Program végrehajtásának 2021–2022. évi cselekvési programjáról]

'Bari shej – Nagylány – Fáta máré' ('Big Girl')

There were several programmes in the previous years aiming at the prevention of Roma girls' early school leaving. One of them was the 'Bari shej – Nagylány – Fáta máré' ('Big Girl') (EFOP-1.4.4-17) programme which was announced on 30 March 2017 and ran until the end of December 2019. The target group was Roma girls between the age of 10 and 18. The project are still running and from the years 2017/2018 at least 1 800 disadvantaged girls participated in these two programmes. [2020 Follow up report on National Social Inclusion Strategy (MNTFS 2020 nyomonkövetési jelentés)]

The Tanoda Programme

The Tanoda Programme (Tanoda program) aims to prevent early school leaving providing community space for children and youngsters in need (up to 18 years old). According to the information provided by the Ministry, the Programme reached about 8 500 students with 285 Tanodas in 2018 and 185 schools were contracted to provide support to 5 137 young people in 2020 with the Directorate-General for Creating Social Opportunities (Társadalmi Esélyteremtési Főigazgatóság). In 2021, there were 191 Tanodas, supporting more than 5 400 disadvantaged students. 88% of the participants are primary school students.

The Tanodas provide complex services to students (e.g. learning support, catching-up, personal development). There are students who need parental assistance to do their homework, but their parents are not able to help them (e.g. due to the low levels of education of their parents or not providing technical means). These students receive professional assistance in Tanodas ('Módszerek').

Starting from the year 2019, the Tanoda Programme got integrated into the central budget of Hungary with the change of The Child Protection Act (1997. évi XXXI. törvény a gyermekek védelméről és a gyámügyi igazgatásról), which is in force since the 1th January of 2019. For the year 2019, 196 Tanoda won support for their operation. For more details about Tanodas please see sub-chapter 6.3 Preventing early leaving from education and training (ELET).

Funding

'Útravaló' Scholarship Programme

These programmes are funded from the state budget and the scholarship and mentoring fees increased compared to previous years. In the recent years, the amount of the support was higher than in the previous years and it was solidly the same amount:

• between 2019-2022 it is around EUR 7 million (HUF 2.6 billion) in each year,
• in 2018/2019 it was EUR 1.5 million (HUF 580 million),
• in 2017/2018 it was EUR 1.2 million (HUF 459 million).

Arany János Programmes

The Government Decree 204/2020. determines the funds available and the regulations for the use of the funds for the Arany János Talent Programme. The responsible Minister evaluates the previous year's programme with the involvement of other ministers (minister responsible for vocational education, minister responsible for adult education and the minister responsible for agricultural policies) until 30th of October and makes proposals for the following year [204/2020. (V. 14.) Korm. rendelet].

National Talent Programme

In the framework of the National Talent Programme (Nemzeti Tehetség Program) altogether about EUR 75 million (HUF 28 billion) was spent for 17 000 supported organisations and 4 100 scholarship for students during the 13 years of their operation (2009-2021) (Nemzeti Tehetség Program, Nyertes Pályázatok).

Its allocation is regulated by the Government Decree 104/2015 dated 23 April on funding of the National Talent Programme [104/2015. (IV. 23.) Korm. rendelet a Nemzeti Tehetség Program finanszírozásáról]. The programme is implemented from the National Talent Fund and the Finance Act determines the amount to be allocated and the regulations for the use of the funds in each year.

According to the latest data, in 2019, circa EUR 4.5 million (HUF 1 500 million) was collected for the National Talent Programme from tax offers. Altogether, with the funds allocated from the governmental funds, about EUR 9.9 million (HUF 3 300 million) can be spent on the programme in the 2019/2020 school year. In the 2023 Finance Act about EUR 10.3 million (HUF 4 110 million) is dedicated to the programme (2022. évi XXV. törvény).

'Bari shej – Nagylány – Fáta máré' ('Big Girl')

The funds entitled for support was about EUR 6.7 million (HUF 2.6 billion). The duration of the programmes is at least 24 months. [2020 Follow up report on National Social Inclusion Strategy (MNTFS 2020 nyomonkövetési jelentés)]

The Tanoda Programme

As mentioned above, starting from the year 2019, the Tanoda Programme got a place in the central budget of Hungary. Until the end of the year 2018, it was basically funded by the EFOP-3.3.1-15 study contest (EFOP-3.3.1-15 tanodapályázat). Since then, there is a dedicated amount in the central budget. In 2023, it is EUR 703 million (HUF 2 812 million).  Please see sub-chapter 6.3 Preventing early leaving from education and training (ELET) for more information.

In March 2020, due to the epidemic, a digital work schedule was introduced in schools. Many of the most deprived families and young people do not have the necessary IT tools for digital education. Therefore, the Ministry of Interior (Belügyminisztérium) had a development application (fejlesztési pályázat) in which the organisations, maintaining Tanodas, could submit applications to obtain more IT tools, software and other types of equipment. The available amount was EUR 1.08 million (HUF 432 million) and the programme was financed from the Hungarian central budget. 

Quality assurance

'Útravaló' Scholarship Programme

The success of the 'Útravaló' Scholarship Programme was monitored by the Deputy State Secretariat for Social Inclusion until 2014 by processing data collected from the scholarship programme, in particular looking at the social status of participants and their academic successes. Since then, the monitoring is implemented within the framework of EU projects and became part of these programmes. (MNTFS 2015 nyomonkövetési jelentés)

Monitoring results from 2020 show that the programme is successful. Based on data from 3 sub-programmes, 13 829 disadvantaged pupils have been supported in the 2018-19 school year. [2020 Follow up report on National Social Inclusion Strategy (MNTFS 2020 nyomonkövetési jelentés)]

Arany János Arany János Programmes

The results of the 2020 Follow up report on National Social Inclusion Strategy (MNTFS 2020 nyomonkövetési jelentés)] show that the programmes reach their specific target group and provide good chances for mobility. According to the data:

• 77% of the students in the AJTP programme continued their studies in higher education,
• 56% of the students in the AJCP programme continued their studies after graduation,
• 30% of the students in AJCVP programme continued their studies and 50% of them got a job after school.

National Talent Programme

The implementation of the National Talent Programme and the monitoring of programmes for supporting talents are carried out by the National Talent Coordination Forum (Nemzeti Tehetségügyi Koordinációs Fórum). This contributes also to increase the efficiency of the programme. The Forum members are the leaders of state and non-governmental organisations, including the head of the National Youth Council.

The Tanoda Programme

From the 1st of January 2019, the Tanodas must prepare a detailed report on their activities and on their operation [40/2018. (XII. 4.) EMMI rendelet].