Institutions National Overviews

There are seven music institutions at the highest level in Hungary.

Approximately 2.000

Professional music training institutions are funded basically by the State through the Ministry for National Resources.

There are no nationally determined curricula, those are developed by the associates of the corresponding universities. The ratio between instrumental and non-instrumental subjects is approximately 65-35, in favour of the non-instrumental classes.

Classical music; contemporary music; jazz; folk music; church music; early music

Professional music training is organized in a two cycle system.

The entrance examinations for all courses at the Liszt Academy of Music take place at the end of June and at the beginning of July. Applicants are informed about the exact date of their entrance examination during May. Please refer to the Courses and Requirements section of the institution website (http://lfze.hu/en/courses-requirements).

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The Doctoral School of the Liszt Academy of Music offers the possibility of obtaining DLA and PhD degrees in music. The department is aimed at composers and performers who wish to achieve artistic development integrated with complex theoretical training. The PhD Department is unique in Hungary as it offers the only accredited doctoral program in musicology in the country.
The full-time doctoral programs consist of four years of training in theory and practice, followed by a doctoral procedure of one year.

Institutions make use of a credit point system, which is compatible with ECTS.

The Liszt Academy has established excellent relations with multiple European and overseas higher musical institutions, enabling various workshops, masterclasses and concerts for our students both in Hungary and abroad. One of the main pillars of our international presence is the regular mobility exchange programmes, while the other, is the project based international projects.

The Liszt Academy is an active participant in the Erasmus exchange programme: full-time students of BA, MA or PhD/DLA study programs can apply in case they have completed at least 2 semesters; while students from sending institutions have the opportunity to apply for an exchange at the Liszt Academy as well. The institution also has further mobility opportunities, such as the EEA exchange.

The Liszt Academy, based on its extensive international network realises: joint projects on a regular basis with key partner higher music institutions, such as the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna; the Iceland Academy of the Arts or the Haute école de musique de Genève. In frames of these joint projects, students of the Liszt Academy have the opportunity to extend their artistic expertise on an international scale.

The Hungarian Accreditation Committee (HAC) reviews all Hungarian higher education institutions and all their study programmes. New study programmes are reviewed by HAC before their launch and there is a general review every eight years. HAC informs the institution of the upcoming accreditation procedure. HAC’s visiting team evaluates the institution and submits a report to HAC. HAC issues and publishes a final report. The evaluation covers the institutional level, faculty level, and all programmes, and results in an accreditation decision by HAC. Visiting teams may include non-academics who are experts in a particular area or applied field if called for by the profile of the institution to be evaluated or by some of its programmes (e.g. artists, musicians, etc.). The visiting team members are given a briefing on the procedure prior to the visit.

There are several levels of standards used in the process. The Ministry of National Resources define the level and minimum content of study programmes on the level of a government decree (they are reviewed by HAC) and HAC itself has Bylaws which define the accreditation procedure and accreditation requirements which address the quality standards for study programmes in particular disciplines on the college and university level. Further information is available at http://www.mab.hu.

Benefits of the system include assurance of a continuing and comparable review of the quality of higher education in Hungary. Problems within the eight-year cycle system include issues such as a) the quality may not be judged consistently due to different visiting teams and ongoing changes in the system, and b) standards are general and require individual and subjective judgment on the part of visiting teams and HAC members, the solution to which would require more extensive training for evaluators than is currently the case.

Non-teacher diplomas are entitled to work as a performing artist (BA and MA) or (in the field of theory type trainings) e.g. musical assistants (BA), musicologists or composers (MA) while only a teacher diploma (MA) entitles to teach in lower and middle levels. DLA/PhD is a requirement for teaching in higher education.

The academic year is organised in two semesters: from September to January and from February to June.

Elementary music schools combine general education with music education. Daily music lessons are integrated into the general subjects, and there are additional choir and instrumental lessons. The schools are open to students from 6 to 14 years of age.

