Minister of National Education Mahmut Özer held a meeting between delegations with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Peter Szijjarto. Özer stated that he was glad to meet with Minister Szijjarto during his visit to Budapest and noted that he believed that the mutual activities to be held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2024 will bring the people closer.

 

Stating that Turkish students have preferred Hungary intensively in higher education especially in recent years, Özer noted that this will contribute to the development of relations with Hungary on education.

 

Emphasizing the importance of expanding the relations between the two countries in vocational education and high school, Özer stated that Türkiye has taken very important steps in vocational education in recent years, and drawn the attention of the OECD. He also noted that the Vocational Education Summit was held in Istanbul on 1 December.

 

Stating that education has a very important place between the two countries, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjarto said that they want to expand the cooperation in higher education to secondary education and to cooperate with Türkiye especially in the field of vocational education.

 

Szijjarto stated that they are ready to increase the number of students who benefit from the scholarship program as the numbers of applications remain high. Stating that they want to send students to Türkiye as well, Szijjarto said that they are working hard to strengthen vocational education in the country, therefore they are particularly interested in cooperation in vocational education with Türkiye.

 

In response to Szijjarto's statements, Minister Özer said that they are ready to give all kinds of support to Hungary in vocational education.

 

Emphasizing that significant progress has been made in vocational education in the last year, Özer said that the number of apprentices and journeymen in vocational training centers increased from 159 thousand to 1 million 200 thousand in one year, whereas it has remained at 800 thousand in France.

 

Underlining that Türkiye has an expansive education system consisting of 19 million students and 1.2 million teachers, Özer stated that they would be glad to share their experience and knowledge with countries such as Hungary.

 

Stating that Türkiye is a country they follow in every field, Minister Szijjarto said that Türkiye is also a very advanced country in education and they would be glad to develop relations with the country.

 

Özer stated that they will organize a summit on preschool education on February 9 and invited Hungary to this summit.

 

After the meeting, the Ministers signed the memorandum of understanding for the implementation of the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship Program for the academic years between 2023 and 2025. Both Ministers held a joint press conference.

 

Pointing out that the most permanent cooperation between countries is the cooperation in the field of education, Özer emphasized that Türkiye is a country that has the capacity to be an example to other countries, especially in the field of education. Expressing that as Türkiye strengthens its international cooperation in education, it will also strengthen its capacity to share these experiences with other countries, Özer stated that Türkiye will strengthen people's communication with each other in the long run in terms of establishing peace all over the world. Reminding that the OECD Vocational Education Summit was held in Istanbul on December 1, 2022, Özer said that this summit showed Türkiye's potential to transfer its experience in vocational education to OECD and developed countries. Özer shared that Türkiye will host a very important international event on preschool education that will be attended by education ministers on February 9.

 

Stating that they invited the relevant ministers of Hungary to this event, Özer said that he hoped to sign new initiatives. For this reason, Türkiye has solved its problems in every sense and is taking firm steps towards consolidating its position as one of the main actors in ensuring peace both in its region and in the world, much stronger in the new century. He said that international studies in the field of education will also contribute significantly to this process.

 

Minister Szijjarto said that what happened in Stockholm against the provocations of terrorist organization PKK/YPG supporters targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is unacceptable and that the most determined attitude should be taken against this act. Minister Özer thanked Minister Szijjarto for his sensitivity and stated that this sympathy and support will also lead to progress in cooperation in education.