Public debate about the model change in Hungarian higher education : the representation of radical changes in university governance in Hungary in politically opposing online newspapers between 2019 and 2021

Abstract

The Hungarian higher education (HE) system has undergone a transformation, or socalled ‘model change’, in recent years. During this process, the majority of public HE institutions were transformed into institutions maintained by public interest asset management foundations. This paper focuses on the media representation of this transformation by analysing all relevant articles about the transformation (169 in total) published between 2019 and 2021 in two of the most active online newspapers on the topic, one that represents pro-government (mno.hu) and the other government-critical (hvg.hu) opinions. Our analysis reveals the main actors as well as the arguments for and against the model change. This media representation in the Hungarian context is essential because there was no governmental white paper about the process. Therefore, Hungarian media served as the primary source of information for the public about the goals (and later, the critiques) of the model change. However, the internal structure of the representations of pros and cons exposes how the two sides talked at cross-purposes, minimally reacting to the arguments of the ‘other side’. Furthermore, our results illustrate the changing nature of the arguments concerning the model change process that started with one university, continued with seven more, and then affected 13 more institutions.