The jobs of hundreds of scientists at Hungary's universities are under threat after a government-mandated 7.5% raise for faculty on January 1 that came without guaranteeing universities enough money to cover the extra expense.
Hungary's universities—which are financed by the state—are now obliged to find an extra 4 billion Hungarian Forints (HUF) (USD $20 million) to fund the salary increases, and many are seeking to make large savings in science. As many as 2318 academic and support jobs could be cut in Hungarian universities in the next few months, according to a statement by Antal Stark, deputy under-secretary for Economic Affairs at the Hungarian Ministry of Education, reported earlier this month by Eduport, a Hungarian news portal for higher education. Among those jobs are 518 academic jobs, representing 3.4% of the country's total university teaching staff, and the most are in science.
An education ministry spokesperson confirmed the numbers for ...
