The international student community of the University of Debrecen has become even bigger

The number of students from abroad at the University of Debrecen has steadily increased by almost two thousand in the last five years. More than 23 percent of the more than 32,000 students studying at the institution come from abroad, from 134 countries.

“The University of Debrecen’s Centre for the Coordination of International Education recruits students through an extensive network of almost 300 intermediary organisations and agencies and operates several regional offices in the Asian region. NOKK’s largest office in South Asia places students from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, among others. However, the most dynamic growth in the number of student applications is coming from young people formerly living in the United Arab Emirates, mainly due to the specificities of the education system there,” Director of the Centre for International Education at the University of Debrecen Attila Jenei said.

In the 2024/2025 academic year, almost 2,100 foreign students started their studies in more than 100 English-language courses at the University of Debrecen.

Most of them study at the Faculty of Medicine, but the number of foreign students at the Faculty of Informatics, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Science and Technology, the Faculty of Economics, and the Faculty of Health Sciences has also increased, and more and more foreign students are pursuing PhD studies at the university.

“This academic year, the number of foreign students admitted to the University of Debrecen was nearly five thousand. Most of our students, almost 30 percent of them this year, come under the Stipendium Hungaricum programme. The University of Debrecen remains the most popular institution in the scholarship system. In the 2024/25 academic year, 2,249 students from 60 countries will continue their studies with the funds provided by the state,” Attila Jenei added.

The head of the Centre for the Coordination of International Education believes that the number of students in the scholarship system is not expected to increase due to the maximisation of the number of students. In addition, housing is an increasing barrier to the recruitment of foreign students, which may impact the number of applicants in the longer term.

Source and photo credit: dehir.hu