Hungary knows 570 Music and Art Schools (afternoon music schools). Some of them are state sponsored, others are private. In total, they teach 130.000 students.

A six year curriculum is being used: students enter at 8 years of age, and study until they are 14. It is possible to take (maximum) two years of preparatory study beforehand. Students then enter at 6 years of age.

The curriculum is divided into two different categories, called A and B level. The A level is meant for amateur studies. Students receive two 30-minute instrumental lessons a week. B level studies focus on future professionals. Students receive two 45-minute instrumental lessons a week, as well as solfège. From the fourth year of study, students receive chamber music, music theory and music history lessons as well.

There are 21 secondary music schools that teach a total of 2200 to 2300 students between the age of 12 and 19 (14-18).

Conservatories provide general education together with music education at an advanced level. Their education is aimed at preparing students for the entrance level of higher music education institutions.
The curriculum is a combination of general education subjects and music studies: instrument, theory, solfège, chamber music, music history, choir/orchestra, etc.

50% of the conservatoire students continue their musical studies in higher music education; therefore, conservatories are considered to be the most effective part of the Hungarian pre-college music education system.

Music Gymnasia provide general secondary education with a special focus on music. There are no instrumental lessons provided; only singing, theory, music history and choir.

Students in secondary schools without specialisation have one singing and one drawing lesson a week; while students in secondary schools with specialisation on music have approximately 4-5 singing or drawing lessons. In case of secondary schools with specialisation, music education takes a significant space in the curriculum. General music education is taught from the age of 6 until graduation.

Most students come from conservatories. Other students come from junior departments or preparatory courses and from music and art schools.

Hungary has many youth orchestras and choirs. There are many (international) competitions and festivals open to young talent as well.

In the Hungarian music education system the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest offers the broadest range of music studies that include instrumental and vocal performance, composition, musicology, theory, orchestral and choral conducting, church music, early music, folk music and jazz. It trains instrumental/vocal/music theory/composition/music history/church music teachers and classroom music teachers for all levels. It is also at the Liszt Academy where folk music and jazz teachers are trained. The Kodály Zoltán Music Pedagogy Institute of the Liszt Academy offers training programmes in Kodály-based music pedagogy for the international body of students at graduate and postgraduate levels. The classes are offered only in English.

There are four types of graduate teacher training programmes provided by the Liszt Academy:

Type of training provided:

The learning outcomes/competencies are described below:

Individual plans are to be presented to Educational Authority (EA) who forwards it to the Hungarian Accreditation Panel (HAP). The HAP comments on the plans and sends it back to the EA who, based on the suggestion of the HAP grants permission to start the given training/course and issue the degree.

BA training takes three years at the Liszt Academy. Training at this level can be divided into two main branches: one is performing arts, the other is creative arts and musicology. Each department belongs to either of these. BA training focuses primarily on the main subject, and music related subjects, however, other theoretical subjects, such as philosophy, aesthetics, etc, form important part of the curriculum. At the end of the third year, students have to take a final exam.

After having completed the BA course, graduates receive a diploma. This diploma allows them to work on certain fields of the musical scene – e.g. amateur ensembles – but the BA degree alone is not enough to fulfil serious positions. Those who pursue serious ambitions need to apply to the MA course. The following options are available: performance, musicology, composition, church music and various music education strands.

The overall structure of the curriculum for the two year MA music education programme can be outlined as follows:

The one year MA programme training artist-teachers slightly differs from the one above:

The ratio between theoretical and practical subjects in both programmes is 40:60.

Through the compulsory teaching practices there is a wide network of schools of different levels linked to music teacher training: general primary and secondary schools, music schools, music secondary schools, etc. However, a large part of teaching practice is done in the ‘practice schools’ of the universities – in the case of the Liszt Academy this is the Bartók Conservatoire (secondary school). Practice agreements with other schools are also formalised, the teachers are personally picked and contracted.

Types of assessment:

Music teacher training is available in almost all music genres.

