HAO, Núm. 34 (Primavera, 2014), 127-135 ISSN: 1696-2060 HUNGARIAN HIGHER EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL POLICY IN TRANSYLVANIA Márton Tonk Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca, Romania E-mail: [email protected] Recibido: 3 Abril 2013 / Revisado: 2 Octubre 2013 / Aceptado: 27 Noviembre 2013 /Publicación Online: 15 Junio 2014 Abstract: Our study strives to present, outline Transylvanian Hungarian minority regarding the present state of affairs of Romanian (and higher education in Hungarian in Romania within it Transylvanian, minority) higher (Transylvania). The problem of the stand-alone education in the Hungarian language, public university in the Hungarian language, i.e. respectively the related education policy and the perpetually reformulated opportunities to re- strategic objectives. A part of the challenges establish the former “Bolyai University” connected to Transylvanian Hungarian higher discontinued by the communist dictatorship in education are identical to those characteristic for 1959, has been an issue continuously on the the Romanian, or more generally for the entire agenda for the last more than two decades, European system of university education, producing debates and polemics – without therefore the first part of our treatise briefly reaching a consensus up to the present day. The presents some of the consequences and outlining of the state of affairs, more exactly the challenges of the so-called “Bologna Process” tasks and future prospects of Transylvanian regarding higher education. Simultaneously, Hungarian higher education, the analysis of the Transylvanian Hungarian higher education has expectations, demands and necessities defined also got a series of specific features, thus in the by minority society regarding universities have second – more extensive – part of the paper the been present in the narrower professional and Hungarian language university education wider social public sphere with a similar system, respectively the connected national intensity. Furthermore, the relationship between policy, demographic, minority rights aspects are the public and private institutions of outlined. The latter analyses obviously could not Transylvanian Hungarian higher education, the ignore the claim of the Hungarian community in issue of the complementarity and/or competition Romania for an independent, Hungarian of the higher education offer formed by these, language public university (the “Bolyai” the necessity and the degree to respond to the University), an unfulfilled demand that had been expectations of national policy and of the labour reformulated several times since 1989. The market, and last, but not the least, the questions raised by this demand are detailed in formulation of possibilities and inevitable needs the last part of the study. regarding the establishment and start off of the elements and programmes still missing from the Palabras clave: Higher education policy in the Hungarian language training offer in Romania, EU, Hungarian language higher education in have also been permanent – and again not recent Romania, minority educational policy, Hunga- – subjects to debate upon. And obviously, the rian system of higher education in Transylvania. budgetary and political issues pertaining to all ______________________ the mentioned issues have also been on the agenda: Whose task is it to fund entirely or rom the perspective of its external power partially a Transylvanian Hungarian university to enforce its own interests, respectively network that performs public tasks? (that of the F its internal strategic aims, the past 23 prevailing Romanian, or Hungarian go- years since the change of the political system in vernment?) Which training domains, pro- Romania has not been uneventful for the grammes should be financed from these sources, ©Historia Actual Online 2014 127 Hungarian higher education... Márton Tonk generally speaking from the point of view of the within it Hungarian language) higher education; future of the Hungarian community, within it of the labour market analyses and indicators, of especially that of the Hungarian minority? Who, demand and supply predictions, they had to be i.e. which institutions are the most worthy and able to link demographic data with educational the most suitable to carry out these professional policy considerations, they had to know their and training tasks combined with the way around domestic legislation with reference performance of a national policy mission? How to higher education, respectively the should the executive power in Hungary, development opportunities lying therein, they respectively the political representative had to be well-informed in connection with organisations of the Hungarian community in Romanian normative funding, respectively the Romania approach the issue, support and tackle opportunities in Hungarian support policy – and with the problems of Hungarian language higher the list could probably be continued. To all of education? Although the Hungarian language this, one can add the national and minority higher education in Romania has been policy aspect, as a clear-cut common element of characterised in the past more than twenty years various strategic papers, which fundamentally since the system change by definite expansion defines the present and future of higher both in its offer and the number of students and education in the Hungarian language in teaching staff, all these questions continue to Romania, in other words the collection of represent a serious challenge to the principles and objectives that create a context, in Transylvanian Hungarian community and to the which even issues that could otherwise be whole professional and political life of discussed easily in a narrow professional, Transylvanian Hungarians and Hungary. educational policy setting, become problematic, questionable, disputable. As it can be seen from the nature and character of the above outlined problems, the summary The full and exhaustive analysis of the complex and analysis of the present and future of issues outlined is not the aim of this paper. We Transylvanian Hungarian higher education do not strive to deduce present-day Transylva- cannot lack a strategic point of view shaped by nian Hungarian higher education from a historic narrowly understood education policy, i.e. perspective, or from the traditions of the past, current higher education challenges and tasks, nor is it our aim to argue why independent, full- either. Accordingly, the present treatise will try spectrum higher education in the mother tongue to make use at the same time of both the larger is of decisive importance for a national social science and the narrower professional community2. Similarly, an extremely significant policy (education policy) viewpoints and issue of our education policy, the placement of methodologies – and our conclusions will also higher education in Hungarian into the context be formulated in the spirit of this duality1. of the challenges of general European higher It is no simple task nowadays to attempt to give education is not the subject of our present a detailed analysis of the situation and the inquiries, either. It goes without saying that a objectives of higher education in the Hungarian part of the present problems and tasks of language in Romania. The difficulty lies in the Hungarian language higher education in fact that by today the issue has grown into a Romania is completely identical with the current complex problem, characterised by divergent issues of domestic Romanian language higher points of view and considerations, and therefore education, and also with those of higher inquiries into it also necessitate expertise in education in Hungary, or even with those of the many different fields, thorough knowledge, a unified European higher education (the so-called large number of statistical data and exhaustive European Higher Education Area). Such “background information”. Consequently, the challenges, well-known today by universities author of the present paper pays his tribute with and academics are: the expansion of higher plain respect and recognition to all those education, respectively that BSc (Bachelor of experts, institutions and bodies that have been Science) level diplomas become more and more trying recently to perform a thorough analysis of widespread, and gradually take over the role of the state of affairs and the tasks of our minority former high-school graduation3; the decline in higher education. They had to be mindful of the quality as a negative consequence of expansion transformations of the European system of and of the normative system of financing (the education (the “Bologna Process”), and of its so-called per capita funding) also represents a consequences in Romania; they had to be aware serious problem as higher education is of statistical data referring to Romanian (and struggling trapped between the imperativeness 128 © Historia Actual Online 2014 HAO, Núm. 34 (Primavera, 2014), 127-136 ISSN 1696-2060 of quantity and quality; the fact that higher (Marosvásárhely), Oradea (Nagyvárad), education institutions have become market Miercurea Nirajului (Nyárádszereda) and players is yet another challenge worldwide and Odorheiu Secuiesc (Székelyudvarhely), and at on a European level, just as the handling of the the same time the Budapest Business School and resulting inherent strategic problems (over- the Corvinus University of Budapest have supply, competition etc.); but at the same time started master’s