Students’ Participation in the Life and Decision-making of Seven Hungarian Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

In the past five decades, the participation of students has drawn broader attention towards the governance of higher education; thus, the focus hasn’t been only centred on the student life on campus but has shifted to the decision-making processes of higher education. Respectively, due to the increasing number of international students on mobility with the increase of scholarships worldwide, a better understanding of the students’ engagement is needed to comprehend how local and foreign students participate in university life, whether within the social aspect or within the decision-making processes, and what opportunities they get. Thus, this study explores the participation of students in Hungarian higher education institutions and compares the opportunities given to students. To explore and reveal the existing differences in the participation between Hungarian and International students, a survey was created and distributed among students of seven universities, through personal email letters sent to the relevant student unions. The data were descriptively analysed using the SPSS software comparing the seven universities, and the results showed that international and Hungarian students have similar perceptions regarding the students’ participation in the life and governance of higher education institutions, such as the language barrier, the dissemination of information, and time constraints. However, in some other cases, they have contradicting perceptions of the given opportunities. These aspects imply more research on the topic within every university and the practical strategies implemented to secure the available opportunities, reduce the lack of information and find the correct ways to communicate them.