Abstract

The number of outgoing Erasmus students had been on the rise in Hungary between 1998 and 2012 when it reached the European mean. Following that year the numbers started to decline, creating an ever-increasing gap between the actual mobility numbers, and the quotas that the country had financial support for. Although some Hungarian institutions (e.g. the universities represented by the authors) are more affected than others, the trend is similar throughout the country. The goal of this study is to shed light on the main mobility barriers and to suggest some changes that can help in overcoming them. The study is based on a questionnaire conducted in February 2016 on all students enrolled at the University of Miskolc. A total of 225 answers were recorded. The binomial logistic regression analysis conducted by us shows that the most important barriers are the following: students’ familiarity with the Erasmus programme and the staff responsible for it; international experience/familiarity with the international environment; foreign language skills; fear from the credit transfer mechanism; study level. Our suggestions to overcome these barriers are the following: better communication and involvement could familiarize students with Erasmus opportunities; improvements of services could help to overcome language deficiencies and credit transfer problems, and foreign study trips and international summer schools could provide them with important international experience. These suggestions would be relatively easy to implement, however, currently they are hindered by the universities’ lack of financial resources, and also by the lack of clear strategy and commitment to Erasmus goals. Although the survey was conducted among Miskolc students, our findings may bring valuable insights to other Eastern European Universities as well that aim to intensify international student mobility.

Keywords: Erasmus, innovation in education, management in education, student mobility, student.

JEL Classification: I23, J61.

Cite as: Bartha, Z., Gubik, A., S., & Rethi, G. (2019). Management of innovations in Hungarian HEIs: enhancing the Erasmus mobility programme. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 1, 84-95. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2019.1-07

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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