Despite Stockholm’s Obstructions, Hungary Opens Arms to Swedish Students

While Sweden’s government sided with Brussels in excluding Hungarian youth from international scholarship programs, Hungary welcomes Swedish students with open arms, even offering them a future with its own scholarship program. The Minister of Culture and Innovation believes there is an international knowledge-competition underway, in which Hungary aims to be at the forefront.

Balázs Hankó responded on his social media page to Sweden’s active involvement in the exclusion of Hungarian universities from the EU’s Erasmus scholarship program. The minister said: “The Swedish government not only lectures us, but also participates in the exclusion of Hungarian university students and researchers. Last December, when Hungary took action against the Brussels ruling, Sweden immediately sided with Brussels in the lawsuit, that is, against Hungarian youth.”

He added:

That is their decision. Ours is to view young people in a very different light, regardless of whether they are Hungarian or Swedish.”

As reported by Hungary Today, the Hungarian government launched the Pannonia Scholarship Program last year in response to the Brussels decisions. In his post, Balázs Hankó emphasized that

the government is providing international mobility to nearly 70 Swedish students within the framework of the Hungarian scholarship program.

He also mentioned that they are happy to welcome the 83 Swedish students and teachers who are studying and teaching in Hungary on Erasmus scholarships.

“Thus, while they are denying Hungarian university students and young people their fundamental right to access international exchange programs, we are doing everything we can to ensure that all 46,000 foreign students studying here, whether they are Swedish or of other nationalities, find what they are looking for,” the politician explained.

He added: “Take your pick: Brussels’ ‘autonomy with Swedish dressing’ or Hungary’s justified fight for the rights of young people!”

On Monday morning, the minister spoke on M1 television about the Pannonia Scholarship Program, which was launched over a year ago. According to him, the program exceeded expectations from the outset, meaning that “the European Commission’s quarantine experiment failed.”

Based on the ministry’s data, twice as many people applied for the Pannonia Program in its first year as in the last year of Erasmus. A total of 8,115 Hungarian students and teachers participated in the first year, traveling to places such as the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Minister Hankó noted that

the competition for the future is a competition of knowledge, which is why it is important that Hungarian students can spend shorter or longer periods of time at a wide variety of universities around the world through the Pannonia Scholarship Program.

Hungarian universities need to be at the forefront internationally in order for young Hungarians to succeed, emphasized Balázs Hankó, adding that Hungarian higher education institutions have signed 4,042 inter-university agreements to date.

“By 2030, there will definitely be a Hungarian university among the world’s top 100 universities, and several Hungarian institutions will be among the top 100 universities in Europe,” he emphasized.

Minister of Culture and Innovation Balázs Hankó at a press conference on the results of the first year of the Pannonia Scholarship Program on September 16, 2025. Photo: MTI/Kocsis Zoltán

Petra Tóth, ambassador of the Pannonia Scholarship Program, said on the television program that the scholarship covers all the costs of staying abroad. It is also flexible, as the grant can be used for anywhere from one day to one year, she added.

Balázs Hankó was also a guest on Kossuth Radio’s “Good Morning, Hungary!” program that day, where he said that 10 billion forints (25.7 million euros) are available to continue the Pannonia Scholarship Program. He reported that after two and a half years, the European Court of Justice had begun hearing the case of the universities that had taken legal action against their exclusion from the Erasmus program.

According to statements by the universities, “the court asked the European Commission serious questions about the legal basis for its actions,” said the minister. The success of the Pannonia program shows that “if they poke us a little, we will respond with a bold move and prove we can do even better,” said Balázs Hankó.

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