Balázs Hankó, the minister of culture and innovation, said that in its first semester, the government's Pannonia Program offered an opportunity to some 3,000 Hungarian students to study at the world's leading universities.

Speaking on public radio on Tuesday, Minister Hankó said the scheme was designed to resolve issues around the Erasmus European higher education program, adding that foreign partners of Pannonia fully accepted Hungarian credits, while students are granted scholarships of 1.6 million forints (EUR 4,000) as opposed to 1 million forints under Erasmus.

Hungarian universities have ties to 4,045 universities across the world, which serve as a good basis for the scheme, the minister said. "Hungarian universities can make direct contact with other universities and will be more familiar with each other's profile and curriculum ... they can select partners from the whole world not just from Europe," he said.