Index – National – Hungarians at Harvard



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Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The university was named in 1639 after the theologian John Harvard, who offered half his estate, four hundred books, and eight hundred pounds to establish a new university on his deathbed.

Sharp-tongued Harvard students make a work of art about the theologian, whose shoes have already been fondled by superstitious candidates, a statue of the three lies. According to them, it was not he who founded the institution, which was originally called New College, in addition, the statue does not represent it either, because nobody knows what it really was like.

Presidents, actors, business gurus

Harvard University is a member of the Ivy Leauge, established in 1954, which brings together eight universities (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Harvard, and Yale) and was originally created for the sports collaboration between East Coast universities. . As they say, being a member of the League means much more than that: Those who leave here represent America’s elite. In other words, Harvard is a bastion of elite education.

Among the approximately four hundred thousand alumni of the university, several presidents (for example, John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush, Barack Obama), entrepreneurs (Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg), writer and artist (Leonard Bernstein, TS Eliot, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Portman, Matt Damon, and Tommy Lee Jones) are also listed.

An integral part of the “American dream” is a high level of higher education. In addition to Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton are also very prestigious, as is the Massachusetts Technical University (MIT) or the California Technological University (Caltech).

Based on the 2020 QS TopUniversities rankings, Harvard offers the best business training in the world. It’s incredibly difficult to get into an MBA at Harvard Business School, and up to one-tenth of the participants make it. Getting a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University is perhaps even more difficult, it’s nice to have one of the twenty candidates on the ferry.

There is no request for a chair

The best-known Hungarian lecturer at Harvard was János Kornai, who was visiting professor in 1984-85, and in 1986 he was appointed permanent professor of economics. Emeritus Professor at Harvard University since 2002.

His reputation was published in 1980 Shortage He argued that the deficit was not only the result of incorrectly set prices or improper planning, but also a characteristic of the socialist system that stemmed from its internal nature. Among its name is, among other things, the concept of soft budget constraint.

Kornai to With the power of thought: an unusual resume In his book, he describes the complicated procedure at the end of which a Harvard visiting professor can become. The most exciting thing is that it is not possible to apply for a professorship at Harvard, the position of “catedrático” (lecturer) can only be awarded to those who are invited and qualified by their future colleagues at the end of the procedure.

The job security of an American “tenured professor” (tenured professor) is protected by a special asymmetric employment contract called tenure. A full professor can resign at any time if he feels bad at work or is offered a better opportunity elsewhere. On the contrary, the employer, the university can not send even if it is not satisfied with its performance. Although the suitability of this legal relationship is debatable, it is widely supported because full security is considered the most important guarantee of academic freedom. Therefore, no one is exposed to an existential threat due to their political or scientific opinions.

– says János Kornai, who says that Harvard University is characterized by first-class scientific achievements. Professors are deeply identified with the prestige aspects of the university, and they want to choose to retain the number one position at Harvard. They assume that if the teachers are good, everything will be fine. If they are not good, the university will inevitably sink to the level of mediocrity.

And the payment is a strictly private matter. The other members of the department, but not even the head of the department, don’t know how much their colleague earns. This only belongs to the professor and the dean himself.

The price of an apartment in Budapest

Besides economics, Harvard is also known for its legal training. Gusztáv Nagy, a consultant to the Constitutional Court, received his Master of Laws from Harvard Law School this year. The young constitutional lawyer graduated from the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University and only embarked on an adventure abroad after long preparations.

Harvard is often accused of rudely selecting students. According to Gusztáv Nagy, there is a really long and winding road from admission to graduation, with many obstacles and even more resignations, but for example his classmates came from 61 different countries, a fifth already had a degree, 16 were constitutional advisers or of the supreme court, 18- an undergraduate faculty, eight judges, seven prosecutors and a total of 22 Fulbright scholars.

Well, without access to funding, you can’t get into Harvard even if someone has successfully recruited.

The annual tuition is incomprehensibly high from a Hungarian point of view, more than 70 thousand dollars (22 million guilders), and this is complemented by the costs of travel, room and board, other fees and the price of textbooks, that can cost up to three hundred dollars each. The value of a Harvard degree rivals the price of a medium-sized apartment in Budapest.

No one can afford this alone, even with huge savings of their own, which is why implementing plans requires not just one, but more scholarships and often a US student loan. It is not a coincidence that is often seen in schools. American films that parents start saving from infancy to teach their children. Scholarships include state and foundation, Hungarian and American funds that can be applied for

Gusztáv Nagy said.

The admissions process takes place online, usually in writing, but can be supplemented by an oral interview at a later stage in the admissions process. Admission must be accompanied by an original and certified English version of all diplomas, a detailed American-style curriculum vitae, letters of recommendation, then a pass on the TOEFL language test with an appropriate score, and two written essays.

Focus is ok

I could also tell you about my long time world famous teachers, who can only be called foreign literature in footnotes at home, where they knew their students by name, we were able to talk to them after lectures and at the reception classes, and there were even some who invited us to dinner. Or about the beautiful green campus, with squirrels, imposing buildings, the second largest law library in the world, its own theater, a museum where pictures of Monet and Renoir hung, university sports fields, bus services, free coffee.

When asked what he would take as a university professor from his Harvard experience, the young lawyer replied:

In many ways, it is unfair to compare abroad with Hungarian legal education, because Harvard is not only the best, but also the richest university in the world, with a base wealth of fifty billion dollars, which is a third of GDP. Hungary total. So you can obviously provide different quality training to your students, provide a different infrastructure for this, and you can reward your instructors differently. Also, due to the very high enrollment, students are incredibly motivated, trying to get the most out of themselves once they enter and paying so much for it. However, I would consider that the most important thing is the adoption of the approach that the student feels, from the dean and university professors to the librarian and the studies department to the administrative staff, they are all there to help you prepare and grow professionally . provide and provide all the conditions for it; at the same time, in return, expect students to have an opinion and try to defend it.

Top Image: John Harvard Statue – Getty Images Hungary. Photographer: Porter Gifford



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