While the International Kodály Institute organises multiple trainings for international music teachers, there is no centralised internationalization plan for the music teacher training programmes.

Those graduating from the two year MA programmes in music education can expect to be employed by lower-grade art-education schools throughout the country. Artist-teachers (one year MA programme currently available only at the Liszt Academy) can, however, apply for positions at music conservatories where training of students is aimed at preparing them for the entrance examination at higher music education institutions. Most of music conservatoire students continue their studies in higher music education.

Type of school	Minimum qualification required	Training institutions
Lower-grade art-education schools instrumental/vocal/theory tuition	MA in music education instrumental/vocal/theory	Liszt Academy of Music (Budapest) Universities in Győr, Pécs, Szeged, Debrecen, Miskolc
Music Conservatories (age 14-18)*	MA in performance** and MA in music education	Liszt Academy of Music (Budapest)

* In music conservatories subjects such as composition, theory and history are taught by teachers in possession of an MA-degree in one of these fields of specialization and in music education.
** The universities in Győr, Pécs, Szeged, Debrecen and Miskolc offer MA degrees in performance of some instruments and/or voice.

Music teachers are obliged to follow regular postgraduate training within a 7-year cycle, as are other kinds of teachers. This postgraduate training need not be in music exclusively.

Music teachers are obliged to follow regular postgraduate training within a 7-year cycle, as are other kinds of teachers. This postgraduate training need not be in music exclusively.
Postgraduate training programmes are accredited by the Educational Authority (Oktatási Hivatal).

Different music contests (e.g. instrumental contests for music school pupils, choir contests at different levels, international music competitions) and festivals offer also a platform to continuous self-improvement. Often there are forum and training (master) courses linked to these events.

The Association of Hungarian Music and Art Schools also offers a platform for information and experience exchange for instrumental/vocal teachers. This association links the schools together and other associations count individual instrumental teachers as members. The Hungarian branches of different international organisations for instrumentalist/instrument teachers (such as European Piano Teacher Association and the Association of Flutists) serve as catalysts of contacts within the country and beyond, and bring together instrumental teachers of different level from basic to professional training.

Training courses (2-3 week up to full year) provided by the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét offer high level postgraduate training to classroom music teachers and choir conductors: refreshing courses, new methodologies, etc.

Music teachers (Grade 5-12) for public music education are trained at teacher training colleges. Most of them are incorporated into higher education institutions such as a university. The training provided by these institutions is either for classroom music teachers only, or in combination with another subject (arts, humanities or science).
In most schools elementary music education – grade 1 to 4 – is provided by the classroom teacher who might have very little experience in music. The amount of course work in music offered as part of primary teacher training is 120 hours in total. The so-called elementary Kodály music school combines general education with high-level music education, however, there are music specialists teaching music at the elementary level as well.
It can be asserted that admission requirements to instrumental/vocal and music theory teacher programs are much more demanding from the musical point of view than those for classroom music teacher programmes. This division has to be diminished in order to maintain high-level of musical instruction in the public school system corresponding with the tradition of high-standard music education established in Hungary during the decades following World War II and generally associated with the Kodály concept.

The training of classroom music teachers (Grade 5-12) takes place also at graduate level. Because graduates are required to major in two subjects the training lasts two years and a half and requires the completion of courses weighing 150 credits in total.
The overall structure of the curriculum for the MA in education programme can be outlined as follows

Type of school	Minimum qualification required	Training institutions
Elementary school (Grade 1-4)	Teacher training certificate	Elementary teacher training institutions
Primary and Secondary School (Grade 5-12)	MA in education (music and another subject)	Teacher training colleges or teacher training faculties of universities
Kodály music schools*	MA in education MA in music education	Liszt Academy of Music Teacher training colleges or teacher training faculties of universities

*Currently there are about 100 Kodály music schools in Hungary. In these schools daily music lessons are integrated into the general subjects. There are additional choir and in some schools instrumental lessons as well.

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